Project description
Higher efficiency for silicon solar cells
Renewable energy is crucial for the EU to meet its climate goals and remain a global leader in clean energy. Photovoltaic (PV) technology, especially silicon-based solar panels, plays a big role in this effort. However, silicon solar cells lose some energy through a process called thermalisation, whereby excess photon energy is wasted. This limits their overall efficiency. Funded by the European Innovation Council, the BioSinFin project will develop a bioinspired coating that improves silicon solar cell efficiency. Using a process called singlet fission, the coating generates more energy from sunlight. This breakthrough could increase the power output of silicon panels by 25 %, making them more efficient while helping the EU reach its renewable energy targets.
Objective
The European Union (EU) Revised Renewable Energy Directive 2023/2413/EU states the need of advancing renewable energy sources
to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement while keeping the EU a global leader in renewables. Among the existing renewable
energy technologies, photovoltaics are one of the most mature, promising to reach a worldwide production of 8,519 GW by 2050.
Silicon-PVs (Si-PVs) are the most advanced approach to reach the above goal at low costs. However, they still face the problem of
thermalization, an energy loss mechanism by which the excess energy of the absorbed photons with respect to the Si band gap is
lost. BioSinFin will tackle this issue developing the first bioinspired photomultiplier coating based on singlet fission, a multiple exciton
generation process. Here, singlet-fission active chromophores and red-emitting materials are bioconjugated to protein scaffolds with
nm precision and used to fabricate a coating to sensitize Si solar cells promising up to an additional 5% to the absolute power
conversion efficiency of commercial Si PVs (i.e. about 25% improvement) using a low-cost and sustainable coating, leading a revalue
of Si-PV market of up to 15%. This multi-photon protein family and its respective coatings will allow to realize a low-cost, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and highly performing new generation of multi-photon low-energy bio-hybrid emitters of great interest for photonics with a final proof on overcoming thermalization in silicon solar cells, helping the EU to fulfil the Revised Renewable Energy
Directive.
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 biochemistry biomolecules proteins
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- natural sciences chemical sciences inorganic chemistry metalloids
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels renewable energy solar energy photovoltaic
- natural sciences physical sciences theoretical physics particle physics photons
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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.3.1 - The European Innovation Council (EIC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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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.
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-EIC - HORIZON EIC 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) HORIZON-EIC-2024-PATHFINDEROPEN-01
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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.
80333 Muenchen
Germany
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.