Project description
Hydrogel-based cooling to enhance photovoltaic efficiency
When photovoltaic cells get too hot, their efficiency drops, limiting their ability to help meet the EU’s net-zero energy goals. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SEASIDE project will develop a hydrogel-based bionic leaf cooler (HBLC) to improve photovoltaic performance through pump-free evaporative cooling. Specifically, it will create a high-fidelity multiscale computational model that captures coupled flow, heat transfer and evaporation across different length scales. Additionally, the project will study the mechanisms behind self-adaptive cooling and how design parameters affect performance. In addition, it will develop a machine-learning-assisted optimisation tool to identify optimal HBLC designs. The project aims to increase photovoltaic efficiency, boosting renewable electricity generation and reducing CO2 emissions.
Objective
Photovoltaic cells (PVCs) form a crucial part of the EU net-zero ambition, with a targeted capacity of 600 GW by 2030. However, high operating temperatures severely limit PVCs' electrical efficiency. An emerging solution is to use the hydrogel-based bionic leaf cooler (HBLC). The HBLC mimics the structure of plant leaves using fibre bundles and hydrogel particles, to achieve pump-free water transport and efficient evaporative cooling, boosting PVCs' electrical efficiency by 10+%. Despite its massive potential, HBLC development is hindered by our limited understanding of its multiscale water transport mechanisms and the lack of high-fidelity simulation tools.
This project will integrate multidisciplinary expertise of the fellow and host to address the challenges with three objectives: (1) develop a high-fidelity multiscale computational model for water transport in HBLC, incorporating the coupled flow, heat transfer, and evaporation, and resolving the distinct length scales; (2) uncover the fundamental mechanisms that the flow, heat transfer, and evaporation interact to achieve self-adaptive high-rate evaporative cooling, and elucidate the dependence of the HBLC cooling performance on system parameters, e.g. the geometries and materials properties of the fibre bundles and hydrogel particles; (3) develop a machine-learning-assisted optimization tool to identify optimum HBLC designs.
The project will lead to a step change in high-fidelity modelling and scientific understanding of the multiscale water transport in HBLCs. These could lead to a paradigm shift from trial-and-error experiment-based to high-fidelity simulation-based design of high-performance, low-cost, eco-friendly HBLCs for PVCs. With the developed optimization tool, the project target is a >16% relative increase in PVC efficiency through HBLC cooling, which can generate >100 TWh of electricity and reduce >21 million tons of CO2 emissions annually by 2030, contributing to the EU's net-zero ambition.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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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.
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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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.
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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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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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.
E1 4NS LONDON
United Kingdom
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