Electrochemical deposition of CZTS thin films on flexible substrate

Solar cells based on semiconductor thin films are emerging as alternative to silicon;however,the materials giving the highest efficiency,CdTe and CuInGaSe,contain toxic (Cd) and rare (In) elements.In this field,the challenge is to substitute In and Cd with abundant and non-toxic elements without lowering the high efficiency achieved with these technologies.Compounds based on copper,zinc,tin and sulfur (CZTS) are potentially promising materials,because they present all the above listed features.Among the different methods to obtain CZTS,the electrochemical route appears of great interest because easy to conduct.Up to date,the literature shows that non-uniformity in composition and/or the presence of secondary phases prevent the obtainment of electrochemical CZTS thin-film of high quality.In this paper,we present the principal results of an extensive investigations conducted in order to find suitable conditions for growing CZTS thin films with good performance through the simultaneous electrodeposition of elements having different standard electrochemical potentials.Thin films were obtained on a flexible substrate by potentiostatic deposition from aqueous baths by changing different deposition parameters (bath composition and temperature,deposition time).Chemical composition and structure of the electrodeposited films were evaluated by EDS,SEM,RAMAN and XRD.Preliminary results on the photoelectrochemical behaviour of the films will be also presented

Electrodeposition from molybdate aqueous solutions: a preliminary study

The electrochemistry of molybdenum (Mo) and its oxides is very important for several applications in electrocatalysis,batteries,sensors and in particular for CIGS-based solar cells,where metal Mo is used as back contact.Properties and the fabrication method of Mo films are of fundamental importance,because they could induce significant changes in solar cell performances.The most important issues in the electrochemical behaviour of Mo are the nature and stability of its surface oxides,which are strongly dependent on deposition bath pH.Ivanova et al. (2006) reported that it is possible to accomplish the cathodic reduction of molybdate ions to metallic Mo from electrolytes containing HF.The addition of this acid selectively prevents the polymerization of MoO42- anions,therefore its concentration plays a fundamental role.A hard drawback connected to deposition in acid media is the strong hydrogen evolution,since H+ reduction is the reaction thermodynamically favoured,therefore it is necessary to apply a very high current density for appreciably depositing Mo.In this work,we report some preliminary results dealing with the electrodeposition process from molybdate aqueous solutions to grow thin films on different substrates and nanowires inside the channels of polycarbonate membranes;electrolyte pH was varied in order to evidence its role on the nature of the deposits,which were characterized by EDS,SEM,RAMAN and XRD analyses

Microsatellite panel definition to characterize Leishmania strains isolated from human samples in an italian endemic region

The Leishmaniasis affects people, domestic and wild animals in temperature, subtropical and tropical regions. The natural cycle involves phlebotominae sandfly vectors transmitting the parasite to the vertebrate host. The insects influence the epidemiology of the disease by their geographical distribution in the seasons and the specific vectorial capacity. Human Leishmania infections are increasing every year in Sicily, which represent the region with the highest endemic level of the disease in Italy. Among different approaches employed for the diagnostic the parasites isolation remains the gold standard

Patterns of recurrences in sinonasal cancers undergoing an endoscopic surgery-based treatment: Results of the MUSES* on 940 patients: *MUlti-institutional collaborative Study on Endoscopically treated Sinonasal cancers

The improvements in survival with expansion of the survivors' population, along with evolution of endoscopically-based treatment modalities, have contributed to emphasize the clinical relevance of recurrences in sinonasal cancers. However, at present, literature is scant regarding the pattern of recurrences and the therapeutic strategies available to manage long survivors who experienced single or multiple failures. The aim of the present study was to analyze sinonasal cancers recurrences to provide data regarding rates and patterns of relapse, predictors of failure and prognostic impact of the recurrence

Rationale and design of an independent randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of aripiprazole or haloperidol in combination with clozapine for treatment-resistant schizophrenia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>One third to two thirds of people with schizophrenia have persistent psychotic symptoms despite clozapine treatment. Under real-world circumstances, the need to provide effective therapeutic interventions to patients who do not have an optimal response to clozapine has been cited as the most common reason for simultaneously prescribing a second antipsychotic drug in combination treatment strategies. In a clinical area where the pressing need of providing therapeutic answers has progressively increased the occurrence of antipsychotic polypharmacy, despite the lack of robust evidence of its efficacy, we sought to implement a pre-planned protocol where two alternative therapeutic answers are systematically provided and evaluated within the context of a pragmatic, multicentre, independent randomised study.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The principal clinical question to be answered by the present project is the relative efficacy and tolerability of combination treatment with clozapine plus aripiprazole compared with combination treatment with clozapine plus haloperidol in patients with an incomplete response to treatment with clozapine over an appropriate period of time. This project is a prospective, multicentre, randomized, parallel-group, superiority trial that follow patients over a period of 12 months. Withdrawal from allocated treatment within 3 months is the primary outcome.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The implementation of the protocol presented here shows that it is possible to create a network of community psychiatric services that accept the idea of using their everyday clinical practice to produce randomised knowledge. The employed pragmatic attitude allowed to randomly allocate more than 100 individuals, which means that this study is the largest antipsychotic combination trial conducted so far in Western countries. We expect that the current project, by generating evidence on whether it is clinically useful to combine clozapine with aripiprazole rather than with haloperidol, provides physicians with a solid evidence base to be directly applied in the routine care of patients with schizophrenia.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><b>Clincaltrials.gov Identifier</b>: NCT00395915</p

Oltre il Segno/OltreMare

La realizzazione di un volume contenente le incisioni scelte all’interno della Scuola di Grafica d’Arte dell’Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo, coordinata dai Proff. Giovanni D’Alessandro e Riccardo Mazzarino rappresenta motivo di orgoglio e di soddisfazione per la nostra Istituzione che costruisce i percorsi didattici dei propri corsi a partire dall’esperienza laboratoriale. L’incisione grafica è tra le tecniche artistiche più antiche ma nel contempo più contemporanee. La gestualità intrinseca al segno, che si manifesta nella carta, svela universi della visione inaspettati.(Mario Zito - Direttore dell’Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo) Il segno è il risultato di un gesto a volte deciso, a volte contorto, a volte leggero, i cui risultati spesso sono inattesi e sorprendenti. Il volume contiene esemplari di incisioni fortemente caratterizzanti della scuola di Grafica d’Arte che vanta all’interno del proprio corso di studi docenti-artisti che consapevoli della ricchezza del loro bagaglio esperienziale offrono agli studenti gli strumenti necessari per far sì che l’arte del saper fare artigianale, si trasformi in mera poetica artistica