A flexible and portable harvesting-storage device by quasi-solid-state supercapacitor and dye-sensitized solar cell integration

In recent years the utilization of power in off grid conditions is dramatically increasing. For this reason research is putting much effort in obtaining improvements in energy storage devices efficiencies and in discovering alternatives concerning easiness of fabrication that can be industrially implemented. In this framework, integration of energy storage devices with energy harvesting systems is obtaining more and more significance since the amount of energy that can be stored especially in Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors (EDLCs) is limited. To this purpose, herein we present an innovative flexible integrated device composed by a symmetrical aqueous EDLC and a TiO2 nanotubes-based Dye Sensitized Solar cell (DSSC). A UV photo-polymerized quasi-solid electrolyte was used in both sections. At first a self-standing flexible polymer matrix was fabricated starting from Bisphenol A ethoxylate dimethacrylate (BEMA) and poly (ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (PEGMA), adding a 3% by weight of 2hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-1-propanone (Darocur 1173) as photoinitiator. Then, the matrix was soaked in two different liquid electrolytes, a 2 M NaCl aqueous solution for the energy storage section and an Iodine-based liquid electrolyte for the DSSC unit. This is the first work in which this type of polymer electrolyte membrane is used for an EDLC. The electrodes were fabricated onto Stainless-steel and Titanium grids, for EDLC and DSSC respectively. TiO2 nanotubes were grown by means of anodic oxidation as photoanode semiconductor material, while EDLC active material was composed by 85% of graphene nanoplatelets and 15% of Acetylene Black. The harvesting-storage device (HSD) was sealed by a light-cured photo-polymerization method. The measured overall photon-to-electrical conversion and storage efficiency for the HSD was 1.02% under standard test conditions. This value increases for lower illumination conditions reaching 1.46% at 0.3 Sun

Graphene oxide membranes for trace hydrocarbon contaminant removal from aqueous solution

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the application of graphene oxide (GO) membranes for the selective removal of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) from wastewater. These molecules are present in traces in the water produced from oil and gas plants and are treated now with complex filtration systems. GO membranes are obtained by a simple, fast, and scalable method. The focus of this work is to prove the possibility of employing GO membranes for the filtration of organic contaminants present in traces in oil and gas wastewater, which has never been reported. The stability of GO membranes is analyzed in water solutions with different pH and salinity. Details of the membrane preparation are provided, resulting in a crucial step to achieve a good filtration performance. Material characterization techniques such as electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction, and infrared spectroscopy are employed to study the physical and chemical structure of GO membranes, while gas chromatography, UV-visible spectroscopy, and gravimetric techniques allow the quantification of their filtration performance. An impressive rejection of about 90% was achieved for 1 ppm of toluene and other pollutants in water, demonstrating the excellent performance of GO membranes in the oil and gas field

monitoring the dye impregnation time of nanostructured photoanodes for dye sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are getting increasing attention as low-cost, easy-to-prepare and colored photovoltaic devices. In the current work, in view of optimizing the fabrication procedures and understanding the mechanisms of dye attachment to the semiconductor photoanode, absorbance measurements have been performed at different dye impregnation times ranging from few minutes to 24 hours using UV-Vis spectroscopy. In addition to the traditional absorbance experiments, based on diffuse and specular reflectance on dye impregnated thin films and on the desorption of dye molecules from the photoanodes by means of a basic solution, an alternative in-situ solution depletion measurement, which enables fast and continuous evaluation of dye uptake, is presented. Photoanodes have been prepared with two different nanostructured semiconducting films: mesoporous TiO2, using a commercially available paste from Solaronix, and sponge-like ZnO obtained in our laboratory from sputtering and thermal annealing. Two different dyes have been analyzed: Ruthenizer 535-bisTBA (N719), which is widely used because it gives optimal photovoltaic performances, and a new metal-free organic dye based on a hemisquaraine molecule (CT1). Dye sensitized cells were fabricated using a customized microfluidic architecture. The results of absorbance measurements are presented and discussed in relation to the obtained solar energy conversion efficiencies and the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies (IPCE)

Optical properties of hydrogenated amorphous silicon

A detailed study of the optical properties of sputtered hydrogenated amorphous silicon films with varying hydrogen concentration is presented here. The energy dependence of the absorption coefficient is looked into, in detail, from a point of view of understanding the well known Tauc rule and the alternate relations being proposed in recent years. Spectroscopic and band‐structural models like Wemple-Didomenico and Penn are then utilized to analyze the optical parameters near the band‐gap region of the wavelength spectra. Extensive comparisons of our results are made with those of sputtered a‐Si:H films of other workers, glow discharge prepared a‐Si:H, chemically vapor deposited and evaporated a‐Si, and also crystalline silicon. The similarities in the variation of the optical properties of a‐Si:H with increasing hydrogen concentration (or decreasing measurement temperature) to that of crystalline silicon with decreasing measurement temperature lead us to interesting conclusions. Thus, it seems that decreasing disorder (topological or thermal) in a‐Si:H is equivalent to decreasing thermal disorder in c‐Si, at least as far as the disorder‐optical property relationships are concerned

Tetrahedrally bonded ternary amorphous semiconductor alloys

The properties of tetrahedrally bonded ternary amorphous semiconductors a-CSiSn:H and a-CSiGe:H are reviewed with particular emphasis on the temperature dependence of dark conductivity and the coordination in random networks. It is shown here that the dark conductivity as a function of the temperature strongly depends on the carbon content and, more precisely, on the proportion of sp3 and sp2 sites in the carbon. Ternary alloys with different carbon contents are compared to binary alloys using the average coordination number. The ternary alloys have an average coordination number close to the optimal value predicted for amorphous covalent networks

Prevention of congenital malformations and other adverse pregnancy outcomes with 4.0 mg of folic acid : community-based randomized clinical trial in Italy and the Netherlands

Background: In 2010 a Cochrane review confirmed that folic acid (FA) supplementation prevents the first- and second-time occurrence of neural tube defects (NTDs). At present some evidence from observational studies supports the hypothesis that FA supplementation can reduce the risk of all congenital malformations (CMs) or the risk of a specific and selected group of them, namely cardiac defects and oral clefts. Furthermore, the effects on the prevention of prematurity, foetal growth retardation and pre-eclampsia are unclear.Although the most common recommendation is to take 0.4 mg/day, the problem of the most appropriate dose of FA is still open.The aim of this project is to assess the effect a higher dose of peri-conceptional FA supplementation on reducing the occurrence of all CMs. Other aims include the promotion of pre-conceptional counselling, comparing rates of selected CMs, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, small for gestational age, abruptio placentae.Methods/Design: This project is a joint effort by research groups in Italy and the Netherlands. Women of childbearing age, who intend to become pregnant within 12 months are eligible for the studies. Women are randomly assigned to receive 4 mg of FA (treatment in study) or 0.4 mg of FA (referent treatment) daily. Information on pregnancy outcomes are derived from women-and-physician information.We foresee to analyze the data considering all the adverse outcomes of pregnancy taken together in a global end point (e.g.: CMs, miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, preterm birth, small for gestational age). A total of about 1,000 pregnancies need to be evaluated to detect an absolute reduction of the frequency of 8%. Since the sample size needed for studying outcomes separately is large, this project also promotes an international prospective meta-analysis.Discussion: The rationale of these randomized clinical trials (RCTs) is the hypothesis that a higher intake of FA is related to a higher risk reduction of NTDs, other CMs and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Our hope is that these trials will act as catalysers, and lead to other large RCTs studying the effects of this supplementation on CMs and other infant and maternal outcomes.Trial registration: Italian trial: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01244347.Dutch trial: Dutch Trial Register ID: NTR3161