GRECO kick-off in Madrid: advancing photovoltaics through “open science”
Participants from partner institutions at the GRECO kick off in Madrid on 25. June 2018.
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) is one of ten international partners in the GRECO pilot project funded under the European Union framework programme Horizon 2020. They intend to jointly test OpenScience approaches for exchanging knowledge and research data in order to accelerate the development of innovative PV products worldwide. GRECO will receive three million euros in funding through 2021.
The kick-off meeting took place in Madrid end of June 2018. The Institute for Solar Energy at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) is coordinating the research project that will see industry organisations, companies, government, academia and scientific organisations working together.
HZB contributions: materials data base and videotutorials
Dr. Eva Unger and her Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at the HZB are participants in GRECO: “We are contributing our expertise in the field of perovskite absorber layers for tandem photovoltaics and intend to establish a materials database in which key parameters and data from various absorbers can be brought together and made available in an open manner”, explains the chemist. She is also planning a video tutorial on the measurement and characterisation of solar cells. “Characteristic current-voltage curves are often not informative enough for determining the efficiency of perovskite solar cells”, explains the PV expert. The video is intended to contribute to establishing uniform quality standards for measuring solar cells worldwide.
Transparency and innovative products
Through use of Open Science Tools such as Open Access, Open Data, Open Education, Open Notebooks, Open Software, and Open Peer Review, GRECO wants to create complete transparency and exchange in the conduct of research. “This will enable new scientific concepts to be quickly applied by third parties, accelerating progress”, commented coordinators Dr. Ana B. Cristóbal and Prof. Carlos del Cañizo of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
Innovative products to be developed by GRECO include repair and recycling methods for solar modules, precise modelling of power yields over timescales of decades (ageing), solar-powered irrigation systems, innovative solar modules as well as PV heat pump systems for use in various areas of everyday life.
Scientific Partners: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Pompeu Fabra University, Universidad de Évora, Central Solar Energy Laboratory of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Reiner Lemoine Institute, and Universidade de São Paulo
Industrial partners: Insolight SA (Switzerland) and the Euro-Mediterrean Irrigators Association (Spain)
In addition, the project is receiving support from the region of Andalusia, Spain.
GRECO stands for Fostering a Next GeneRation of European Photovoltaic SoCiety through Open Science
- Nanosilver as an electrocatalyst for CO₂ reductionVia electrolysis, CO2 can be reduced to CO, a raw material for further chemical products such as fuels. Within the GreenQuest Project, an internation team led by HZB chemist Prashanth Menezes has now systematically investigated catalyst layers made of silver nanoparticles, varying both the size of the particles and their density. The best yield was achieved with nanoparticles with diameters of around 10 nm, which were loosely distributed. Furthermore, they demonstrated how the economic efficiency of the electrochemical cell can be enhanced by integrating an additional chemical reaction at the anode, enabling the simultaneous production of a valuable formic acid, hydrogen, and CO in one device.
- Spin waves inside a nano-oscillator imaged for the first timeFor the first time, researchers have directly imaged the magnetisation dynamics inside a spin Hall nano-oscillator — a nanoscale device that converts direct current into tunable microwave signals and is a promising building block for energy-efficient wireless communication and brain-inspired computing. A Swedish–German team led by the University of Gothenburg and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) achieved this using time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy at the MAXYMUS instrument at BESSY II. The results, now published in Advanced Materials, reveal spin-wave features that had escaped previous, indirect measurement techniques.
- Joint power instead of duplicate structures:Berlin’s research community is further advancing its research excellence by establishing a high-performance, cross-institutional infrastructure for data and AI. With a joint agreement signed on 18 September 2026, the Berlin University Alliance (BUA), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB) are paving the way for a joint data science and AI centre in Berlin-Dahlem and Adlershof.