Chris Liebold
TU Ilmenau/Michael ReichelThe Technische Universität Ilmenau is launching a large-scale research project on the sustainability of highly efficient energy materials on October 1. With such materials, for example, the efficiency of solar cells can be significantly increased compared to conventional silicon solar cells. At the same time, however, the provision of renewable energy should also conserve resources, be ecologically compatible and economical. An interdisciplinary team from TU Ilmenau, together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, is now researching this with the support of an industrial advisory board. The Carl Zeiss Foundation is funding the SustEnMat project with almost five million euros over five years in the thematic area of resource efficiency, with which it supports technical and scientific research into the more sustainable use of natural resources. The project acronym "SustEnMat" stands for Sustainable Energy Materials. Sustainability in energy production is the order of the day, as it makes it possible to become independent of fossil energy sources - and to do so in a circular economy that is as ecologically compatible as possible. Unlike the burning of fossil fuels, a sustainable energy system does not produce any environmentally harmful carbon dioxide emissions.
TU Ilmenau/Michael ReichelThe Ilmenau research team is highly interdisciplinary to ensure that not only the materials used in energy production but also the entire manufacturing process is more sustainable: While the "Fundamentals of Energy Materials" department led by project manager Prof. Thomas Hannappel and the "Materials in Electrical Engineering" department focus on the materials themselves, the "Theoretical Physics" and "Theoretical Solid State Physics" departments ensure that the crucial processes are modeled and understood in depth. The "Sustainable Production Management and Logistics" and "Economic Policy" departments in turn analyze the economic and ecological implications of research into sustainable materials for recycling strategies in renewable energy production. Sophisticated semiconductor technology is used to convert sunlight into electrical or chemical energy. However, the properties of silicon, the most commonly used semiconductor, are not ideal for use in particularly high-quality components. Group III-V compound semiconductors, on the other hand, have excellent properties for the entire spectrum of optoelectronic components, enabling record values not only in the efficiency of solar cells and the direct solar generation of hydrogen, but also in the conversion of carbon dioxide into solar fuels. However, the Group III element indium is rare, it is as rare as silver, for example, and gallium and germanium are also relatively rare on earth. Another problem is that the Group V elements arsenic and antimony are toxic and hazardous to health.
TU Ilmenau/Michael ReichelThe aim of the SustEnMat project is to reduce or even replace the critical, rare or toxic materials through the increased use of aluminum and phosphorus. In addition, the semiconductor technology of modern tandem and multi-junction solar cells is to be optimized in such a way that the applications for highly efficient solar energy conversion become more resource-conserving, ecologically compatible and economical. With the SustEnMat project, TU Ilmenau is accelerating innovations in the field of highly efficient photovoltaics, hydrogen production and the synthesis of chemical energy sources and helping to minimize the use of materials and energy in production.
About the Carl Zeiss Foundation
The Carl Zeiss Foundation has set itself the goal of creating scope for scientific breakthroughs. As a partner of excellent science, it supports basic research as well as application-oriented research and teaching in the STEM disciplines (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology). Founded in 1889 by the physicist and mathematician Ernst Abbe, the Carl Zeiss Foundation is one of the oldest and largest private science-promoting foundations in Germany. It is the sole owner of Carl Zeiss AG and SCHOTT AG. Its projects are financed from the dividends distributed by the two foundation companies.