CeraMat

The bottom ashes coming from two different municipal solid waste incinerators were vitrified at 1400 _C. The obtained glass, mixed with other wastes coming from metallurgical and mineral industrial wastes, was used as raw material for the production of glass-ceramic tiles. Two different mixtures were used for the tile production: (a) glass from bottom ashes plus corundum-based waste from an aluminum foundry and (b) glass from bottom ashes plus kaolin-based waste from the kaolin ore extraction process.

A protective coating for SiC fiber reinforced borosilicate glass-matrix composites based on zinc borosilicate (ZBS) glass-ceramic was developed. The coating was deposited on the composite surfaces by a simple and cost-effective method, based on slurry dipping followed by a densification and crystallisation stage carried out at optimised temperature and holding time. The coatings were shown to be able to withstand temperatures of up to 700 °C without softening and without exhibiting microcracking.

We report on a simple, fast and low-cost synthesis procedure for the complete covering of zinc oxide (ZnO) 1D nanostructures with a protective shell of titania (TiO2) nanoparticles. ZnO nanowires (NWs) were grown on transparent F-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) conductive layer on glass by seed layer-assisted hydrothermal route in aqueous media, while the titania shell was deposited on the ZnO NWs through an in situ non-acid sol-gel synthesis. The nanowires impregnation time in the titania sol was varied from 3 to 10 min.

A method for the preparation of TiO2 thick films made of anatase nanocrystallites and featuring a mesoporous structure is described. Modification of a typical sol–gel synthesis that uses Titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) as precursor, through both the incorporation of a non-ionic surfactant (Tween 20) and the optimization of thermal treatments, allows to increase the thickness of each spin-coated layer, and to obtain by successive runs porous, transparent, homogeneous and crackless films with thickness up to 1.2 μm.

TiO2 nanotube (NT) arrays with different lengths were fabricated by anodic oxidation of Ti foil and free-standing NT membranes were detached by the metal substrate and bonded on the fluorine-doped tin oxide surface implementing an easy procedure. Morphology of the as-grown material and of the prepared photoanode was investigated by means of electron microscopy, deepening the investigation on the thermal treatment effect.

In the present work, the fabrication and characterization of non-curling, free-standing TiO2 nanotube membranes and their integration in front-side illuminated dye-sensitized solar cells are reported. Vertically oriented TiO2 nanotube arrays were fabricated by anodic oxidation of a titanium foil. Nanotube membranes were detached from the metallic foil, transferred and bonded on transparent fluorine-doped tin oxide/glass substrates employing a TiO2 sol as a binder.