Project description
Natural light harvesting holds promise for sustainable technologies
Modelling how molecules absorb and use light energy is essential for understanding energy transfer and chemical transformations. However, current methods cannot efficiently balance accuracy and scalability, limiting their application to larger systems. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FRESH-OODFT project will develop advanced tools to study how molecules absorb and use light energy. Researchers will enhance density functional theory (DFT) and develop state-specific methods to improve the calculation of excited-state potential energy surfaces. Orbital-optimised DFT and non-orthogonal configuration interaction will be used to model atomic forces, electronic couplings and energy transfer with greater precision. These advancements will also enable the calculation of transient-absorption spectra, directly linking simulations to experimental spectroscopy. The proposed methods will be applied to photoactive systems.
Objective
Modeling light-induced processes is a complex task, but understanding and exploiting them enables employing the absorbed energy in transformations. Yet, no electronic-structure method combines high accuracy with low scaling, limiting the size of the systems investigated in molecular simulations. This project will advance state-specific methods based on density functional theory (DFT), improve the calculation of the excited-state potential energy surface (PES), and apply them to the direct calculation of experimental observables in molecular simulations.
During the outgoing phase at UC Berkeley, under the supervision of Prof. Martin Head-Gordon, I will develop electronic structure methods to accurately model atomic forces and structures with orbital-optimized density functional theory (OO-DFT). The OO-DFT PES is corrected in the crossing regions with the non-orthogonal configuration interaction (NOCI) method, and the off-diagonal NOCI Hamiltonian elements approximate electronic couplings for energy and charge transfer. Furthermore, the transient-absorption spectra (TA) will be computed via time-dependent perturbation of the excited-state density, enabling direct comparison to time-resolved spectroscopy experiments. Each method development task will be validated by systematic benchmarking, and all reference sets will be deposited in open-access repositories.
During the return phase at the Donostia International Physics Center, under the supervision of Prof. David Casanova, I will apply the excited-state methods I developed to photoactive systems of technological and biological relevance, including organic photovoltaics (OPV), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), and photosynthetic complexes. The results will broaden our understanding of natural light-harvesting and accelerate sustainable technologies. Dissemination will target excited-state simulation groups, exploitation with partners in the OPV and OLED sectors, and outreach will engage citizens in public events.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
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)
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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-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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20018 Donostia San Sebastian
Spain
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