CNR-BS (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)

The activities of CNRBS are focussed on the preparation of nanomaterials for applications in energetics and environmental monitoring. In particular, innovative photoanodes based on metal oxide semiconductors and inorganic quantum dots are produced for application in third generation excitonic solar cells. In the period 2002-2011 CNRBS attracted funding for about 2.2 M€.
List of five recent publications related to the project

  1. N. Memarian, A. Vomiero (*) et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., on-line (hot paper/cover story)
  2. I. Concina et al. Chem. Commun. Available on-line (inside cover story)
  3. A. Vomiero* et al. Energy Environ. Sci. 4 (2011) 3408
  4. V. Galstyan, A. Vomiero* et al. Small 7 (2011) 2437 (cover story)
  5. A. Braga et al. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2 (2011) 454-460
CNRBS (http://sensor.ing.unibs.it) is composed of four permanent positions (3 researchers and 1 administrative) plus several PhD and undergraduate students and visiting scientists. The activity of CNRBS is preparation, structural characterization and integration of new nanostructured materials in operating devices. In the last three years CNRBS focussed its interest towards investigation of excitonic solar cells.
State of the art instrumentation for the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials related to the project is present at CNRBS: spray pyrolysis, DC & RF magnetron sputtering, electrochemical anodization, PVD growth in tubular furnace, electron microscopy (SEM/TEM), UV-Vis spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry, FT-IR in vacuum, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, solar simulator, external/internal quantum efficiency. Such instrumentation is complementary with other techniques in the other labs. Some overlap exists, which can guarantee validation of experimental results and robust conclusions in the framework of the networking activities.