An Environmentally Friendly Nb–P–Si Solid Catalyst for Acid-Demanding Reactions

Here, we report the structural characteristics, the surface properties, and the catalytic performances of a Nb–P–Si ternary oxide material (2.5Nb2O5·2.5P2O5·95SiO2, 2.5NbP) in two reactions of importance for biomass valorisation and green industrial production: hydrolysis of inulin and esterification of oleic acid with polyalcohol for biolubricant production. High dispersion of the Nb centers, ascertained by UV–vis–DRS, 29Si, 31P, and 1H solid-state NMR spectroscopy, is the key point for the successful activity of 2.5NbP. Intrinsic and effective acidities of the sample were studied by FT-IR of adsorbed pyridine in the absence and presence of water and by volumetric titrations of the acid sites in cyclohexane and in water, to enlighten the nature and amount of acid sites in different environments. For both studied reactions, 2.5NbP catalyst exhibits water-tolerant acidic sites, mainly Brønsted ones, giving higher activity and better stability in the reaction medium than well-known niobium oxophosphate catalyst, which is considered one of the best water-tolerant acid catalysts

Raman Gain in Transparent Nanostructured Glass-Ceramic

Stimulated Raman scattering in transparent glass-ceramics (TGCs) based on bulk nucleating phase Ba2NaNb5O15 were investigated with the aim to explore the influence of micro- and nanoscale structural transformations on Raman gain. TGCs are composed of nanocrystals that are 10–15 nm in size, uniformly distributed in the residual glass matrix. A significant Raman gain improvement for both BaNaNS glass and TGCs with respect to SiO2 glass is demonstrated, which can be clearly related to the nanostructuring process

The Impact of the CLOUD Regulation on Digital Information Management Methods and Tools in Public Procurement

This study analyses the impact of the recent Regulation for digital infrastructures and cloud services for the public administration (the so-called CLOUD Regulation), adopted by the National Cybersecurity Agency pursuant to Article 33 septies, paragraph 4, of Legislative Decree no. 18 October 2012, converted by Law no. 221 of 17 December 2012, on the methods and tools of digital information management in the context of public contracts. In particular, there is a need to assess the adequacy of the regulatory framework outlined by the Procurement Code and the voluntary technical standards to guarantee the security standards required by the latter legislative intervention with specific reference to the Data Sharing Environment

Investigation on Metal–Oxide Graphene Field-Effect Transistors With Clamped Geometries

In this work, we report on the design, fabrication and characterization of Metal-Oxide Graphene Field-effect Transistors (MOGFETs) exploiting novel clamped gate geometries aimed at enhancing the device transconductance. The fabricated devices employ clamped metal contacts also for source and drain, as well as an optimized graphene meandered pattern for source contacting, in order to reduce parasitic resistance. Our experimental results demonstrate that MOGFETs with the proposed structure show improved high frequency performance, in terms of maximum available gain and transition frequency values, as a consequence of the higher equivalent transconductance obtained