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Energy Conversion Devices

The field of Energy Conversion Devices is facing a huge growth thanks to the increasing interest towards renewable energies, due to the need at the worldwide level to reduce carbon emission for energy production. Photovoltaics from utility scale plants is already at grid parity in many countries in the world, producing numerous opportunities for the industrial growth. PV is also is a major technology for energy harvesting, to power novel generation of silicon microsystems, systems on chip (SoC) and systems in package (SiP) devices.

The dominant PV technology is silicon based, but novel PV technologies may become very important in future, for example coupled to Si PV technology in utility scale plants, or for building integrated PV, or for powering nomadic or wearable electronics, etc. The large range of applications and opportunities is driving a strong effort in research. At IMM we are fully involved in this new trend of research on Photovoltaics. As an example, the recent H2020 project AMPERE, leaded by 3SUN / Enel Green Power, with the participation of CNR-IMM, (https://www.imm.cnr.it/projects/ampere-automated-photovoltaic-cell-and-module-industrial-production-regain-and-secure) is studying automated production lines for silicon bifacial solar cells with high efficiency. These promise high efficiency, low costs and high productivity in terms of kWh for installed kWp.

The research work at IMM is performed in many cases in strict collaboration with companies but with focus on novel approaches with strong potential for industrial application. The major areas of work at IMM are reported below. Further information on such topics can be reported by directly clicking at the links below.

Contact: Salvatore Lombardo

Energy Conversion Devices
Graphene-based materials for energy conversion and storage
Bologna UNIT

 

The research activity focuses on two types of materials. On one side, the capabilities of functional nanoparticles and quantum dots integration with...

Energy Conversion Devices
Hybrid architectures for Dye and Perovskite Solar Cells
Catania HQ

Dye (DSC) and Perovskite (PSC) solar cells are revolutionizing views and perspectives in the photovoltaics field so that their efficiency has been raised up to ~22% in only 8 years since the first...

Energy Conversion Devices
Metallic nanostructures and metallic-based nanocomposites for energy conversion devices
Catania UNIT

The interest in assembling metal nanoparticles (NPs) onto conductive transparent substrates, as fluorine doped-tin-oxide (SnO2:F, FTO), has increased as the resulting interfaces show interesting...

Energy Conversion Devices
Si and Ge Nanostructures for photovoltaics
Catania UNIT

The aim of this activity is the synthesis and characterization of Si and Ge nanostructures, mainly quantum dots, immersed in dielectric Si-based thin film matrixes (e.g. Si oxides and nitrides)....

Energy Conversion Devices
Silicon solar cells based on advanced architectures and processes
Catania HQ

The activity concerns the synthesis, fabrication and characterization of materials and solar cells based on innovative structures and advanced processes. New three dimensional...

Energy Conversion Devices
Photo-electrochemical Water Splitting for Hydrogen production
Catania HQ

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen is a key component of clean fuel and chemical synthesis from solar energy. The principle is that solar-light-driven electron-hole pairs in a semiconductor...

Energy Conversion Devices
Efficiency Enhancement and Reliability of New Generation High Performance Solar Cells
Catania HQ

 

 

Team: Salvatore Lombardo, Andrea Scuto, Luca Valenti, Ting Ting Han, Stefania Privitera (CNR-IMM, Catania)

 

The Staebler and Wronski light soaking effect is a well...

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