A novel pre-polymer deriving from cardanol-a well known renewable organic resource and harmful by-product of the cashew industry-in combination with cellulose based materials (i.e. jute fibres) has been used to produce bio-composites having a high percentage of renewable materials. Cardanol and its derivatives are considered nowadays very attractive precursors to developing new materials from renewable bio-sources to use in eco-friendly processes. This paper deals with the synthesis and characterization of a novel cardanol based benzoxazine monomer used for the preparation of new bio-composites. The new cardanol-based benzoxazine was characterised by 1 H and 13 C NMR, FT-IR spectroscopies and LC mass spectrometry analysis, while a differential scanning calorimeter was used to study and monitor the polymerization process. Different bio-composites have been obtained by thermal cure of jute fibres impregnated with a cardanol based benzoxazine resin. c

A composite Nafion‐TiO2 membrane was manufactured by a recast procedure, using an in‐house prepared TiO2. This membrane has shown promising properties for high temperature operation in an SPE electrolyser allowing to achieve higher performance with respect to a commercial Nafion 115 membrane. This effect is mainly due to the water retention properties of the TiO2 filler. A promising increase in electrical efficiency was recorded at low current densities for the composite membrane‐based SPE electrolyser at high temperature compared to conventional membrane‐based devices.

A non-aqueous, solvothermal method was applied to the synthesis of TiO 2 nanorods in pure anatase crystal phase using Ti(IV)-isopropoxide. The use of benzyl alcohol as both solvent and reactant was investigated in combination with the addition of acetic acid to the reaction mixture. Various values of the AcOH : Ti(OiPr) 4 molar ratio were realized in the synthesis and tested in order to obtain a significant dimensional and morphological control over the resulting TiO 2 nanostructures, as well as to devise a simple and scalable synthetic protocol. On the basis of the experimental results, a substantially modified version of the well-established ''benzyl alcohol route'' was then designed and developed. X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy revealed that monodisperse anatase nanorods having a length of about 13-17 nm and a diameter of 5 nm can be obtained when AcOH and Ti(OiPr) 4 are reacted in comparable proportions. Investigation of the characteristic parameters of dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using the synthesized nanorods as photoanode revealed a power conversion efficiency of about 7.5% corresponding to an improvement of 28% with respect to a commercial spheroidal nanotitania (P25) based reference device.

The synthesis of a novel and efficient π-extended D-A-π-A organic sensitizer (G3, η = 8.64%) for dye-sensitized solar cells has been accomplished by applying the green chemistry pillars, aiming at overriding traditional routes involving organometallic intermediates with innovative synthetic strategies for reducing the waste burden and dye production costs. It has been demonstrated that the obtainment of a complex target sensitizer can be exclusively pursued via direct arylation reactions. Green metrics comparison with those of a traditional synthetic pathway clearly indicates that the new approach has a lower environmental impact in terms of chemical procedures and generated wastes, stressing the importance of the synergy between the molecular design and the synthetic plan in the framework of environmentally friendly routes to back up sustainable development of third-generation photovoltaics. Additionally, the stability of the G3-based photovoltaic devices was also investigated in aging tests on large area devices, evidencing the excellent potentialities of the proposed structure for all practical applications involving inorganic semiconductor/organic dye interfaces.