Paolo Lugli & Alessio Gagliardi
Area 3 - Nanosystems for Energy Conversion - Research at NIM
Coordinator: Prof. Thomas Bein
Deputy Coordinators: Prof. Katharina Krischer, Dr. Bert Nickel
Principal Investigators:
LMU T. Bein, J. Feldmann, H. Gaub, A. Hartschuh, B. Lotsch, B. Nickel, J. Rodriguez
TUM, WSI J. Garrido, A. Holleitner, M. Stutzmann
TUM, Dt. Museum W. Heckl
TUM A. Bandarenka, A. Gagliardi, U. Heiz, K. Krischer, P. Lugli, P. Müller-Buschbaum
Research Area III’s long term goal is to use nanostructures in developing new concepts for sustainable photovoltaics that are both conversion- and cost-efficient and for storing solar energy as chemical energy (such as hydrogen or methane).
Small dimensions and the ability to extensively manipulate the physical properties of nanostructured materials permit optimizing the conditions required for charge separation and transport.
These two processes play a key role in the efficient conversion of solar energy. Decisive here is the ability to precisely control the nanosystems’ morphology, to tune their electronic properties and to limit undesired losses due to charge carrier recombination.
Research Area III hence tackles fundamental problems such as:
- how the harvesting of light can be improved
- how the recombination of excited electrons and the electron holes they leave behind, and thus the related energy loss, can be prevented
- what are the best combinations of materials, dimensions at nanoscale and spatial arrangement of the involved components in order to achieve optimal energy levels for charge separation and the ensuing use of charge carriers.