Life Cycle Assessment of a system for the extraction and transformation of Waste Water Treatment Sludge (WWTS)-derived lipids into biodiesel.

In recent years, the demand for biofuels has been growing exponentially, as has the interest in biodiesel produced from organic matrices. Particularly interesting, due to its economic and environmental advantages, is the use of the lipids present in sewage sludge as a raw material for the synthesis of biodiesel. The possible processes of this biodiesel synthesis, starting from lipid matter, are represented by the conventional process with sulfuric acid, by the process with aluminium chloride hexahydrate and by processes that use solid catalysts such as those consisting of mixed metal oxides, functionalized halloysites, mesoporous perovskite and functionalized silicas. In literature there are numerous Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies concerning biodiesel production systems, but not many studies consider processes that start from sewage sludge and that use solid catalysts. In addition, no LCA studies were reported on solid acid catalysts nor on those based on mixed metal oxides which present some precious advantages, over the homogeneous analogous ones, such as higher recyclability, prevention of foams and corrosion phenomena, and an easier separation and purification of biodiesel product. This research work reports the results of a comparative LCA study applied to a system that uses a solvent free pilot plant for the extraction and transformation of lipids from sewage sludge via seven different scenarios that differ in the type of catalyst used. The biodiesel synthesis scenario using aluminium chloride hexahydrate as catalyst has the best environmental profile. Biodiesel synthesis scenarios using solid catalysts are worse due to higher methanol consumption which requires higher electricity consumption. The worst scenario is the one using functionalized halloysites. Further future developments of the research require the passage from the pilot scale to the industrial scale in order to obtain environmental results to be used for a more reliable comparison with the literature data.

Tunable spin polarization and superconductivity in engineered oxide interfaces.

Advances in growth technology of oxide materials allow single atomic layer control of heterostructures. In particular delta doping, a key materials' engineering tool in today's semiconductor technology, is now also available for oxides. Here we show that a fully electric-field-tunable spin-polarized and superconducting quasi-2D electron system (q2DES) can be artificially created by inserting a few unit cells of delta doping EuTiO3 at the interface between LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 oxides. Spin polarization emerges below the ferromagnetic transition temperature of the EuTiO3 layer (TFM = 6-8 K) and is due to the exchange interaction between the magnetic moments of Eu-4f and of Ti-3d electrons. Moreover, in a large region of the phase diagram, superconductivity sets in from a ferromagnetic normal state. The occurrence of magnetic interactions, superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling in the same q2DES makes the LaAlO3/EuTiO3/SrTiO3 system an intriguing platform for the emergence of novel quantum phases in low-dimensional materials.

Emergence of coherence in the charge-density wave state of 2H-NbSe2.

A charge-density wave (CDW) state has a broken symmetry described by a complex order parameter with an amplitude and a phase. The conventional view, based on clean, weak-coupling systems, is that a finite amplitude and long-range phase coherence set in simultaneously at the CDW transition temperature T(cdw). Here we investigate, using photoemission, X-ray scattering and scanning tunnelling microscopy, the canonical CDW compound 2H-NbSe2 intercalated with Mn and Co, and show that the conventional view is untenable. We find that, either at high temperature or at large intercalation, CDW order becomes short-ranged with a well-defined amplitude, which has impacts on the electronic dispersion, giving rise to an energy gap. The phase transition at T(cdw) marks the onset of long-range order with global phase coherence, leading to sharp electronic excitations. Our observations emphasize the importance of phase fluctuations in strongly coupled CDW systems and provide insights into the significance of phase incoherence in 'pseudogap' states.

Towards the realization of label-free biosensors through impedance spectroscopy integrated with IDES technology.

Impedance spectroscopy (IS) is a powerful technique for analysis of the complex electrical impedance of a large variety of biological systems, because it is sensitive both to surface phenomena and to changes of bulk properties. A simple and convenient method of analysis of cell properties by IS is described. An interdigitated electrodes configuration was used for the measurements; human epithelial cells were grown on the device to investigate the complex dielectric response as a function of frequency, in order to test the suitability of the device for use as a label-free biosensor. To test the ability of the device to detect channels in the cell membrane, the effect of drugs known to affect membrane integrity was also investigated. The frequency response of the admittance (i.e. the reciprocal of the impedance) can be well fitted by a model based on very simple assumptions about the cells coating the device surface and the current flow; from the calculations, membrane-specific capacitance and information about cell adhesion can be inferred. These preliminary efforts have shown that our configuration could lead to a label-free non-invasive technique for biosensing and cellular behavior monitoring which might prove useful in investigation of the basic properties of cells and the effect of drugs by estimation of some fundamental properties and modification of the electrical characteristics of the device.

In situ investigation of the early stage of TiO2 epitaxy on (001) SrTiO3.

We report on a systematic study of the growth of epitaxial TiO(2) films deposited by pulsed laser deposition on Ti-terminated SrTiO(3) (001) single crystals. By using in situ reflection high energy electron diffraction, low energy electron diffraction, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and scanning probe microscopy, we show that the stabilization of the anatase (001) phase is preceded by the growth of a few nanometers thick pseudomorphic Sr(x)TiO(2+y) (x, y < 1) intermediate layer. The data demonstrate that the formation of this intermediate phase is related to the activation of a long range Sr migration from the SrTiO(3) substrate into the film. Our results enrich the phase diagram of the Sr-Ti-O system under epitaxial strain opening a route for the study of the electronic and dielectric properties of the reported Sr-deficient SrTiO(3) phase.

Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy study of paramagnetic superconducting ß''-ET(4)[(H(3)O)Fe(C(2)O(4))(3)]·C(6)H(5)Br crystals.

Scanning tunnelling spectroscopy (STS) and microscopy (STM) were performed on the paramagnetic molecular superconductor ß''-ET(4)[(H(3)O)Fe(C(2)O(4))(3)]·C(6)H(5)Br. Under ambient pressure, this compound is located near the boundary separating superconducting and insulating phases of the phase diagram. In spite of a strongly reduced critical temperature T(c) (T(c) = 4.0 K at the onset, zero resistance at T(c) = 0.5 K), the low temperature STS spectra taken in the superconducting regions show strong similarities with the higher T(c) ET κ-derivatives series. We exploited different models for the density of states (DOS), with conventional and unconventional order parameters to take into account the role played by possible magnetic and non-magnetic disorder in the superconducting order parameter. The values of the superconducting order parameter obtained by the fitting procedure are close to the ones obtained on more metallic and higher T(c) organic crystals and far above the BCS values, suggesting an intrinsic role of disorder in the superconductivity of organic superconductors and a further confirmation of the non-conventional superconductivity in such compounds.