Fiorenza Fanelli

Italian National Research Council | CNR · Institute of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds ICCOM

An aerosol-assisted plasma process was used to deposit, at low temperature and atmospheric pressure, photocatalytic hydrocarbon polymer/TiO2 nanoparticles nanocomposite coatings onto both flat glass slides and open-cell polyurethane foams. Various characterization techniques were used to demonstrate the potential of the developed process for the co...

Photoreduction of CO2 with sunlight to produce solar fuels, also named artificial photosynthesis, is considered one of the most attractive strategies to face the challenge of reducing greenhouse gases and achieving climate neutrality. Following an approach in line with the principles of the circular economy, the low-cost catalytic system (1) based...

This paper reports the optimization of a two-step atmospheric pressure plasma process to modify the surface properties of a polyurethane (PU) foam and, specifically, to prepare a super-hydrophobic/superoleophilic absorbent for the removal of oils and nonpolar organic solvents from water. In particular, in the first step, an oxygen-containing dielec...

Exsolution of metal nanoparticles (NPs) on perovskite oxides has been demonstrated as a reliable strategy for producing catalyst‐support systems. Conventional exsolution requires high temperatures for long periods of time, limiting the selection of support materials. Plasma direct exsolution is reported at room temperature and atmospheric pressure...

This study focuses on metal/polymer nanocomposite thin films made by atmospheric pressure Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition. The aerosol of isopropanol-dissolved tetrachloroauric acid (HAuCl4:3H2O gold salt) is injected in a dielectric barrier discharge to synthesize plasmonic nanocomposite thin films. Argon is used as carrier gas with or w...

Due to the pollution problem, the use of more sustainable materials with a reduced environmental impact, spanning across biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, is growing worldwide in many different fields, particularly when referring to applications in Life Sciences. Accordingly, with the aim of developing multifunctional materials for potentia...

This work accounts for the first example of dry Kiwi Peels to remove emerging pollutants from water. Both the inner and outer sides of Kiwi Peels were characterized by using in synergy FTIR-ATR, TG, and SEM analyses before and after its use and re-use, proposing it as long-lasting, recyclable adsorbent material. Among the tested 14 emerging polluta...

During the last decades, the demand for processes developed according to the Circular Economy Principles has increased, searching for an alternative life for wastes. For this purpose, a one-pot green approach is exploited during this work to synthesize gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by using grape pomace waste from Vitis vinifera. A raw aqueous extract...

Low-temperature atmospheric pressure (AP) plasma technologies have recently proven to offer a range of interesting opportunities for the preparation of a variety of nanocomposite (NC) coatings with different chemical compositions, structures, and morphologies. Since the late 2000s, numerous strategies have been implemented for the deposition of thi...

Plasma Enhanced–Chemical Vapor Deposition (PE-CVD) of polyethylene oxide-like (PEO)-like coatings represent a successful strategy to address cell-behavior on biomaterials. Indeed, one of the main drawbacks of organic and hydrophilic films, like PEO-like ones, often consists in their poor adhesion to the substrate, especially in biological fluids wh...

In this work, for the first time, snail slime from garden snails "Helix Aspersa Müller", has been used to induce the formation of eco-friendly gold nanoparticles (AuNPs-SS) suitable for biomedical applications. An AuNPs-SS comprehensive investigation was performed and AuNPs with an average particle size of 14 ± 6 nm were observed, stabilized by a s...

Polymeric films containing hydrophilic and hydrophobic functionalities are of interest for several applications, from biomaterials to fuel cells. In this study, we report on the plasma copolymerization of hexafluoropropene - acrylic acid mixtures. By finely tuning the monomers’ ratio and the plasma power, it is possible to adjust the relative amoun...

Iron oxide thin films for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting were deposited by radiofrequency sputtering of an iron target in argon/oxygen plasma mixtures, followed by thermal annealing. The chemical composition and structure of deposited film can be tuned by controlling the gas feed composition and the annealing temperature. The thermal tr...

The atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasma treatment of open-cell polyurethane foams is carried out using dielectric barrier discharges fed with helium and oxygen mixtures. During plasma processes, the discharge is ignited both outside the foam and within its porous structure to achieve the three-dimensional surface modification of the entire...

The direct interaction of atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasmas with tyrosinase (Tyr) was investigated under typical conditions used in surface processing. Specifically, Tyr dry deposits were exposed to dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) fed with helium, helium/oxygen, andhelium/ethylenemixtures,andeffectsonenzymefunctionalitywereevaluated....

Thin films containing carboxylic acid groups are deposited on open-cell polyurethane (PU) foams by using an atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium plasma jet, in dielectric barrier discharge configuration, fed with helium, acrylic acid and ethylene. The arrangement of the plasma jet, the sample holder, and the substrate is carefully optimized to enab...

Highly ordered Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles (MSNs), belonging to MCM-41 family (100 nm wide), with a mean pore size of about 4 nm, are used as carrier for the hydrophobic photosensitizer (PS) Chlorophyll a (Chl) in water medium. In future perspective to study the proposed system in Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and/or in antimicrobial-PDT (aPDT), a...

Dispersions of oleate-capped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) in binary n-octane/1,7-octadiene solvent mixtures are injected, in aerosol form, in a dielectric barrier discharge to deposit hydrocarbon polymer/ZnO nanoparticles nanocomposite (NC) thin films at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. The chemical composition of the coatings, and in turn the...

A comprehensive study of the interaction of cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPs) with dry enzymes is conducted to identify the experimental conditions that allow preserving enzyme functionality. Glucose oxidase (GOx) dry deposits are exposed to dielectric barrier discharges fed with pure helium, helium–oxygen, and helium–ethylene mixtures. The...

One of the major problems related to the use of dyes in industrial applications is their elimination from the water or soil and eventually their recovery and reutilization. In this context, a new biocompatible material, previously considered suitable for biomedical applications, is presented for the first time, as an innovative adsorbent material f...

Hypothesis: The interesting properties of Gold Nanoparticles (AuNPs) make them attractive for different application fields such as cosmetology, medicine and clinical nanotechnologies. In this work a fast, easy and eco-friendly method for the AuNPs synthesis is proposed by using the Punica Granatum Juice (PGJ) with potential dermatological and cosm...

Low pressure plasma was used for preparing heterogeneous organocatalysts 2-(A)-(C) suitable for dioxirane-mediated epoxidations. Heterogenization was accomplished by adsorption of the methyl perfluoroheptyl ketone (2) on fluorinated supports (A)-(C) deriving from the treatment of commercial C8-silica gel in low pressure plasma fed with fluorocarbon...

The synthesis of composites thin films made by injecting an aerosol suspension of 20nm-size TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) and isopropanol (IPA) in a filamentary argon Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) is studied as a function of the DBD frequency from 1 to 50kHz. The plasma is modulated to get homogeneous coatings. The deposition rate and morphology of...

Atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium (cold) plasma jet technology received enormous attention in surface processing of materials in the last two decades, and still continues nowadays to attract growing interest. In addition to the advantages of the atmospheric pressure operation such as the potential cost reduction of apparatuses as well as their e...

This contribution briefly reviews our recent progress in the preparation of hybrid organic/inorganic nanocomposite coatings by using an aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure cold plasma process. The deposited coatings show multifunctional behavior due to the combination at the nanoscale level of the specific properties of the organic and inorganic...

Plasma treatment on polyurethane foams using an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge fed with helium and oxygen allows the preparation of an innovative material for heavy metals removal from water.

In the present study, we investigate different surface pretreatments and their influence on a subsequent surface metallization. A direct liquid injection metalorganic CVD (DLI-MOCVD) process is presented for the low temperature metallization of composites, ultimately aiming at the surface functionalization of 3D parts. The process involves the orga...

Surface processing of materials by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) has experienced significant growth in recent years. Considerable research efforts have been directed for instance to develop a large variety of processes which exploit different DBD electrode geometries for the direct and remote deposition of thin films fro...

Thin films are deposited on open-cell polyurethane (PU) foams using an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) fed with helium and hexafluoropropene (C3F6). During deposition processes, a foam substrate is sandwiched between the dielectric-covered electrodes of a parallel plate DBD reactor, so that the discharge can ignite also insi...

Front Cover: Fluorocarbon coatings are deposited on opencell polyurethane foams using an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge fed with helium and hexafluoropropene. The discharge is ignited both outside and inside the three-dimensional porous structure of the foam, so that thin film deposition can be achieved on both its outer and inne...

Thin film containing carboxylic acid groups were deposited using an atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet fed with helium, acrylic acid (AA) and ethylene. A comprehensive study of coating chemical and morphological proprieties was performed, along with the analysis of the exhaust gas by gaschromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS).

Fluorocarbon coatings are deposited on polyurethane foams using an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge fed with helium and hexafluoropropene. The ignition of the atmospheric plasma inside the three-dimensional porous structure of the foams allows depositing a uniform coating within their interior.

Hydrocarbon polymer/ZnO nanoparticles nanocomposite coatings are deposited by dielectric barrier discharges fed with He and the aerosol of a dispersion of ole-ate-capped ZnO nanoparticles in n-octane/1,7-octadiene mixtures. The 1,7-octadiene content in the dispersion highly affects the chemical composition, morphology and wet-tability of the coatin...

Thin films containing carboxylic acid groups are deposited from mixtures of helium, acrylic acid, and ethylene using an atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) configuration. The influence of the feed gas composition on the properties of the deposits is investigated. As assessed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy...

A general method for the preparation of superhydrophobic organic–inorganic nanocomposite coatings by atmospheric pressure cold plasma is presented. The method consists of a single-step room-temperature aerosol-assisted deposition process in which the aerosol of a dispersion of oleate-capped ZnO nanoparticles in liquid hydrocarbon precursors (i.e.,...

Atmospheric pressure plasmas are acquiring more interest in biomedical applications where synthetic biodegradable polymers modified to impart cells adhesion properties play a crucial role. This paper shows a new approach for the bio functionalization of such materials: inclusion of a biomolecule during the plasma deposition. A dielectric barrier di...

A facile atmospheric pressure cold plasma process is presented to deposit a novel organic-inorganic hydrocarbon polymer/ZnO nanoparticles nanocomposite coating. Specifically, this method involves the utilization of an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) fed with helium and the aerosol of a dispersion of oleate-capped ZnO nanopar...

Low pressure plasma technologies have been widely and successfully utilized for the production of a large variety of organic–inorganic nanocomposite (NC) thin films consisting of metal or metal oxide nanoparticles embedded in a polymer matrix. Recently, the deposition of this class of coatings has been also accomplished by atmospheric pressure cold...

In this paper, we describe the deposition of PEO-like coatings using dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) fed with aerosols of the TEGDME organic precursor in helium. By properly tuning plasma parameters such as aerosol/carrier flow ratio, frequency of the electric field applied and input power, the deposition process could be modulated to obtain c...

Over the last ten years, expansion of atmospheric pressure plasma solutions for surface treatment of materials has been remarkable, however direct plasma technology for thin film deposition needs still great effort. The objective of this paper is to establish the state of the art on scientific and technologic locks, which have to be opened to consi...

This work describes the plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition of thin films at atmospheric pressure using dielectric barrier discharges fed with argon, oxygen and different methyldisiloxanes, i.e., hexamethyldisiloxane, pentamethyldisiloxane, and 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane. The influence of the methyldisiloxane chemical structure and of the...

A new hybrid material (3) consisting of trifluoromethyl ketone (TFMK) moieties, immobilized on silica through an appropriate spacer, was synthesized and characterized. Lacking easily oxidizable functionalities in the spacer chain, this material proved to be an excellent catalyst in heterogeneous epoxidations with potassium caroate (KHSO5), surpassi...

Nowadays, atmospheric pressure cold plasmas, particularly in dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) configuration, attract significant interest in the field of surface processing of materials. Fluorocarbon containing DBDs have also been studied, but the state of the art in this field is at its early stages, especially if compared to low pressure plasma...

Cold plasma processes for surface engineering of biomaterials and biomedical devices are traditionally performed at low pressure; more and more, though, surface modification plasma processes at atmospheric pressure are also gaining popularity. This short review is aimed to list briefly atmospheric pressure plasma processes reported, in the last dec...

This study deals with the investigation by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of the exhaust gas of an rf low pressure (LP) glow discharge and of an atmospheric pressure (AP) FDBD fed with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), O-2, and Ar. The influence of feed composition on monomer depletion and on the qualitative-quantitative distribu...

Two different dielectric barrier discharge processes are presented, fed with the aerosol of the organic precursor, to deposit -CHO containing coatings from lactic acid (pdLA) and tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (PEO-like) of possible interest in biomedical applications as biodegradable and non-fouling polymers, respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier B...

The influence of N-2, O-2, air, and water vapor feed gas impurities on the operation of an atmospheric pressure parallel plate DBD fed with helium and argon was investigated. The addition of increasing amounts of these impurities, under fixed excitation frequency and applied voltage, is responsible above certain thresholds of two distinct phenomena...

This paper deals with the GC-MS investigation of the exhaust gas of atmospheric pressure PE-CVD processes in organosilicon- and fluorocarbon-containing dielectric barrier discharges. The extent of unreacted monomer and the quali-quantitative distribution of by-products have been investigated as a function of the feed composition. The results confir...

This paper focuses on some of the most debated issues concerning the utilization of atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) in surface processing of materials such as, for instance, the existence of different discharge regimes (filamentary and homogeneous) and the influence on the discharge behaviour of feed gas additives and subs...

The thin film deposition in DBDs fed with Ar/HMDSO/O 2 mixtures was studied by comparing the FT‐IR spectra of the deposits with the GC‐MS analyses of the exhaust gas. Under the experimental conditions investigated, oxygen addition does not enhance the activation of the monomer while it highly influences the chemical composition and structure of the...

The deposition and etching of plasma-polymerized fluorocarbon thin films were studied in filamentary dielectric barrier discharges (FDBDs) fed with Ar–CF4–H2 and Ar–CF4–O2 mixtures, respectively. The etching/polymerization competition was investigated as a function of the feed composition.Hydrogen addition to CF4 promotes thin films deposition, wit...

Atmospheric pressure filamentary dielectric barrier discharges (FDBDs) fed with argon, a fluorocarbon compound (i.e. CF 4 , C 3 F 8 , C 3 F 6 and c‐C 4 F 8 ) and O 2 were investigated by optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The UV–Vis spectra of the plasma in argon–fluorocarbon mixtures are characterized by narrow signals from Ar atoms, CF 2 and CF...

The influence of air and water vapour on the deposition process of fluoropolymers in argon-hexafluoropropene (Ar-C3F6) filamentary dielectric barrier discharges was investigated by adding known concentrations of these contaminants to the feed gas. The obtained results show that Ar-C3F6 DBDs allow in depositing thin films with a XPS F/C ratio as hig...

He/CF 4 ‐fed GDBDs were used to fluorinate PP and PET. The effect of various process parameters on the polymers surface composition and morphology, as well as on their wettability was investigated inside the GDBD existence domain. An extensive surface fluorination of treated polymers due to the grafting of F atoms and CF x radicals was observed. Th...

Atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges in both filamentary and glow regime attract significant research interest in the field of surface processing of materials. In particular, intense efforts to evaluate the utilization of dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) in plasma- enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of thin films are in pr...

Glow dielectric barrier discharges (GDBDs) fed with He‐C 3 F 6 and He‐C 3 F 8 ‐H 2 gas mixtures were used to deposit fluorocarbon thin films. The deposition process was studied inside the GDBD existence domain as evaluated by electrical measurements. The composition and structure of the deposited coatings were investigated through Fourier Transform...

The deposition of fluorocarbon films from GDBDs fed with helium–hexafluoropropene (He-C3F6) and helium–octafluoropropane–hydrogen (He-C3F8-H2) mixtures was investigated. The effect of several parameters was evaluated in order to clarify both the GDBD existence domain and film characteristics. He-C3F6 GDBDs allowed to obtain films with an F/C ratio...

The present work provides a detailed study of helium‐ethylene dielectric barrier glow discharges. The effect of ethylene concentration, total gas flow rate, excitation frequency and applied voltage have been investigated in order to clarify both discharge operational mode, and coating composition. The discharge has been characterized by means of el...

This paper deals with the determination of by-products formed in plasmas fed with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), oxygen, and Ar. The gas effluent has been sampled by means of a cold trap and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results indicate that under the experimental conditions utilized, HMDSO is not activated by reactions w...

Atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge are becoming a new promising frontier in material processing also for biomedical applications. In this work, we have combined the advantages of working at atmospheric pressure mode with an aerosol precursor for plasma-depositing Poly ethylene oxide (PEO)-like coatings, as it is already done at low p...