Project description
Optical coatings for combined heat and electricity production from solar energy
Advances and innovations in solar energy technologies have the potential to diversify applications and greatly enhance the benefits of widely adopted systems. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the IDEA4Sun project aims to develop new optical materials enabling the combination of photovoltaics (PV) with concentrated solar thermal (CST) technologies in a compact hybrid PV-CST system, providing solar electricity production with PV while simultaneously generating heat with CST, thus valorising the whole of the solar spectrum. The project will develop numerically and experimentally new PV mirrors and solar selective absorber coatings in multilayered thin film architectures. Final materials will be selected based on sustainability and low production costs.
Objective
This project aims to develop advanced materials solutions for next generation solar energy harvesting systems: Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) technologies, generating heat, can be combined with Photovoltaic (PV), generating low-cost electricity, in compact hybrid PV-CST systems where PV cells replace mirrors on the concentrators. This type of system will maintain current solar electricity production costs while adding simultaneous heat generation for various end users (residential, commercial, industrial), including the option of thermal storage to address solar intermittency and enable on-demand electricity and heat production. For this application, innovative spectrally selective surfaces are necessary, especially “PV mirrors” splitting the solar spectrum, transparent towards the underlying PV cells and reflective towards the thermal absorbers placed at the focus of the concentrators. Highly absorbing, low emissive solar selective coatings adapted to the truncated solar spectrum are also needed for the thermal absorbers.
In this project, these selective surface properties will be achieved by developing efficient multilayered thin film architectures. The latter will first be designed by numerical simulations using advanced optimization methods, using in-house SolPOC open source code. Efforts will be put on reducing environmental impacts, by selecting sustainable materials and minimizing development time and cost through extensive optical simulation. The best solutions will be synthesized by vacuum sputtering deposition to validate the coatings feasibility. Thermo-optical characterizations will validate their performance. Comparisons with simulated optical behavior will validate the design methods, providing a reliable and free tool for developing optical surfaces and solar, accessible to all. Doing thus, the researcher will acquire new experimental skills and increase his employability, while applying his own extensive expertise to fulfill our 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.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering thermodynamic engineering heat engineering
- engineering and technology materials engineering coating and films
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology cells technologies
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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.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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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-MSCA-2024-PF-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.
75794 Paris
France
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.