Ricerc@Sapienza

Solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation, especially the most energetic UV-C band, is one of the major variables that negatively affects materials performance in space environment. Our work is focused on the design and fabrication of novel nanocomposite films that combine highly conductive graphene nanoplatelets and biological UV-sensitive molecules, which can be used to measure the effects of ultraviolet radiation exposure in real time.

In this work, the fabrication and properties of ultraviolet-sensing films based on hybrid nanomaterials, containing graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) as signal transducer and DNA as UV-sensitive element, are investigated. The sensor components are prepared by sonication-driven non-covalent assembly and are embedded in a polymer matrix for enhanced adhesion on several types of space-grade materials and structures. We show that these nanomaterial sensing films can be used to monitor the effects of UV radiation exposure in real time.