Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

About: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia is a facility organization based out in Genoa, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Humanoid robot & Robot. The organization has 4561 authors who have published 14595 publications receiving 437558 citations. The organization is also known as: Italian Institute of Technology & IIT.

Spectroscopic investigation of oxygen- and water-induced electron trapping and charge transport instabilities in n-type polymer semiconductors.

Abstract: We present an optical spectroscopy study on the role of oxygen and water in electron trapping and storage/bias-stress degradation of n-type polymer field-effect transistors based on one of the most widely studied electron transporting conjugated polymers, poly{[N,N9-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,59-(2,29-bisthiophene)} (P(NDI2OD-T2)). We combine results obtained from charge accumulation spectroscopy, which allow optical quantification of the concentration of mobile and trapped charges in the polymer film, with electrical characterization of P(NDI2OD-T2) organic field-effect transistors to study the mechanism for storage and bias-stress degradation upon exposure to dry air/oxygen and humid nitrogen/water environments, thus separating the effect of the two molecules and determining the nature of their interaction with the polymer. We find that the stability upon oxygen exposure is limited by an interaction between the neutral polymer and molecular oxygen leading ...

Scaling behaviour for the water transport in nanoconfined geometries.

Abstract: The transport of water in nanoconfined geometries is different from bulk phase and has tremendous implications in nanotechnology and biotechnology. Here molecular dynamics is used to compute the self-diffusion coefficient D of water within nanopores, around nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and proteins. For almost 60 different cases, D is found to scale linearly with the sole parameter θ as D(θ) = D(B)[1+(D(C)/D(B)-1)θ], with DB and DC the bulk and totally confined diffusion of water, respectively. The parameter θ is primarily influenced by geometry and represents the ratio between the confined and total water volumes. The D(θ) relationship is interpreted within the thermodynamics of supercooled water. As an example, such relationship is shown to accurately predict the relaxometric response of contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. The D(θ) relationship can help in interpreting the transport of water molecules under nanoconfined conditions and tailoring nanostructures with precise modulation of water mobility.

The design of the lower body of the compliant humanoid robot “cCub”

Abstract: The “iCub ”is a robotic platform that was developed by the RobotCub [1] consortium to provide the cognition research community with an open “child-like ”humanoid platform for understanding and development of cognitive systems [1]. In this paper we present the mechanical realization of the lower body developed for the “cCub ”humanoid robot, a derivative of the original “iCub”, which has passive compliance in the major joints of the legs. It is hypothesized that this will give to the robot high versatility to cope with unpredictable disturbance ranging from small uneven terrain variations to unexpected collisions or even accidental falls. As part of the AMARSI European project, the passive compliance of this newly developed robot will be exploited for safer interaction, energy efficient and more aggressive damage-safe learning. The passive compliant actuation module used is a compact unit based on the series elastic actuator principle (SEA). In addition to the passive compliance the “cCub ”design includes other significant updates over the original prototype such as full joint state sensing including joint torque sensing and improved range of motion and torque capabilities. In this paper, the new leg mechanisms of the “cCub ”robot are introduced.

Synthesis of uniform disk-shaped copper telluride nanocrystals and cation exchange to cadmium telluride quantum disks with stable red emission.

Abstract: We present the synthesis of novel disk-shaped hexagonal Cu2Te nanocrystals with a well-defined stoichiometric composition and tunable diameter and thickness. Subsequent cation exchange of Cu to Cd at high temperature (180 °C) results in highly fluorescent CdTe nanocrystals, with less than 1 mol % of residual Cu remaining in the lattice. The procedure preserves the overall disk shape, but is accompanied by a substantial reconstruction of the anion sublattice, resulting in a reorientation of the c-axis from the surface normal in Cu2Te into the disk plane in CdTe nanodisks. The synthesized CdTe nanodisks show a continuously tunable photoluminescence (PL) peak position, scaling with the thickness of the disks. The PL lifetime further confirms that the CdTe PL arises from band-edge exciton recombination; that is, no Cu-related emission is observed. On average, the recombination rate is about 25–45% faster with respect to their spherical quantum dots counterparts, opening up the possibility to enhance the emiss...