\{We report the preparation and spectro-electrochemical characterization of electrochromic devices (ECD) combining inkjet-printed WO3 as cathode and electro-deposited V2O5 as anode. ECD were prepared for the first time with an optimized formulation of gel polymer electrolyte based on Bisphenol A ethoxylate dimethacrylate and Poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (BEMA/PEGMA) encompassing the Room Temperature Ionic Liquid (RTIL, 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) as solvent. The UV-VIS spectrum of ECD was recorded at different potentials during Li+ insertion and de-insertion; additionally the Percent Trasmittance (T%) of ECD vs. time was investigated during repeated bleaching and coloring cycles allowing thus the estimation of switching times and device stability. Due to the lower ionic conductivity and the apparent superior solvent permeability within WO3 active layer, RTIL containing ECD showed slower switching times, but higher contrast with respect to the similar ones with EC/DEC as solvent. These results indicate that the ECD containing environment-friendly RTIL electrolytes are suitable for applications requiring high contrast, high safety and moderately fast switching times.\}

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a widely studied wide band gap semiconductor with applications in several fields, namely to enhance solar cells efficiency. Its ability to be grown in a wide variety of nanostructured morphologies, allowing the designing of the surface area architecture constitutes an important advantage over other semiconductors. Laser assisted flow deposition (LAFD) is a recently developed growth method, based on a vapour-solid mechanism, which proved to be a powerful approach in the production of ZnO micro/nanostructures with different morphologies as well as high crystallinity and optical quality. In the present work we report the use of the LAFD technique to grow functional ZnO nanostructures (nanoparticles and tetrapods) working as nano templates to improve the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) efficiency. The structural and morphological characterization of the as-grown ZnO crystals were performed by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, respectively, and the optical quality was assessed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. DSSCs were produced using a combination of these nanostructures, which were subsequently sensitized with N719 dye. An efficiency of ∼3{%} was achieved under simulated AM 1.5 illumination conditions for a dye loading time of 1 h.