Ricercatore
Dr. Raffaella Mossotti is a researcher of the Institute of Intelligent Industrial Technologies and Systems for Advanced Manufacturing that belongs to the Italian National Research Council (CNR). . The research activity deals mainly with the functionalisation of textile materials (application of biopolymers, UV-absorbers, microcapsules, cyclodextrins, plasma treatments, sol-gel treatments, enzymatic treatment), green chemistry with wool wastes treatment, production of biocomposites obtained by polymer matrices reinforced with natural fibers. Moreover, she has esxperience about valorisation and exploitation of poor quality wools (coarse wool) from sheep farming butchery and textile industry wastes. She was project coordinator of Life 12 ENV/IT/000439 GreenWoolF (Green hydrolysis conversion of wool wastes into organic nitrogen fertilisers) from 2013-2016. Nowadays she was performing research and characterization activities on textiles and polymeric materials (light and scanning electron microscopy, MicroFT-IR, thermal analysis) mainly focuses on polymers, synthetic fibers, and evaluation and quantification of microplastics contained in waste textile effluent. In the last few years I have worked on the EU Life project (LIFE13 ENV/IT/001069 - MERMAIDS) and she has established contacts with textile and detergent companies. At present she is developing a standard method (prENISO4484-2), which was presented to ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and CEN (European Committee for Standardization), in cooperation with Aquafil S.p.A (polymer producers) for the evaluation of microplastics in textile waste water. She is an expert in the microplastic sector belong to the following WGs: -ISO/TC 38/WG 34 "Microplastics from textile sources", CEN/TC 248/WG 37 "Microplastics from textile sources".
Research interests: -Functionalization of textile materials by enzymes, plasma, cyclidexstrin, biopolimer ( chitosan), sol-gel treament. Textile material: wool, silk,cotton synthetic fiber ( PA, PET) - Valorization of italian and european raw wool. (anti-felting treatment, anti-pilling, wool dyeing by enzymes or plasma). Anti-pilling treatment of wool using plasma polimerization of silicon layer. - Biocomposite ( using Hamp fibers) - Green chemestry: trasformation of raw wool in organic ferlilizer - Microplastic fibers determination. Samples: textile processes waste water, laundry waste water. Analysis used ( SEM and light microscopy), gravimetric analysis , thermal analysis, MICRO-FTIR analysis. substrate PET, PA, PAN and PET/Cotton blend.