Advanced Photonic PRocesses for novel sOlar energy hArvesting teCHnologies

Project Information

APPROACH

Grant agreement ID: 101120397

DOI

10.3030/101120397

EC signature date 20 June 2023

Start date 1 June 2023

End date 30 November 2026

Funded under

• Widening participation and spreading excellence

Total cost

€ 2 981 050,00

EU contribution

€ 2 981 050,00

Coordinated by

IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - APPROACH (Advanced Photonic PRocesses for novel sOlar energy hArvesting teCHnologies)

Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2025-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

APPROACH is a multi-stakeholder project, aiming at democratizing the opportunity for post-academic training and professional development of young researchers and innovators. APPROACH is a partnership that will enable the enhancement of talents’ inventive thinking and creative knowledge in the development of nanofabricated materials and methods for solar energy harvesting applications. It will contribute to the growth of diversity of backgrounds, talents and motives of job expectations while will allow scientific knowledge advances through interaction and exchange of views. APPROACH’s basis of sustainable development has four dimensions merit attention: a) Placing knowledge, including high-level scientific knowledge, at the service of development, b) Converting knowledge, in all its forms, into value via applications and impact assessment and c) Sharing good practice, to ensure widespread benefits and d) importantly, apply a holistic talent development approach. Moreover, APPROACH aims to push forward the application and potential exploitation/valorization of the FORTH, UPOL PDOT, NoviNano and TSNUK know-how, through strong collaboration and well-designed research activities among the partners. Top-class experts in the field of applied research and talent development, like IMEC, Solaronix and VAMK will provide training courses, as well as hands-on experience and on-demand training to young researchers originating from these widening countries. Exchange of both young researchers and top-class experts is crucial for the successful realization of the proposal’s objectives. As an end product, this collaboration will set the widening partners as players of excellence in the development of advanced photonic processes for novel solar energy harvesting technologies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

APPROACH develops activities in view of realizing the following European Commission’s objectives regarding intersectoral mobility: a) Strengthening academia/non-academia cooperation: Activities for the transfer of researcher know-how to businesses, as well as activities that foster closer involvement of business sector staff in training of academic staff, b) Improving training and lifelong learning: Upskilling and interdisciplinary (e.g. training for specific in-demand skills by industry and holistic R&I support capacity) skill development of research and innovation talents, and c) Boosting researcher entrepreneurship: Development of entrepreneurial skills for researchers and commercialization-valorization training and support for researchers and innovators.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

APPROACH aims to support the training and mobility of research and innovation talents across sectors, developing best practices for intersectoral talent circulation at the benefit of the participating widening countries. It is aiming to develop a reinforcing innovation ecosystem, creating an impactful collaboration between academia and businesses.
APPROACH aims to the development of clean, sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies, particularly using photon-assisted micro-nano fabrication techniques, to overcome the fossil fuel crisis and environmental pollution concerns. Since efficient energy harvesting has become one of the main challenges of the present era, both academia and industry efforts focus on the development of feasible and low-cost fabrication methods for the production of advanced energy conversion materials and devices. In particular, on account of the increasing energy demand, the performance enhancement of next-generation photovoltaic (PV) devices relies on the adoption of precise, but simple and low-cost manufacturing solutions, compatible with large-scale and high-throughput production lines. Laser-based processes are scalable and thus well-established in industry, while enabling cost-efficient, precise, non-contact engineering of materials by means of photothermal, photochemical, or photophysical routes. In view of the above, APPROACH focuses on the application of advanced light-driven approaches for the fabrication and processing of materials and components of perovskite-based PV systems. Namely, the following photonic schemes are envisaged: (i) Pulsed laser rapid annealing of perovskite active layers. (ii) Pulsed laser photochemical processing of electrodes and interlayers for energy level tuning. (iii) Laser patterning, scribing, and texturing strategies for efficient photon-management. (iv) Advanced laser welding and joining schemes for efficient PV encapsulation. (v) Adoption of the solar spectrum to sensitivity of PV devices using light converting layers. And (iv) Implementation of ultrafast laser diagnostics for probing the charge extraction mechanisms within PV devices towards maximizing performance.

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