Domenico Frattini

• PhD in Industrial Engineering
• PostDoc Position at CIC Energigune

State‐of‐the‐art perovskite‐based electrocatalysts for zinc−air batteries (ZABs) may include one or more Critical Raw Materials (CRMs) like Co, Ru, and rare earth elements, for oxygen reduction/evolution reactions. Under the warnings described by the CRMs Act in Europe, future research in this field must limit the use of these elements, find more s...

Flexible zinc‐air batteries are based on gel polymer electrolytes (GPE), soft, semi‐solid components devoted to liquid electrolyte retention, ion conduction, and mechanical stability. Many synthetic polymers, and their blends, have been used in early works due to the good compromise between ionic conductivity, electrolyte retention, and mechanical...

Secondary zinc-air batteries (ZABs) offer a promising alternative for the future of sustainable energy storage. However, the current capability of secondary ZABs is far from satisfactory. The limitations for achieving high reversibility are mainly related to the bifunctional air electrodes as it severely hampers practical applications and commercia...

Presently, primary Zinc-air batteries (ZaBs), with a KOH-based liquid electrolyte, represent the first applied metal-air battery and the most prevalent non-Li technology. The ZaBs’ barrier to challenge Li-ion batteries is...

The present study has been conducted to contribute, once and for all, filling the lack of structural information for the whole class of rare earth (RE) carbonates owning the tengerite-(Y) structure. A complete structural characterization, carried out by Rietveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) data, was comparatively performed for the...

The use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is quickly spreading in the fields of bioenergy generation and wastewater treatment, as well as in the biosynthesis of valuable compounds for microbial electrolysis cells (MECs). MFCs and MECs have not been able to penetrate the market as economic feasibility is lost when their performances are boosted by nano...

Power plants based on solar energy are spreading to accomplish the incoming green energy transition. Besides, affordable high-temperature sensible heat thermal energy storage (SHTES) is required. In this work, the temperature distribution and thermal performance of novel solid media for SHTES are investigated by finite element method (FEM) modellin...

Next-generation wearable technology needs portable flexible energy storage, conversion, and biosensor devices that can be worn on soft and curved surfaces. The conformal integration of these devices requires the use of soft, flexible, light materials, and substrates with similar mechanical properties as well as high performances. In this review, we...

By collecting and analyzing relevant literature results, we demonstrate that the nanostruc-turing of polypyrrole (PPy) electrodes is a crucial strategy to achieve high performance and stability in energy devices such as fuel cells, lithium batteries and supercapacitors. In this critic and comprehensive review, we focus the attention on the electroc...

Next-generation wearable technology needs portable flexible energy storage, conversion, and biosensors devices that can be worn on soft and curved surfaces. The conformal integration of these devices requires the use of soft, flexible, light materials, and substrates having similar mechanical properties as wellas highperformances. In this review, w...

Praseodymium-doped ceria electrolyte powders are synthesized by a co-precipitation method using ammonium carbonate in little excess to fabricate a stable electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cell able to operate in hydrogen conditions. Raman and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy are employed for the electrolyte characterization to check the distri...

Ceramic-derived components in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) aim to substitute Nafion 117. Ceramic membranes are a cheaper alternative and powders’ tailoring has beneficial flexibility for proper surface morphology, porosity, controlled permeability, and water uptake. In this work, differently from the fine fired ceramics or clay materials, barium-cer...

Microstructural and electrochemical investigations of bi-doped (Gd and Co) barium cerate perovskites, with theoretical formula BaCe(0.85-x)CoxGd0.15O3-δ (x = 0.02; 0.03 and 0.05) were carried out by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Rietveld refinement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical im...

Low cost graphite-cement composite (GC70S) is prepared by blending graphite, cement and fumed SiO2 to obtain nanoflowers and proposed as an alternative to common carbon-based materials in the anode of biodevices with biofilm growth. The selected anodic benchmarks are carbon felt (CF) that is cheap, flexible, porous, and conductive three-dimensional...

Entropy-Stabilized Oxides (ESO) is a modern class of multicomponent advanced ceramic materials with attractive functional properties. Through a five-component oxide formulation, the configurational entropy is used to drive the phase stabilization over a reversible solid-state transformation from a multiphase to a single-phase state. In this paper,...

Using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) for lactate detection in biosensors is fascinating but still challenging because in-situ bioelectrochemical sensors are still at the research stage due to the lack of reliable information about the direct electrochemistry of systems not involving redox mediators. To provide reliable information, the direct electroc...

The reduction of the sintering temperature of doped ceria ceramics remains an open challenge for their real exploitation as electrolytes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cell (IT-SOFCs) at the industrial level. In this work, we have used Bi (0.5 and 2 mol %) as the sintering aid for Gd (20 mol %)-doped ceria. Nano-sized powders of Bi/G...

The behavior of gold nanoparticles grown atop a polyethyleneimine functionalized carbon felt substrate is explored for the first time. This green synthesis growth process utilizes surface-bound seeds and an exploration of the effect of a surfactant ligand mediator on the directional growth of the gold nanoparticles. Rough, irregularly shaped, and w...

Yeast from the species S. cerevisiae can naturally secrete three quorum sensing (QS) molecules in a certain ratio to regulate metabolism and cellular growth, and to exchange with the surrounding medium. Phenylethanol and tryptophol are considered the predominant QS molecular components with tyrosol being the third. In this work, each of these three...

In this work, nanoparticles of cerium hydroxycarbonates were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal treatment at 120°C with ammonium carbonate as the precipitating/mineralizer agent in diluted solution. The as-formed amorphous coprecipitate undergoes several morphological and structural modifications as a function of the duration of the hydrothermal...

Gd0.2-xPrxCe0.8O1.90, (x = 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08, 0.10) has been synthesized by means of a simple co-precipitation route based on ammonium carbonate as the precipitating agent. The as-synthesized precursors are cerium-gadolinium-praseodymium amorphous hydroxycarbonates, which are nanometric in size with highly homogeneous morphology, leading to...

The thermal degradation related to stability in long-term storage of a carbon nanotube-based biosensor has been investigated. The effect of storage temperature on detachment and denaturation of glucose oxidase (GOx) biocatalyst has been proved. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with polyethyleneimine (PEI) as entrapping polymer to attract more GOx...

In this work the influence of two practical parameters, i.e. glucose concentration and glucose/yeast ratio, on performance of yeast-based microbial fuel cells (yeast-MFC) is investigated. The novel carbon felt pretreated with polyethylenimine is adopted as anode in open-air single chamber yeast-MFCs. The combination of the two parameters is optimiz...

The electron transfer mechanisms of yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae employing two different mediators, methylene blue (MB) and methyl red (MR), are suggested. The effects of the mediators on Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) performances are investigated when yeast and glucose are the biocatalyst and the substrate, respectively. Yeast tends to stand as fl...

To improve the microstructural and electrochemical properties of gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) electrolytes, materials co-doped with 0.5–2 mol% of lithium and cobalt oxides were successfully prepared in a one-step sol gel combustion synthesis route. Vegard's slope theory was used to predict the dopant solubility and the sintering behaviour. The char...

Variously co-doped Samaria-20 mol% doped ceria (SDC20) nanopowders were synthesized through a combined co-precipitation/hydrothermal treatment method under different carbonate environments. Urea and ammonium carbonate were used as both precipitating and mineralizing agent. In all cases, the adopted powder composition was Ce0.8Sm0.16 ×0.04O1.9-δ, wh...

Nanometric powders of doped and co-doped ceria based ceramics with spherical-like morphology and characterized by very low degree of agglomeration, were prepared by using a simple and cheap synthesis route, easily scalable on industrial level, based on an optimized co-precipitation process with ammonium carbonate as precipitating agent. The as-synt...

To improve the microstructural and electrochemical properties of Gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) electrolytes, materials co-doped ceria with bismuth oxide (1–5 mol%) have been successfully prepared in a one-step sol-gel combustion synthetic route. Sol-gel combustion facilitates molecular mixing of the precursors and substitution of the large Bi3+ cati...

In this work the positive effect of zirconia nanoparticles in Nickel-Aluminum anodes is investigated. Results showed that, as the zirconia content increases, bending strength and creep resistance are improved. Mechanical strength increases from 5.94 to 11.38 kgf cm⁻² and creep is reduced up to 3.31%. Morphology and microstructural analysis revealed...

Nanocrystalline Samarium (20 mol%)-doped ceria (SDC20) nanopowders were prepared using a combined co-precipitation/hydrothermal treatment synthesis route carried out at reduced temperature (120 °C). The amorphous precursor experiences some microstructural transformations during the hydrothermal treatment, and after 16 h a Samarium-Cerium hydroxide...

The anode materials of MCFC require more investigations in order to boost performances at long term. In literature, many NiAl modified alloys have been proposed but not always enhanced cell performance and improved mechanical properties are achieved together. In this work, differently from previous literature, the use of Ti in a NiAl/Ti system is p...

In this study Scandia-doped zirconia co-doped with MgO, (MgO)0.03(ZrO2)0.88(Sc2O3)0.09, was synthetized by using the urea co-precipitation method in hot aqueous solution. MgO was added to prevent the transformation of cubic fluorite Sc-doped ZrO2 into rhombohedral phase, with worst electrical properties. The as-prepared powders were completely amor...

Ammonia is one of the most produced chemicals worldwide and is currently synthesized using nitrogen separated from air and hydrogen from natural gas reforming with consequent high consumption of fossil fuel and high emission of CO2. A renewable path for ammonia production is desirable considering the potential development of ammonia as energy carri...

Anode materials in Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells should have high creep resistance and good mechanical behavior to endure in high temperature-corrosive environments. In this work, zirconia nanoparticles (1-10% wt.) are added to NiAl anodes in order to investigate their effects on mechanical properties and single cell performances. Results show that n...

In this work, experimental results on the behavior of single chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cells, fed by composite food waste, are illustrated. Specific interest has been focused on the presence/absence of a Nafion membrane, the influence of horizontal/vertical cell layout and on the amount of water inside the cells, in order to evaluate the p...

In this work, the technology to produce an innovative composite, characterized by low fabrication costs and high performance, is briefly described. The matrix is a porous aggregate for lightweight concretes, obtained from expanded clay, the dispersed phase is a recycled paraffinic wax with a high storage capacity, which is the effective Phase Chang...

Molten Carbonate fuel cell (MCFCs) are being applied in commercial power devices due to their high electrical efficiency and fuel flexibility. The anode material in MCFC should have high melting temperature, excellent oxidation resistance, good creep resistance and a good fracture toughness to be successfully used in such environments. In this work...

Molten Carbonate fuel cell (MCFCs) are being applied in commercial power devices due to their high electrical efficiency and fuel flexibility. The anode material in MCFC should have high melting temperature, excellent oxidation resistance, good creep resistance and a good fracture toughness to be successfully used in such environments. In this work...

The reliable use of alternative solid electrolytes in an intermediate temperature range, namely 600-800°C, is desired to extend life time of employed materials, and to simplify the thermal management in solid oxide fuel cells. Actually, operations in this range are limited, mainly due to the absence of appropriate electrolytes that ensure high perf...

In actual nanotechnology field, the development of new materials with tailored structures, from molecular to the nanometric scale, is very fast and many improvements have been made. In the last decades a remarkable progress in fuel cells performance has been due to the use of advanced nanocomposites. In this work, an overview of the transversal rol...

Solid Oxide Electrolyser (SOE), can operate with high efficiency as hydrogen produce using renewable energy coming from renewable energy source (RES). This technology can be integrated in many industrial plant reducing the requirement of traditional fossil sources and increasing the sustainability of the process. In addition, if an heat source is a...

Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) is considered as a clean power generation technology and it is in the early stage of market diffusion. However, the lifetime of MCFC is not long enough, namely 4 years of operation, and this short lifetime causes high maintenance costs and a limited diffusion. The development of durable components of MCFC is very i...

Background: Gadolinium-doped ceria (GDC) is a promising alternative as a solid electrolyte for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (ITSOFCs) due to its low operating temperature and its high electrical conductivity. The traditional synthesis processes require extended time for powder preparation. Sol-gel methodology for electrolyte fab...

Cathode is the most problematic component in single chamber air-cathode cells, due to diffusion and crossover issues of oxygen. In this work, graphite-cement composites, with graphite content up to 80% w/w on dry basis, have been prepared and characterized, in order to apply them in microbial fuel cell fed by composite food waste. The key feature o...

An innovative composite material characterized by high fire resistance, low fabrication costs and high mechanical performances, useful for applications in the field of thermal storage is here described. The matrix is constituted by a geopolymer-based composite material, containing an epoxy melamine resin as organic component. The dispersed phase is...

Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) are electrochemical bioreactors which employ microbial metabolism to oxidize an organic substrate and, as traditional fuel cells, directly produce electric power. MFCs performance is greatly affected by different aspects such as chemical properties of the fuel, bacterial metabolism, electrodes materials and surfaces, pH...

Efficient systems for high performance buildings are required to improve the integration of renewable energy sources and to reduce primary energy consumption from fossil fuels. This paper is focused on sensible heat thermal energy storage (SHTES) systems using solid media and numerical simulation of their transient behavior using the finite element...

This paper is focused on sensible heat thermal energy storage in solid media and its numerical analysis of transient behaviour during charging/discharging phase. The thermal performance of different storage materials has been investigated using the finite element method through modelling a differential element. Its parameters such as: volume, total...

Recent developments in the numerical modeling of the thermal behavior of concrete, demand the development of real models to submit to characterization in order to generate the data useful to refine the iterative process. Creation and validation of a CFD-based model tool, for design and evaluation of a Sensible Heat Thermal Energy Storage (SHTES) mo...