The corrosion within photovoltaic (PV) systems has become a critical challenge to address, significantly affecting the efficiency of solar-to-electric energy conversion, longevity, and economic viability. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of electrochemical corrosion mechanisms affecting solar panels and environmental factors that accelerate material degradation, including (i) humidity, (ii) temperature fluctuations, (iii) ultraviolet radiation, and (iv) exposure to saline environments, leading to reduced performance and premature failures. The role of encapsulation materials, solder interconnections, and conductive coatings in the corrosion formation process is examined. Various electrochemical and surface characterization techniques provide insights into material degradation and corrosion mechanisms within panels. Essential parameters are presented and discussed, including materials used, geographical location of analysis, environmental considerations, and corrosion characterization techniques, to enhance the assessment of solar panels. This review emphasizes the importance of corrosion management for sustainable PV systems and proposes future research directions for developing more durable materials and advanced coatings.

Fukui functions are related to electron densities, and their interpretation permits the determination of reactivity of atomic centres. However, negative values cannot be interpreted by an “electron density based” model and represent a phenomenon that has been little investigated and understood. Previous works in the literature suggest that they are related to nodes in the wave function. In our investigations we can relate negative values to nitro groups and their position on aromatic systems, as it is a moiety with HOMO electron densities close to “0” related to “electron attracting” groups. This work can help us understand and predict this phenomenon and the associated chemical reactivities. We also pay attention to the influence of the nitro group angle vs. the aromatic ring.

Resistance to antibacterial agents is a growing global public health problem that reduces the efficacy of available antibacterial agents, leading to increased patient mortality and morbidity. Unfortunately, only 16 antibacterial drugs have been approved by the FDA in the last 10 years, so it is necessary to develop new agents with novel chemical structures and/or mechanisms of action. In response to this, our group takes up the challenge of designing a new family of pyrimidoisoquinolinquinones displaying antimicrobial activities against multidrug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria. Accordingly, the objective of this study was to establish the necessary structural requirements to obtain compounds with high antibacterial activity, along with the parameters controlling antibacterial activity. To achieve this goal, we designed a family of compounds using different strategies for drug design. Forty structural candidates were synthesized and characterized, and antibacterial assays were carried out against high-priority bacterial pathogens. A variety of structural properties were modified, such as hydrophobicity and chain length of functional groups attached to specific carbon positions of the quinone core. All the synthesized compounds inhibited Gram-positive pathogens in concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 64 µg/mL. Two derivatives exhibited minimum inhibitory concentrations of 64 µg/mL against Klebsiella pneumoniae, while compound 28 demonstrated higher potency against MRSA than vancomycin.

Alkyl-bis(5-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-4-carbodithioates) are interesting targets as they are useful complexing agents for transition metal ion extraction. Anyhow, the intents of their synthesis lead to heterocyclic products and not to the desired molecules. To gain insight into the reaction, we carried out a theoretical investigation on the reaction mechanism and the involved activation energies and the relative thermodynamic stabilities of the desired and obtained. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Due to the promising properties of semiconducting polymers they have attracted wide spread interest. During the last decade we have worked on a smart chemistry approach to these substrates and organometallic compounds with special focus on design, synthesis and characterization of materials that could be used in photovoltaic devices. In these materials, one of the most important aspects is high absorbance in the UV-Vis spectrum as a necessary characteristic for high conversion rates of light to electric energy. We were able to show that this can be achieved introducing certain functional groups as, e.g., NO2-moieties. Another important aspect is the interaction with the buffer layers that also form part of the whole photovoltaic device. Here we show that a double layer of CuI/MoO3 increased the energy yield for a large variety of organic substrates along with related results from other leading groups reported in literature.