Ricerc@Sapienza

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) with photoanodes composed of chirality selected single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been fabricated and tested for first time. Single chirality SWCNTs separation (93% purity) have been achieved by modifying standard size exclusion gel chromatography. Chirality selection has allowed for “tuning” of the energy barrier at the TiO2/SWNT/FTO interface, electronic conductivity enhancement, and reduced SWCNTs-ruthenium dye competition for light absorption resulting in a 81% energy conversion efficiency improvement compared to mixed chirality cells.

The present work reports the development and the piezoelectric characterization of nano-engineered thin-films of Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) and vertical array of zinc oxide nanorods (ZnO-NRs). In particular, the piezoelectric response of the produced samples was investigated by evaluating the piezoelectric coefficient (d33), through Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM). We compared the piezoelectric response of three different samples: a neat PVDF thin-film, an array of vertically oriented ZnO-NRs and an array of vertically oriented ZnO-NRs embedded in PVDF.

In this work, deacylated gellan gum and the plasticizer glycerol were used as primary components for the preparation of thin films intended for the oral delivery of therapeutic molecules. The samples were prepared by a solvent casting method and characterized for their thickness, tensile properties, swelling ability, mucoadhesion capacity and uniform drug distribution. The amount of glycerol was varied from 20% to 75% w/w in order to obtain films with tunable mechanical properties and high drug loading efficiency.