A Cyber-Physical System for In-operando Monitoring and Diagnostics of Battery Cells 

The project aims at developing a multi-parameter smart sensor network (including related models/algorithms for the interpretation and exploitation of data in terms of cell operation/state) to be deployed on each single battery cell and capable of measuring different physical quantities in the time/space/frequency domains.

Effective Light management in 2D perOvskite absorbeRs for A disruptive tanDem phOtovoltaic technology. (ELDORADO)

Photovoltaic solar energy conversion to electricity is growing as a significant player of the forthcoming renewable revolution. The lowering of the cost of established technologies and the development of new active materials is providing more effective solutions to attract investments in photovoltaics. In this context, the aim of ELDORADO project is to open a new pathway to the integration of an active layer of 2D perovskites with dielectric nanoparticles (NPs) into the top cell (TC) of a tandem solar device with the goal of optimizing the light management and consequently also the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device. In fact, despite tremendous effort spent on that topic, the best performing 3D perovskite/Si tandem device still far from the theoretical predicted PCE limit.

2D perovskites present strikingly different optoelectronic properties with respect to the 3D materials that can be exploited for a new concept of tandem PV. In recent years, it has been discovered that layered 2D perovskites can be engineered to funnel energy and/or charge carriers from thinner to thicker quantum wells located on opposite sides of the film. Such layered systems can direct transfer energy in a manner similar to a natural light-harvesting antenna, enhancing the charge separation.

Boosting of the device performance will also be carried out by light management introducing dielectric NPs inside the active layer of 2D perovskite and/or within charge transporting layers. Indeed, the proposed light management strategy aims to tune the perovskite TC light harvesting to maximize the tandem device PCE, efficiently managing the photon capture in the range of 600 - 780 nm, where the extinction coefficient of the perovskites rapidly decays while the Si bottom cell effectively generates charges.

The role of the simulations will be fundamental in driving the production of the optimal composition of the 2D perovskite active layer, the implementation of the most efficient light management strategy and the optimization of the final tandem device.

ELDORADO has three main sequential objectives, the first of which is the development of a 2D perovskite active layer where an efficient 2D or quasi-2D perovskite absorber layer will be optimized for a tandem device with a c-Si bottom cell. The optimal composition of the perovskite material will be guided by simulations and advanced characterization optimizing the light harvesting and transmission. The second objective is the development of a suitable layer of Si NPs to be inserted into the perovskite absorber or at the 2D perovskite/charge transporting layer interfaces to optimize the light management and the efficiency of the device. The third and last objective is the realization of a tandem proof-of-concept perovskite/c-Si tandem device employing a two-terminal mechanically stacked architecture with PCE above the current state of the art.

Dress the future: novel combined wearable integrated systems 

Emotion recognition is a topic in the area of human interactions. Physiological signals seem to be an appropriate way for emotion recognition and specific sensors are required to collect these data. This project, whose title we summarized with the acronym STARGATE (DreSs The future: novel combined weARable inteGrAted sysTEms), presents an emotion recognition system based on physiological signals. In particular, we want to realize a multi-sensors wearable device able to recognize emotions. While several embedded sensors and actuators have been proposed in the literature, only specifically tailored solutions are usually encountered (e.g. smartwatches, clips that may be applied to glasses, biosensors embedded in a dress fabric…), lacking a unified framework that may connect many devices. Filling this gap may permit the realization of advanced interactive personal area networks based on embedded wearable devices, capable for instance of monitoring a person’s emotions, assessing the stress level, and reacting accordingly. To this aim the project team includes both STEM Research Units, covering both the skills required to realize technology-intensive items (i.e. embedded sensing of physical and chemical quantities, materials, embedded small-sized electronics, data transfer protocols, and estimation algorithms) and a Research Unit from an Academy of Fine Arts, whole skills will permit to identity significant applications of the frameworks, identifying case studies that will be translated into prototypes.  

New sensors and measurement techniques for underground monitoring and mapping

Pollution is a threat to human health. The diffusion of polluting agents is a leading cause of environmental pollution of all key spheres including the hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere, among others. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states "Soil pollution affects the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe". The constrast to the pollution diffusion is efficient in the presence of instruments to measure its level and to monitor its progress.

The results envisioned by this project will enable the possibility of developing an autonomous vehicle (drilling robot for example) equipped with a measurement and location system allowing the automatic execution of measurements. This will support the real-time and in-process monitoring of the generation and release of environmental pollutants to restrain the level of contamination itself and quickly program and operate a timely  and personalized recovery strategy. Measuring the position of an autonomous vehicle into the underground requires the development of new localization techniques. The measurements of pollutants also provide indications for more detailed and more targeted subsequent laboratory analysis operations.

Moreover, the development of cost-effective techniques both for measurement and positioning favors the diffusion of instrumentations to increase the operation of quantification of environmental damage, thus satisfying the emergency needs of the near future.

The 6 DOF Finger Tracking project is an inter-academic collaboration supported by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) through the grant PRIN 2015 (Projects of Relevant National Interest, project code: 2015C37B25).

Project partners are research groups in electronic measurements at the University of Perugia, at the University of Brescia and at the University of Cassino

The project aims at the development of a new Short Range Wireless Positioning technology, applied to innovative data gloves and wearable biometric systems for biomedical activities