Alexandru-Milentie Hada

PhD

CV
Research Interests

Alexandru is a second-year Post-Doctoral researcher in Physics and has been a member of the NLMC group for 10 years. While his earlier work focused on the synthesis and biofunctionalization of core-shell gold-silver nanoparticles, his primary interest is now the synthesis and application of photoluminescent nanoclusters. He investigates their use as contrast agents for various fluorescence-based microscopies, including in vitro imaging and agarose-based phantoms, with the future goal of expanding to ex vivo and in vivo imaging. Additionally, his research explores photocatalysis in the presence of plasmonic nanoparticles or nanoclusters.
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Expertise

  • Synthesis of fluorescent self-emitting nanoclusters
  • Synthesis of colloidal gold, silver, and gold-silver nanoparticles
  • Plasmon-driven photocatalysis
  • Nanoparticle Characterization (DLS, Zeta potential, UV-Vis)
  • Raman and Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)
  • Steady-state Fluorescence Spectroscopy
  • Fluorescence Microscopy

International visibility

  • Co-author of 22 ISI and 1 non-ISI papers (18 as main author), 1 book chapter, Hirsh index: 11/10 (Scholar/WoS), 365/301 citations (Scholar/WoS)
  • 1 invited presentation, 5 oral and 10 poster presentation at International and National conferences as the main presenter
  • 1 Postdoctoral Advanced Fellowships
  • 1 POCU fellowship
  • 1 Scientific Performance Scholarship 
  • 1 Erasmus Traineeship Mobility Grant (5 months) to University of Messina, CHIBIOFARAM Department, Asoc. Prof. Anna Piperno's research team  
  • CYCLONET YTIP 2019 Grant (Italy)

Most Relevant Publications

Folic acid functionalized gold nanoclusters for enabling targeted fluorescence imaging of human ovarian cancer cells, A.-M. Hada, A.-M. Craciun, M. Focsan, R. Borlan, O. Soritau, S. Astilean, Talanta, 225 (2021) 121960-121968 (IF 6.0)

Glutathione-capped gold nanoclusters as near-infrared-emitting efficient contrast agents for confocal fluorescence imaging of tissue-mimicking phantoms, A.-M. Hada, A.-M. Craciun, M. Focsan, A. Vulpoi, E.-L. Borcan, S. Astilean, Microchim. Acta 189 (2022) 337

Linezolid nanoAntiobiotics and SERS-nanoTags based on polymeric cyclodextrin bimetallic core-shell nanoarchitectures, A.-M. Hada, M. Potara, S. Astilean, A. Cordaro, G. Neri, M. Malanga, A. Nostro, A. Mazzaglia, A. Scala, A. Piperno, Carbohydrate Polymers 293 (2022) 119736

Ligand-mediated formation of amphiphilic silver nanoclusters: synthesis, redox properties, and activity against clinically relevant bacteria,  A.-M. Hada, M. Abbate, M. Zetes, A.L. Coria-Gutiérrez, A.-M. Craciun, N. Burduja, C. Abate, F. J Terán, M. Todea, A. Mazzaglia, A. Scala, A. Nostro, A. Piperno, Journal of Materials Chemistry B

Ag Nanoparticles for Plasmon-Driven Conversion of pATP to DMAB under LED Excitation, A.-M. Hada, S. Grecu, A. Timar-Gabor, D. Maniu, S. Astilean, M. Lamy de la Chapelle, M. Focsan, ACS Applied Nano Materials 8 (2025) 24453-24465

Photoluminescent Histidine-Stabilized Gold Nanoclusters as Efficient Sensors for Fast and Easy Visual Detection of Fe Ions in Water Using Paper-Based Portable Platform, A.-M. Hada, M. Zetes, M. Focsan, S. Astilean, A.-M. Craciun, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 23 (2022) 12410

Recent advances in metal nanoclusters: from novel synthesis to emerging applications, A.-M. Hada, M. Lamy de la Chapelle, M. Focsan, S. Astilean, Molecules 30 (2025) 3848

Intrinsic photoluminescence of solid-state gold nanoclusters: towards fluorescence lifetime imaging of tissue-like phantoms under two-photon near-infrared excitation, A.-M. Hada, A.-M. Craciun, A. Simion, Front. Chem. 9 (2021) 761711  

Gold nanoclusters performing as contrast agents for non-invasive imaging of tissue-like phantoms via two-photon excited fluorescence lifetime imaging, A.-M. Hada, A.-M. Craciun, A. Simion, Analyst 146 (2021) 7126-7130 

Aptamer-conjugated gold nanoparticles for portable, ultrasensitive naked-eye detection of C-reactive protein based on the Tyndall effect, A.-M. Hada, S. Suarasan, M. Muntean, M. Potara, S. Astilean, Analytica Chimica Acta 1307 (2024) 342626

Marine bacterial exopolymers-mediated green synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles with antimicrobial properties, A. Scala, A. Piperno, A.-M. Hada, S. Astilean, A. Vulpoi, G. Ginestra, A. Marino, A. Nostro, V. Zammuto, C. Gugliandolo,  Polymers, 11 (2019) 1157-1167 

Fabrication of gold-silver core-shell nanoparticles for performing as ultrabright SERS-nanotags inside human ovarian cancer cells, A. M. Hada, M. Potara, S. Suarasan, A. Vulpoi, T. Nagy-Simon, E. Licarete, S. Astilean, Nanotechnology 30 (2019) 315701-315711