0000000000499641
AUTHOR
R.l. Oliveri
Fabrication and Characterization of Polymeric Optical Waveguides Using Standard Silicon Processing Technology
We report the fabrication and characterization of a rib polymeric waveguide having a thick layer of oxidized porous silicon as an innovative solution for the lower cladding. The waveguide was fabricated using standard silicon substrates and Si-based technology. The multimodal guiding structure has a polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) core and the innovative lower cladding was obtained by thermal oxidation of a porous silicon layer. The waveguide does not have the upper cladding. Propagation loss measurements were performed at 1.48 /spl mu/m using the cut-back method. We obtained propagation loss of about 1.7 dB/cm, confirming the possibility to use the porous silicon oxide as the lower cladding l…
Nanostructured Pb electrode for innovative lead-acid battery
Lead-acid batteries are widely used for energy storage, due to a well-established and reliable technology. Over the years, various studies for improving the performance of this battery have been performed. The main goal is to replace conventional plates with innovative electrodes having good stability, high capacity and high surface area. In particular, it is necessary to improve the kinetics of electrochemical conversion reactions at the electrode-solution interface, and to guarantee good electrical continuity during repeated charge/discharge cycles. To achieve these goals, the attention was focused on nanostructured electrodes. Up-to-date, two principal approaches have been followed. In t…