Project description
New concentrator designs to better focus light onto solar cells
The Sun is a clean and inexhaustible source of energy, with the potential to provide a sustainable answer to future energy supply demands. However, the high diffusion of solar light impedes high-efficiency, low-cost energy conversion at a large scale. The EU-funded FOCUS project proposes a radically different design of luminescent solar concentrators (devices that concentrate radiation), where waveguides are replaced by nanophotonic lenses. Proper thin-film materials that concentrate light will be investigated to create collimated, monochromatic, high-intensity beams that will benefit photovoltaics and photocatalysis applications.
Objective
There is an urgent need to use solar energy to produce electricity, fuels and chemicals. However, the highly diffuse nature of sunlight in angle, wavelength and space complicate its high-efficiency, low-cost and scalable conversion. FOCUS will develop thin-films that concentrate sunlight in these three aspects, creating collimated, monochromatic, high-intensity beams that can provide advantages for photovoltaics and photocatalysis. The underlying concept is a radically different design for a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC). Conventional LSCs use an emitter-doped plastic or glass sheet as a waveguide, concentrating direct and diffuse sunlight via total internal reflection of fluorescence. The losses associated with reabsorption, emission into the waveguide escape cone and Stokes shift have limited LSC efficiency to 7%. I will eliminate the waveguide completely and replace it with nanophotonic lenses, solving the longstanding problems with LSCs. The key challenges for successful implementation are addressed in three work packages. Nanophotonic design (WP1) will give FOCUS foils that absorb broadband sunlight from all angles, funnel the excitons to lower bandgap nanoscale emitters and concentrate the collimated fluorescence outside of the film. Material learning (WP2) and reciprocity-inspired photosynthesis will use the desired emission pattern to train a material to emit from self-optimized positions, leading to FOCUS foils that learn the desired optical output. Ultrafast 3D nanoprinter (WP3) development will lead to a microscope that synthesizes emitters directly within a solid-state host, tracks their performance (quantum yield, angular emission pattern) in real-time and watches excited carriers relax into directionally emitting states. My track record in nanophotonic solar cells and directional emission combined with my network of leading collaborators put me in an excellent position to achieve these goals.
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.
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.
- natural sciences biological sciences botany
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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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.
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.
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.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2021-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3526 KV UTRECHT
Netherlands
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.