LOVA P.

We report on Flory-Huggins photonic sensors for the selective detection of volatile organic compounds without the use of any chemical functionalization. For this purpose, we employed periodic multilayers made of inert cellulose acetate alternated to active polystyrene films whose free volume was modified with silanized ZnO nanoparticles. The...

In this chapter we review the use of nanoimprint lithography and its derivative soft-lithography techniques for the fabrication of functional photonic crystals. Nanoimprint is a viable, scalable, and cost-effective solution for large area patterning. While initially it relied primarily on pattern transfer from a rigid mold to a thermally...

For the first time, a detailed study on the photophysical properties of variously substituted diazoketones and on their photoreactivity under blue LED irradiation was carried out. Despite very limited absorbance in the visible region, we have demonstrated that, independently from their structure, α-diazoketones all undergo a very efficient...

Multilayered photonic sensors that rely on polymer-solvent Flory–Huggins interactions are drawing increasing interest owing to their broad-band selectivity, even among mixtures, without the need for chemical targeting. Moreover, these sensors provide simple colorimetric responses, and easy, quick fabrication both on laboratory and industrial...

Knowledge of the transitions occurring during the formation of ion-conducting polymer films and membranes is crucial to optimize material performances. The use of non-destructive scattering techniques that offer high spatio-temporal resolution is essential to investigating such structural transitions, especially when combined with complementary...

The possibility to evaluate molecular diffusion coefficient in polymer films directly in-situ is critical to assess barrier properties of packaging systems. Using the polymer packaging itself as smart sensor could lead to increase shelf-life, minimize wastes, and food poisoning effects. In this work we report on a new method that exploit simple...

Multilayered photonic sensors that rely on polymer-solvent Flory-Huggins interactions are drawing increasing interest owing to their broad-band selectivity, even among mixtures, without the need for chemical targeting. Moreover, these sensors provide simple colorimetric responses, and easy, quick fabrication both on laboratory and industrial...

The control of radiative decay rate is a crucial issue both for fundamental studies in quantum electrodynamics and for the development of efficient lasers, light emitting devices and photovoltaic cells. In this paper we investigate the integration of a near-infrared molecular fluorophore in an all-polymer planar microcavity. Subsequently, we...

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Preventing solar heating is nowadays of paramount interest in energy savings and health preservation. For instance, in building thermalization solar heating consumes an excess of energy leading to harmful CO2 emissions, while in food and beverage packaging it may lead to variation of organoleptic properties or even health issues. The phenomenon...

The main aim of this study was to test the biopolymer polycaprolactone (PCL) as an electrode modifier for the electrochemical detection of dopamine (DA). PCL was chosen following a search for polymers with the appropriate geometry and functional groups for dopamine detection. The chemical structure and the average molecular weight of the...

Alginate-based membranes embedding zinc oxide nanoparticles are prepared via electrospinning and exploited as biosorbent materials. The mats exhibit a uniform texture characterized by the presence of nanofibers with an average diameter of 100 nm and interconnected voids of 140 nm average size. UV–vis spectrophotometric tests were performed to...

Food packaging encompasses the topical role of preserving food, hence, extending the shelf-life, while ensuring the highest quality and safety along the production chain as well as during storage. Intelligent food packaging further develops the functions of traditional packages by introducing the capability of continuously monitoring food...

Brilliance usually refers to the light reflected by the facets of a gemstone such as diamond due to its high refractive index. Nowadays, high-refractive-index materials find application in many optical and photonic devices and are mostly of inorganic nature. However, these materials are usually obtained by toxic or expensive production...

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is among the most accessible and rapidly developing additive manufacturing (AM) technologies. Even though amorphous thermoplastic polymers are the elected materials in FFF, semicrystalline polymers would enhance the strength and durability of 3D printed parts. The properties of the products depend on the...

A holistic detection system, in principle sensitive to any molecular species in the vapor phase is proposed. The sensor consists of a polymeric multilayered distributed Bragg reflector made of a perfluorinated polar polymer, Aquivion, and a nonpolar polymer, poly(N-vinylcarbazole). Alternated layers of the two polymers provide a characteristic...

Poly(vinyl alcohol) nanofibrous mats containing ad hoc synthesized gold nanostructures were prepared via a single-step electrospinning procedure and investigated as a novel composite platform with several potential applications. Specifically, the effect of differently shaped and sized gold nanostructures on the resulting mat physical-chemical...

Organo-metallic europium complex tetrakis (dibenzoyl methide) triethylammonium (EuD4TEA) shows a sharp emission spectrum, which makes it interesting for photonic applications. In this work, we embedded it into all-polymeric planar microcavities and investigated the effect of the photonic environment on its emission spectrum. To this end,...

The nature of charged photoexcitations at the interface of highly delocalized inorganic crystals and more localized conjugated polymer systems is of great fundamental interest for a number of hybrid photovoltaic applications. Here we study the interaction between mainstream compound semiconductor GaAs and conjugated polymer P3HT by means of...

Photonic crystals are a unique tool to modify the photoluminescence of light-emitting materials. A variety of optical effects have been demonstrated by infiltrating opaline structures with photoactive media. On the other hand, the fabrication of such structures includes complex infiltration steps, that often affect the opal lattice and decrease...

Alginate-based electrospun nanofibers prepared via electrospinning technique represent a class of materials with promising applications in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries. However, to date, the effect of alginate molecular mass and block composition on the biological response of such systems remains to some extent unclear. As such,...