JÜLICH - HI ERN

JÜLICH - HI ERN at a glance

The "Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energies" (HI ERN) investigates and develops material- and process-based solutions for a climate-neutral, sustainable, and cost-effective utilization of renewable energies. The institute works on the structural and functional characterization, modeling, and processing of materials relevant to hydrogen and solar technology. The common goal is the understanding of structure-performance-process relationship on the mesoscale. HI ERN is a branch office of Forschungszentrum Jülich and collaborates closely with the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.

As part of VIPERLAB HI ERN is participating with the research unit “High-Throughput Methods for Photovoltaics”. The research unit aims to develop materials, processes and technologies fostering a sustainable and significant cost degression of photovoltaic technology, from small non-grid connected energy harvesting to large scale energy production, and from the Watt scale to the Terawatt scale. The research combines achievements from automated materials research, digitization, simulation and big-data methods with the specialized knowledge of Photovoltaic technology. Novel semiconducting and electronic materials with customized properties are a central aspect of the research at HI ERN in order to develop the next generation renewable energy devices. Special focus is on the development of semiconductors which can be processed from solution by conventional printing and coating methods since they offer an opportunity for a further, major cost reduction in the production of renewable energy. The research of the department is performed in three research groups: a) High Throughput Materials and Devices for PV ,b) High Throughput Processing for PV and c) High Throughput Characterization and Modelling for PV, to address specific challenges in the fields of materials and device development, highly productive processes for the manufacture of PV-modules as well as the maintenance and operations of very large-scale solar power plants.

Main role and tasks in the project

In VIPERLAB, HI ERN is contributing with one TA and one VA facilities.

As part of the VA facility AMANDA HI ERN will support users of the facility in the development and optimization of perovskite PV cells. HI ERN has developed significant expertise and know-how in automated and combinatorial materials research in recent years. It is a world leader in the development and application of materials acceleration platforms to the development of novel solution processed semiconductors for printed photovoltaics. HI ERN will make the tools and systematic approaches developed available to other user groups for the efficient and fast development perovskite solar cells.

The TA facility r2r-coating-line is an advanced printing facility for upscaling of small scale printed solar cells into larger modules. The team of the r2r-coating-line has many years of experience in the upscaling of printed functional layers with optical quality for the manufacturing of printed solar cells. With its frontend and backend capabilities it is capable of demonstrating manufacturability of new technologies at industrially relevant scales. HI ERN will support users in upscaling processes in order to demonstrate functionality of their technologies in modules.

Links

HI-ERN web site