Emilia Gambale - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Emilia Gambale

Plants

Indoor farming of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) under artificial lighting to support year-round pro... more Indoor farming of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) under artificial lighting to support year-round produce demand is an area of increasing interest. Literature data indicate that diverse light regimes differently affect downstream metabolic pathways which influence basil growth, development and metabolism. In this study, basil was grown from seedlings to fully developed plants in a microcosm, an innovative device aimed at growing plants indoor as in natural conditions. Specifically, the effects of white (W) and blue-red (BR) light under a photosynthetic photon flux density of 255 μmol m−2 s−1 on plant growth, photochemistry, soluble nutrient concentration and secondary metabolism were investigated. Plants grew taller (41.8 ± 5.0 vs. 28.4 ± 2.5 cm) and produced greater biomass (150.3 ± 24.2/14.7 ± 2.0 g vs. 116.2 ± 28.3/12.3 ± 2.5 g fresh/dry biomass) under W light compared to BR light. The two lighting conditions differently influenced the soluble nutrient concentration and the transloca...

Aluminium induced texture (AIT) method has been pursued as an effective technological approach fo... more Aluminium induced texture (AIT) method has been pursued as an effective technological approach for obtaining highly textured glass substrate suitable for silicon based thin film solar cells technology. AIT process parameters have been varied according to an optimization procedure. Morphological and optical characterizations have been carry out on different textured glasses. A glass surface texture has been optimized in terms of U-shaped uniform cavities and an average haze value of 27% has been obtained. ZnO:Ga (GZO) film has been deposited by sputtering technique on optimized AIT-processed glass. This textured front electrode has been utilized for fabricating amorphous silicon based p-i-n devices. The large quantum efficiency enhancement, in the entire wavelength region of interest, has been attributed both to light trapping phenomenon and to effective anti-reflective optical behaviour.

$Research paper thumbnail of Refractive index measurement in TCO layers for micro optoelectronic devices$

2014 29th International Conference on Microelectronics Proceedings - MIEL 2014, 2014

The operation of micro-optoelectronic devices relies on optical properties of materials, first of... more The operation of micro-optoelectronic devices relies on optical properties of materials, first of all the wavelength dependent refractive index. Standard measurement techniques are often prone to significant ambiguities caused by the periodic nature of the optical response. In this paper we propose a procedure which exploits transmittance measurements, performed at variable light incidence angle, to reconstruct the complex refractive index as a function of the wavelength. Experiments performed on a thin TCO layer prove the reliability of the method.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 2009

An innovative fabrication procedure has been developed to obtain YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) nanobridges f... more An innovative fabrication procedure has been developed to obtain YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) nanobridges from c-axis oriented films. The novelty regards the use of a thin titanium mask used in the patterning process. The use of the Ti makes simpler the fabrication procedure guaranteeing high quality devices, as demonstrated by transport measurements. Critical temperatures and critical current densities scale with the width

Applied Sciences

In this work, tungsten nitrides sputtered at different powers supplied to a W target (300 W, 500 ... more In this work, tungsten nitrides sputtered at different powers supplied to a W target (300 W, 500 W, 700 W) and proposed for solar thermal applications as part of solar absorbers, as active and robust materials for capacity energy storage and as plasma-facing materials were annealed in vacuum at medium-high temperatures (470 °C, 580 °C) and characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), AFM, micro-Raman, FTIR, UV–VIS–-NIR, sheet, surficial energy and wetting angle measurements. From the overall set of analyses, some important modifications and differences between samples after annealing emerged (which will be useful for selecting them for specific applications) and have been correlated to sputtered W metallic clusters’ ability to adsorb, form complexes with and react with the strong N2 triple bond under the various plasma conditions of a reactive sputtering process. In particular, the 300 W film of poor crystalline quality as deposited, after annealing released entrapped nitrogen...

Journal of Energy and Power Technology, 2021

This study deals with the production of zinc silicate thin films employing a solid-state reaction... more This study deals with the production of zinc silicate thin films employing a solid-state reaction at temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 560 °C, to develop new inorganic, n-type materials with seemingly incompatible properties as low work function, high mobility, and high visible transmittance. Depending on a careful reaction control, zinc silicates can preserve reagents (silicon and/or ZnO) as nanoaggregate guests, exhibiting tunable light absorption and emission properties that make them useful for different applications, e.g., LED phosphors, photovoltaic windows, mesoporous photocatalytic materials for solar fuel production, etc. The main aim of this work is to obtain a zinc silicate single-phase and then determine its dielectric properties through ellipsometry. Simultaneously, as an example of application, a p-n photovoltaic junction is fabricated that exhibits a remarkable collection of photo-generated charge carriers at very high bandgaps (>2 eV). The obtained results are p...

Energies, 2021

Soiling severely reduces solar mirror performance, requiring dispendious water consumption for cl... more Soiling severely reduces solar mirror performance, requiring dispendious water consumption for cleaning operations and causing an increase in the levelized cost of energy (LCOE). An emerging technology for facing this problem consists of developing transparent self-cleaning coatings, able to be washed with a small amount of water by virtue of the modulation of surficial wetting properties. Nevertheless, the beneficial effects of coatings decrease in the first year, and coated mirrors show even higher soiling than non-coated ones. Moreover, it is important that coating production processes are economically convenient, consistent with the intended reduction of overall costs. The aim of this work is the research and development of a cheap and scalable solution, compatible with mirror fabrication steps and, in such a sense, economically advantageous. It involves the substitution of the alumina last layer of solar mirrors with more hydrophobic, potentially auxetic aluminum compounds, suc...

Translational medicine @ UniSa, 2013

Statistics has often been misunderstood in Medicine, but it is indispensable knowledge both for t... more Statistics has often been misunderstood in Medicine, but it is indispensable knowledge both for the experimenter and the reader. Statistical methods allow to study diseases, patients, and epidemiological events. The modern researcher cannot refuse to know and to use statistics. A deeper understanding is required to prepare a research project and to avoid colossal mistakes of misleading. The aim of this paper is to provide an organized and structured point of view on the use of statistics in Medicine and Research, showing the principal resources to organize a scientific study from the declaration of a hypothesis to the report of the results.

$Research paper thumbnail of Advances in <formula formulatype="inline"><tex>${\hbox{YBa}}_{2}{\hbox{Cu}}_{3}{\hbox{O}}_{7-\delta}$</tex> </formula> Grain Boundary Biepitaxial Josephson Junctions: Transport Properties and Mesoscopic Effects$

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 2007

We report on the latest developments in the study of transport properties of YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBC... more We report on the latest developments in the study of transport properties of YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO)-based grain boundary (GB) biepitaxial Josephson junctions. We have successfully extended the fabrication process, originally developed for (110) oriented SrTiO3 substrates, to (110) oriented LaAlO3 substrates in view of microwave applications. We will report, also, on the observation of conductance fluctuations, we believe related to the

Energies, 2020

A radiative cooling device, based on a metamaterial able to mirror solar radiation and emit heat ... more A radiative cooling device, based on a metamaterial able to mirror solar radiation and emit heat toward the universe by the transparency window of the atmosphere (8–13 µm), reaching and maintaining temperatures below ambient air, without any electricity input (passive), could have a significant impact on energy consumption of buildings and positive effects on the global warming prevention. A similar device is expected to properly work if exposed to the nocturnal sky, but during the daytime, its efficacy could be affected by its own heating under direct sunlight. In scientific literature, there are only few evidences of lab scale devices, acting as passive radiative cooling at daytime, and remaining few degrees below ambient air. This work describes the proof of concept of a daytime passive radiative cooler, entirely developed in ENEA labs, capable to reach well 12 °C under ambient temperature. In particular, the prototypal device is an acrylic box case, filled with noble gas, whose ...

$Research paper thumbnail of Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in YBa_ {2} Cu_ {3} O_ {7− δ} grain boundary junctions at low temperature$

Translational Medicine @ UniSa, 2013