© HZB/Baip
Inolope Expo 2025
© HZB/Baip
© HZB/Baip
© HZB/Baip
We look back on 3 exciting days at the Inolope Expo 2025.
From February 12 to 14, 2025, the first Inolope Expo took place in Dortmund, a trade fair covering all aspects of innovative building envelopes. In addition to trade associations from the façade technology and green building sectors, various suppliers offered technical solutions for the façade design of today and tomorrow. An interesting program of specialist lectures, product presentations and panel discussions was offered on all three days at the dedicated trade fair forum.
The trade fair took place parallel to the established elektrotechnik, the trade fair for building, energy and industrial technology. The combination of the two trade fairs meant that there were many specialists who were particularly interested in the field of photovoltaics, as well as visitors who were explicitly interested in the building envelope, both in terms of design and function.
We from BAIP were represented with our own stand, which gave visitors a clear and practical insight into the possibilities of building-integrated photovoltaics. In particular, our 1:1 scale demonstrators of a solar façade and a roof section with solar roof tiles drew the attention of many interested visitors to us and our topics.
In over 360 stimulating conversations with the knowledgeable visitors, we were able to discuss the opportunities and challenges of building-integrated photovoltaics in depth, refute some prejudices and, above all, provide advice and information.
In close cooperation with the organizers of the trade fair and under the excellent moderation of Fabian Flade from the BIPV Alliance, we were able to provide various insights into topics such as building law and simulation of BIPV projects at the Inolope expert forum and present current results and experiences from our BIPV living laboratory / HZB. Together with Gunter Mann from the Bundesverband GebäudeGrün and Markus Schultz from the Verband für Fassadentechnik, we discussed “New Approaches” for the building envelope on a panel.
All in all, the first Inolope Expo was a great success for us at the BAIP. We were able to reach many interested people and also take away a few suggestions. We will certainly be continuing some of the discussions in the coming weeks.
- Self assembling monolayer can improve lead-free perovskite solar cells tooTin perovskite solar cells are not only non-toxic, but also potentially more stable than lead-containing perovskite solar cells. However, they are also significantly less efficient. Now, an international team has succeeded in reducing losses in the lower contact layer of tin perovskite solar cells: The scienstists identified chemical compounds that self-assemble into a molecular layer that fits very well with the lattice structure of tin perovskites. On this monolayer, tin perovskite with excellent optoelectronic quality can be grown, which increases the performance of the solar cell.
- Long-term test shows: Efficiency of perovskite cells varies with the seasonScientists at HZB run a long-term experiment on the roof of a building at the Adlershof campus. They expose a wide variety of solar cells to the weather conditions, recording their performance over a period of years. These include perovskite solar cells, a new photovoltaic material offering high efficiency and low manufacturing costs. Dr Carolin Ulbrich and Dr Mark Khenkin evaluated four years of data and presented their findings in Advanced Energy Materials. This is the longest series of measurements on perovskite cells in outdoor use to date. The scientists found that standard perovskite solar cells perform very well during the summer months, even over several years, but decline in efficiency during the darker months.
- New Helmholtz Young Investigator Group at HZB on perovskite solar cellsSilvia Mariotti starts building up the new Helmholtz Young Investigator Group ‘Perovskite-based multi-junction solar cells’. The perovskite expert, who was previously based at Okinawa University in Japan, aims to advance the development of multi-junction solar cells made from different perovskite layers.