Great book for absolute beginners. Still requires lots of patience and substantial re-reading! One of the best explanations I have found of concepts such spinor, covariant derivative, gauge fields, etc.

Understanding the band structure of double perovskites using molecular orbitals. A very cool article by Hemamala Karunadasa's group

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/art…

Take breaks and hike to spectacular places to relax your mind!

It's so striking that, in an electron gas, due to the exclusion principle, the denser the gas (i.e. the closer the electrons to each other) the more their kinetic energies prevail over their mutual Coulomb repulsions. From 'Many-Body Quantum Theory in Condensed Matter Physics'

Amazing Salento

Not an easy read (to me) yet I think one of the best introductions to the many-body quantum theory in condensed matter physics

If you have been called to evaluate a research institution:
1. Ask a detailed report on how their PhD students & postdocs are being treated, and how their issues are being addressed.
2. Don't stop at what management tells you. Make sure you interview people to realize firsthand.

A foreign postdoc from my group (whose family could not get a reunification visa) just resigned and is relocating with family to a country under a global talent visa program which among other things provides fast track to citizenship. This how Italy works
Il Viminale Italy MFA

The best way to remain sharp is to keep studying and then teach what you have learned

Some typical inefficient public funding schemes in Italy (usually in the south) provide huge sums to buy expensive instrumentation but not for hiring people who can operate it nor for its maintenance. Most of it then remains underused and rots over time as it cannot be fixed🤦‍♀️

As a student, I eagerly studied this book, and still find it very useful today. It starts from the very basics and then goes to quite advanced topics. I also met Sergey Gaponenko (a very nice and knowledgeable person) on many occasions and we also had a joint grant at some point.

PhD programs are primarily about training students. Current paradigm of having lots of papers at a PhD stage must change. Students should get the best possible & focused training (up-to-date, useful & engaging courses). Papers should not count when they compete for first postdoc

A Robust Anti-Thermal-Quenching Phosphor Based on Zero-Dimensional Metal Halide Rb3InCl6:xSb3+ Nice collaboration with my former student Baowei Zhang and his coworkers J. Am. Chem. Soc.

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.10…

There is actually no fixed PhD stipend in some Italian Universities. You can pay students a reasonably good stipend, if you have funds. However, in general they won't allow you to do that, as some PIs will feel jealous and fear that you will be stealing candidates from them. Sad.

Great conference in Barcelona these days. Attending many interesting talks and catching up with many colleagues!

See in this article how relativistic effects (REs) in Pb (especially for 6s orbitals) are responsible for the large optical band gap in perovskite APbBr3:
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja…
See here an easy explanation of REs in chemical bonding for heavy elements:
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Partial Ligand Stripping from CsPbBr3 Nanocrystals Improves Their Performance in Light-Emitting Diodes

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

Indium Arsenide Quantum Dot Derived Catalyst for Selective CO2 Electrochemical Reduction to Formate

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

Near-Infrared Light Emitting Metal Halides: Materials, Mechanisms, and Applications

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad…

Stainless Steel Activation for Efficient Alkaline Oxygen Evolution in Advanced Electrolyzers

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad…