Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
Content archived on 2024-06-18

Ultra precise nanoparticles to harvest light

Objective

Solar energy is an attractive source of alternative energy contributing to fossil fuel independence. Research is still needed to bring down the cost of solar cells for commercial use. For this, novel concept solar cell research make use of low cost materials with novel techniques, often at the nanoscale. The main aim of this grant proposal lays in the development of ultra precise nanoparticles with sizes where quantum confinement becomes dominant. With these so called quantum dots (QD) the band gap of any semiconductor can be tailored by changing the size thereby harvesting different parts of the solar spectrum. The applicant has worked for 8 years outside the Netherlands and will endeavour to establish a new research line in quantum dot photovoltaics. This Career Integration Grant will help him to reach a solid starting point from which to apply to project funding in national and international consortia. A nanoparticle source (gas aggregation in vacuum) will enable the production of ultra precise nanoparticles (silicon, germanium, etc), i.e. high size control, which will considerably enhance the quality of the QD solar cell and the involved processes. A second research theme is the use of plasmonics of metal nanostructures (particles) to enhance optical absorption in solar cells. Both field enhancement and plasmonic coupling will be explored.
The applicant has extensive international research experience in the field of nanoparticles. Combined with the host expertise in photovoltaics this forms a formidable effort to advance the science and technology of novel concepts in solar cells. The applicant has a tenure track assistant professor position and will start his own research team within the host group. The existing infrastructure and expertise are readily available to make this project a success resulting in a permanent position for the applicant and significant contribution to frontier solid state physics research towards a highly efficient and cheap solar cell.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MC-CIG - Support for training and career development of researcher (CIG)

Coordinator

UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
EU contribution
€ 100 000,00
Address
HEIDELBERGLAAN 8
3584 CS Utrecht
Netherlands

See on map

Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data
My booklet 0 0