Dr. Rita Rizzoli received the degree in Physics 'summa cum laude' from the University of Bologna in 1983. After a 4-year fellowship period at CNR-LAMEL Institute, since 1988 she has been working as a researcher at the CNR - IMM Institute in Bologna, where she is responsible for the research line “Synthesis and characterization of C and Si based nanostructured materials for applications in sensoristics and nanoelectronics”. Her present research activity is mainly focused on the study of catalytic-CVD deposition processes of carbon nanotubes and graphene for electronic applications, such as field-emission electron micro-sources, NEMS/MEMS thermoelectric devices, photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices. Other research interests: the study of nanostructured materials and nanotechnologies for thin-film solar cell applications; amorphous/crystalline Si heterojunction solar cells; PECVD deposition of thin nano/micro-crystalline Si films and of periodic amorphous multilayers based on Si alloys. She is the author of more than 70 papers on international JCR journals and more than 60 papers published on peer-reviewed conference proceedings.