Helmholtz Association promotes HZB cooperation with Slovenia on perovskite silicon tandem solar cells
Marko Jošt was a PhD student in the HySPRINT-Lab in Steve Albrecht's group. Now he will continue his research on tandem solar cells at the university of Lubljana. © M. Setzpfandt/ HZB
A HZB team has successfully raised funds from the “Helmholtz European Partnering Program” of the Helmholtz Association to expand cooperation with partners of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The topics of the cooperation are tandem solar cells made of perovskite and silicon and, in particular, their precise characterisation.
Currently, most solar modules consist of silicon, a semiconductor that mainly uses the red parts of the solar spectrum to generate electricity. The combination of silicon with perovskite semiconductors therefore promises great opportunities for even higher efficiencies. Semiconductor materials from this material class convert the energy-rich, blue parts of the spectrum into electricity.
Now the HZB physicist Prof. Dr. Steve Albrecht has raised funds from the Helmholtz Association to investigate such tandem solar cells with partners from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The TAPAS project is funded by the Helmholtz European Partnering programme for the next three years with 250,000 euros per year each. Following an evaluation, the funding period can be extended by two years. The Helmholtz European Partnering programme was set up to strengthen the European research area, in particular cooperation with countries in Southern, Central and Eastern Europe.
The name TAPAS stands for "Tandem Perovskite and Silicon solar cells - Advanced opto-electrical characterization, modeling and stability". Together with opto-electrical modelling, highly efficient and stable next-generation tandem solar cells are to be developed for the energy system of the future.
The Working Group for Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics at the University of Ljubljana (LPVO, headed by Prof. Dr Marko Topič) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have established a very successful cooperation in recent years, which will be further strengthened by this funding. The aim of the cooperation is to analyse the processes that affect the stability of the modules in the field.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.
- Theory meets practice – We’re heading back to HTW Berlin!The HZB’s BIPV consultancy office (BAIP) is once again coordinating and delivering the lecture series “Building-Integrated Photovoltaics”.
- AI-driven Catalyst Discovery: €30 million funding for German consortiumSix partners from research and industry, including Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Fritz-Haber-Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI), BASF, Dunia Innovations, Siemens Energy, and the Technical University Berlin are launching a joint project to accelerate the catalyst discovery. The German Federal Ministry for Science, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is providing €30 million in funding for ASCEND (Accelerated Solutions for Catalysis using Emerging Nanotechnology and Digital Innovation). The research initiative targets the defossilisation of energy-intensive industries while safeguarding industrial competitiveness, with a focus on the chemical sector. The five-year project will start on 1st April 2026.