Despite the current progresses of modern medicine, the resistance of malignant tumors to present medical treatments points to the necessity of developing new therapeutic approaches. In recent years, numerous studies have focused their attention on the promising use of nanomaterials, like iron oxide nanowires, zinc oxide or mesoporous silica nanoparticles, for cancer and metastasis treatment with the advantage of operating directly at the bio-molecular scale. Among them, carbon nanotubes emerged as valid candidates not only for drug delivery, but also as a valuable tool in cancer imaging and physical ablation. Nevertheless, deep investigations about carbon nanotubes’ potential bio-compatibility and cytotoxicity limits should be also critically addressed. In the present review, after introducing carbon nanotubes and their promising advantages and drawbacks for fighting cancer, we want to focus on the numerous and different ways in which they can assist to reach this goal. Specifically, we report on how they can be used not only for drug delivery purposes, but also as a powerful ally to develop effective contrast agents for tumors’ medical or photodynamic imaging, to perform direct physical ablation of metastasis, as well as gene therapy.

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Molecular Quantum Dot Cellular Automata, also called mQCA, are among the most promising emerging technologies for the expected theoretical operating frequencies (THz), the high device densities and the non-cryogenic working temperature. Due to the small size of a mQCA cell, based on one or two molecules, the device prototyping and even a simple circuit fabrication are limited by the lack of control in the technological process. In this paper, we performed an analysis of the possible fabrication defects of a molecular QCA wire built with adhoc synthesized bis-ferrocene molecules. We evaluated the fault tolerance of a real QCA device and accessed its performance in non ideal conditions due to the fabrication criticalities we are facing in our experiments. We achieved these results by defining a new methodology for the fault analysis in the mQCA technology, based both on ab-initio simulations and theoretical computations.The results obtained give quantitative information on the Safe-Operating-Area (SOA) of a bisferrocene molecular wire, and represent an important feedback to improve the technological process for the final experimental set-up.

The perspective of downscaling organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) in the nanorange is approached by depositing poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) on electrodes with a nanogap designed and fabricated by electromigration induced break junction (EIBJ) technique. The electrical response of the fabricated devices is obtained by acquiring transfer characteristics in order to clarify the specific main characteristics of OECTs with sub‐micrometer‐sized active channels (nanogap‐OECTs). On the basis of their electrical response to different scan times, the nanogap‐OECT shows a maximum transconductance unaffected upon changing scan times in the time window from 1 s to 100 µs, meaning that fast varying signals can be easily acquired with unchanged amplifying performance. Hence, the scaling down of the channel size to the nanometer scale leads to a geometrical paradigm that minimizes effects on device response due to the cationic diffusion into the polymeric channel. A comprehensive study of these features is carried out by an electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) study, complemented by a quantitative analysis made by equivalent circuits. The propagation of a redox front into the polymer bulk due to ionic diffusion also known as the “intercalation pseudocapacitance” is identified as a limiting factor for the transduction dynamics.

The sensing capabilities of zinc oxide nano/micro-structures have been widely investigated and these structures are frequently used in the fabrication of cutting-edge sensors. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the multi-sensing abilities of this material. In this work, we present an efficient multisensor based on a single zinc oxide microwire/gold junction. The device is able to detect in real time three different stimuli, UV-VIS light, temperature and pH variations. This is thanks to three properties of zinc oxide its photoconductive response, pyroelectricity and surface functionalization with amino-propyl groups, respectively. The three stimuli can be detected either simultaneously or in a sequence/random order. A specific mathematical tool was also developed, together with a design of experiments (DoE), to predict the performances of the sensor. Our micro-device allows reliable and versatile real-time measurements of UV-VIS light, temperature and pH variations. Therefore, it shows great potential for use in the field of sensing for living cell cultures.

The aim of this paper is to provide a real time monitoring of the performances of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) employing two different anode configurations with a mixed consortia coming from seawater: a planar structure, constituted by carbon felt, and an innovative 3Dpacked structure, constituted by graphitized Berl saddles. A detailed exam of the dynamical behavior of the two cells is presented in order to analyze the differences between planar and 3D-packed structures. Both the bacteria communities composition and MFCs electrical properties have been monitored over 31 days. The effects on the cell performances of the start-up phase, of the feeding operation and of an external applied resistance are discussed.The energy losses inside the MFCs along time, before and after refill of chemical solutions have been obtained by means of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Results show that after 10 days of operations the total internal resistances decreased of about 30% and 2 50% for carbon felt and graphitized saddles anodes, respectively. The reduction of internal resistances is in agreement with improved performance in terms of power density.Moreover, for both MFCs the refill operation leads to a reduction of the impedances, in particular the anodic resistances decreases while the ohmic and the cathodic ones are quite unaffected. In addition, the energy production of the two devices was studied applying resistive loads for 10 days. The saddle-MFC presents more stable voltage values if compared to the other cell, implying a larger energy production over time. Finally, Quantitative realtime Polymerase Chain Reaction analysis, performed over the whole period of investigation on planktonic phase, reveals the presence of two typical electrogens bacteria, such as Geobacter and Shewanella.

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In this research work, we develop a prototype that is able to convert mechanical strain into an electrical signal. To reach this scope, we evaluated the electrical properties of a thermally annealed biochar-based silicon composite. The great elasticity range of silicon will provide the mechanical properties for the realization of an effective piezoresistive material. For the fulfillment of this aim, we annealed olive biochar at 1500 °C in order to achieve a good degree of graphitization and an electrical conductivity close to 10 3 S/m. The electrical conductivity under the mechanical stress of composites was deeply investigated through experiments and simulation to achieve a comprehensive knowledge. Furthermore, a real device based on these composites was designed and realized to demonstrate one of the prospective exploitations of the composite piezoresistive properties.