In the 2018-2023 period, i3N had an important scientific production associated with a worldwide recognition, namely:
- over 1600 scientific articles published in international peer-reviewed journals, such as SCIENCE, NATURE PHYSICS, CHEMICAL REVIEWS, PROGRESS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE, ADVANCED MATERIALS, and ACS NANO;
- i3N has an accumulated h-index of 111, which represents a 56% growth since the last period of evaluation, and over 60000 citations;
- a total of 42 highly cited papers, according to Web of Science;
- 63% of all publications are with international collaborations from 51 countries;
- i3N members presented more than 1400 communications at scientific events;
- 55 granted patents especially international ones with well-recognized companies like SAMSUNG, YDREAMS, ETRI/LG, and THE NAVIGATOR COMPANY. Moreover, we also have international patents involving other RTOs, such as ETRI (Korea) and the University of Bologna (Italy);
The funding of i3N through the Pluriannual Programme and Strategic Project of FCT corresponds to 20% of the total funding of the research institute.
This seed-funding scheme is of vital importance for the development of the R&D activities of i3N, which was able to leverage this more than 5 times by other competitive funding. This was indeed recognized by FCT in the form of a “top-up funding” as a measure to stimulate the international competitiveness of researchers working in Portugal and of national institutions, in particular the one that results in attracting international funding.
i3N adopted a well-defined strategy for scientific collaborations at the international level. i3N researchers participated periodically, as contributors or invited/plenary speakers in top-level international conferences and workshops.
Furthermore, i3N members organized a significant number of conferences/workshops.
A noteworthy contribution was given to education and training through over 60 PhD theses and more than 460 MSc theses (25 with double degree) finished in the last 5 years.
i3N is actively involved in bringing its research and researchers closer to the society. i3N initiatives include visits from and to high schools and universities, summer training, and science displays (55 actions, involving >18000 youngers/students). i3N team members were recognized by getting over 75 International and National awards and distinctions.
i3N maintains & improves its internationally recognized laboratories for all types of characterization; modelling and materials/devices processing, involving high powerful updated tools and clean rooms (1000 m2). A novel infrastructure for nanoanalysis (NANOVA) was built.