Ricerc@Sapienza

This study presents a two-scale model to describe the out-of-plane masonry response. One-dimensional (1D) structural elements, like masonry columns or strips of long wall characterized by the periodic repetition of bricks and mortar arranged in stack bond, are considered. A damage-friction plasticity law is adopted to model the mortar joint constitutive response, while the bricks are assumed as linear elastic. A 1D beam formulation is introduced at both the structural and micromechanical scale, linking the two levels by means of a kinematic map.

This paper presents a method for detecting the mechanical stiffness of micro-metric biological tissues by means of compliance tests performed with a MEMS-Technology based microgripper. Thanks to an actuating rotary comb drive working in cooperation with another sensing rotary comb drive, the system is able to recognize the tissue sample stiffness. Such characterization is possible thanks to a proper control system that is applied to the whole mechanical structure.

Photothermal and photoacoustic techniques are utilized to explore the thermal properties of metal based metasurfaces. We experimentally evidence the role of the symmetry in the heat transport and its relation with the optical circular dichroism.

Inorganic/organic hybrid materials composed by iron atoms bonded to an alkyl phosphate can be easilysynthesized by mixing at 110°C iron chlorides with tri-alkyl phosphates.Since structural information on these products are lacking and taking into account that lithium/ironorganic hybrid materials are important in lithium ion battery technology we report here the physico-chemical characterization of different hybrid lithium/iron butylphosphates. These materials are charac-terized by the presence of elongated hexagonal crystals stable up to 315°C.

Hybridized nanostructures composed by metals and dielectrics, semiconductors or organics offer new
opportunities achieving new functionalities in nonlinear optics, plasmonics, sensing [1-4]. In particular GaAs-
AlGaAs-GaAs core-shell-supershell nanowires (NWs) fabricated by self-catalyzed growth on Si substrates werepartially covered with gold, thus producing a symmetry breaking in the sample geometry that induces an “extrinsic” chiral response.
The possibility to obtain optical activity with non-chiral elements was studied in the past [5], but only

We experimentally investigated the infrared properties of a set of steel textiles, prepared using different
type of fabrics. Infrared emission of the textiles was characterized in the mid-infrared range, i.e. 8÷14 mm,
by observing their temperature evolution under heating regime with a focal plane array (FPA) infrared
camera. Standard test method for measuring and compensating emissivity using infrared imaging radiometers
was applied to the set of metallic textiles. The obtained experimental results allowed to

We show that photo-acoustic spectroscopy allows determination of the nanowire absorbance properties including resonant peak positions and peak broadening due to collective ensemble properties. Furthermore, we demonstrate chiral optical response in asymmetrically Aucoated nanowires.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized on diatomite (DE) surface by a low
temperature sol gel technique, starting from zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(CH3COO)2?·?2H2O)
solution in water/ethyl alcohol, in presence of triethanolamine (TEA) with functions of Zn2+
chelating agent, catalyst and mediator of nanoparticle growth on DE surface. Microstructural
features were investigated by field emission scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction.
ZnO crystalline nanoparticles, well distributed both on the surface and into the porous

The use of dispersions of poly(vinyl alcohol) PVA and detonation nanodiamond (DND) as novel inks for 3D printing
of variously shaped objects using a layer-by-layer additive manufacturingmethod is reported. In parallelwith
the nanocomposites preparation, we designed a 3D printing apparatus and settled protocols for the shaping of
hybrid materials, choosing PVA-DND inks as a model system to test the performances of the 3D apparatus.
Along with material design and preparation, we discuss the main factors influencing the quality of the final

LEDSAT (LED-based small SATellite) is a 1-Unit CubeSat that will mount Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) on its six faces, in order to validate, verify and improve the current methodologies for optical orbit determination. The LEDs will also support the CubeSat identification after deployment from the ISS. The satellite is being produced by the S5Lab research group at Sapienza - University of Rome, and it has been accepted for the European Space Agency Fly Your Satellite Programme.