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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SOLARX (Photon Management for Solar Energy Harvesting with Hybrid Excitonics)

Teaser

Summary

Solar energy will play a key role in the transition of sustainable and carbon-neutral energy supply. Presently, all commercial solar cells are fundamentally limited by thermalisation losses, meaning that they waster a large part of the energy they absorb from the sun as heat instead of turning it into useful electricity. If we could develop ways to go beyond these limitations it could greatly increase the efficiency of solar cells.

The vision of SOLARX is to develop game changing strategies to manage photons (particles of light) in order to overcome thermalisation losses, while at the same time concentrating light to drastically reduce the number of solar panel needed for a given area and hence dramatically reducing cost. We aim to do this via generating and manipulating excitons (tiny packets of energy), taking inspiration from the natural light harvesting processes which drive photosynthesis in plans.

Harnessing advanced nanomaterials design, combined with a ground breaking time-resolved microscopy methods will allow us to understand the dynamics of excitons in a manner never possible before and design new materials that can harness they unique properties.

The success of this project would provide game changing new technological possibilities for solar energy harvesting as well as pushing the boundaries of fundamental scientific understanding.

Work performed

1. The project has developed a new ultrafast microscopy method that can visualise the flow of electrons and energy with 10fs time resolution (10-15 s) and 10nm spatial precision (10-9m). This allows us a window into the fundamental properties of semiconductors in a way never possible before.

2. We have developed new and simple ways to passivate atomically-thin 2D monolayer semiconductor materials making them nearly \'defect free\'. This is a critical step for the application of these materials in electronic devices.

3. We have developed new ways to transfer energy between organic and inorganic semiconductors with very high efficiency. This will find use in next generation solar cell designs.

Final results

We are pushing the limits of the spatio-temporal characterisation of semiconductor materials and developing advanced hybrid materials for use in next generation solar energy harvesting.