Research activities

1) Design of nanostructured Metallic Glasses and High Entropy Alloys by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) with superior mechanical properties

In my group, we pioneered the use of pulsed laser deposition (PLD) to fabricate novel thin film metallic glasses (ZrCu) [1,3] and ultrafine glass/crystal (ZrCu/Al) nanolaminates [2] with compact and nanogranular (cluster-assembled) microstructure, enabling to achieve controllable mechanical properties (i.e. plastic deformation and yield strength). Moreover, we have shown that these new materials possess ultimate mechanical properties (yield strength >3 GPa, plastic deformability >15%), significantly above conventional thin films, while being are able to mitigate/suppress the formation of shear bands instability leading to a homogenous deformation [1,2]. We have shown how these materials can be used for flexible/stretchable electronics with the fabrication of high performances transparent electrodes and supercapacitors for thermotherapy patches [3]. 

More details and key publications:

[1] M. Ghidelli, A. Orekhov, A. Li Bassi, G.Terraneo, P. Djemia, G. Abadias, M. Nord, A. Béché, N. Gauquelin, J. Verbeeck, J.-P. Raskin, D. Schryvers, T. Pardoen, H. Idrissi, Novel class of nanostructured metallic glass films with superior and tunable mechanical properties, Acta Materialia, 213, 116955, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2021.116955

[2] F. Bignoli, P. Djemia, G. Terraneo, G. Abadias, C. Gammer, A. Lassnig, C. A. Teixeira, S. Lee, A. Ahmadian, A. Li Bassi, D. Faurie, M. Ghidelli, Novel class of crystal/glass ultrafine nanolaminates with large and tunable mechanical properties, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 16, 27, 35686–35696 (2024). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.4c02610

[3] S. Lee, S.-W. Kim, M. Ghidelli, H. Seok An, J. Jang, A. Li Bassi, S.-Y. Lee, J.-U. Park, Integration of Transparent Supercapacitors and Electrodes Using Nanostructured Metallic Glass Films for Wirelessly Rechargeable, Skin Heat Patches, NanoLetters, 20(7), 4872-4881, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c00869

Underlined the name of PhD students or post-docs, I supervise(d).

2) Nanostructured metallic glasses and High Entropy Alloys by magnetron sputtering with superior mechanical properties and thermal stability

In my group, we advance in the development of novel metallic thin films by magnetron sputtering, focusing on the effect of the composition [4] and morphology with the fabrication of crystal/glass symbiotic alloys [5] and fully amorphous nanolaminates [6, 7]. 

We provided a holistic understanding about the effect of the addition of intrinsically “ductile” elements (Al) to “brittle” (ZrCu) thin film metallic glasses, focusing on the changes of local order, thermal and mechanical properties [4]. 

Moreover, we show how the synthesis of controlled nanostructures, i.e. crystal/glass [5] or fully amorphous multilayers [6, 7] with a tailored density of interfaces and controlled chemistry, manage to mitigate/suppress shear band instability or acting as dislocation barrier, promoting homogenous deformation and boosting the mechanical properties above conventional materials. 

In our research, we provide a multiscale investigation from micrometer down to nanometer scale of the deformation phenomena, focusing on atomic effects during deformation, the effects of local chemical enrichments, nanosegregations, nanointerfaces and how they are related with mechanical behavior.

More details and key publications:

[4] C. Poltronieri, F. Bignoli, A. Brognara, P. Djemia, D. Faurie, F. Challali, C.H. Li,  L. Belliard, G. Dehm, J.P. Best, M. Ghidelli, Thermal stability and mechanical properties of ZrCuAlx thin film metallic glasses: Experiments and first-principles calculations, Acta Materialia, 258, 119226, (2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2023.119226

[5] G. Wu, C. Liu, A. Brognara, M. Ghidelli, Y. Bao, S. Liu, X. Wu, W. Xia, H. Zhao, J. Rao, D. Ponge, V. Devulapalli, W. Lu, G. Dehm, D. Raabe, Z. Li, Symbiotic crystal-glass alloys via dynamic chemical partitioning, Materials Today, 51, 6-14 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2021.10.025

[6] A. Brognara, A. Kashiwar, C. Jung, Z. Xukai, A. Amahdian, N. Gauquelin, J. Verbeek, P. Djemia, D. Faurie, G. Dehm, H. Idrissi, J.P. Best, M. Ghidelli, Tailoring mechanical properties and shear band propagation in ZrCu metallic glass nanolaminates through chemical heterogeneities and interface density. Small Structures, 2400011, 1-11, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1002/sstr.202400011

[7] C. Poltronieri, A. Brognara, C. Jung, F. Challali, P. Djemia, G. Dehm, J.P. Best, M. Ghidelli, Effect of chemical composition on mechanical properties and shear band propagation in fully-amorphous ZrCu/ZrCuAl nanolaminates, Scripta Materialia, 259, 116571, (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2025.116571

Underlined the name of PhD students or post-docs, I supervise(d).

3) General work on micro-scale mechanical testing

I am first author with J. Ast, of a 34 pages review in which we present the most relevant techniques to extract fracture toughness at the (sub)micrometer scale. The review is authored with top scientists in the field.

[8] J. Ast, M. Ghidelli, K. Durst, M. Goeken, M. Sebastiani, A.M. Korsunsky, A review of experimental approaches to fracture toughness evaluation at the micro-scale, Materials & Design, 173, 107762, 2019 – (Review paper). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2019.107762