Bioinspired Singlet Fission Photon Multipliers

Introduction

The European Union (EU) Revised Renewable Energy Directive 2023/2413/EU states the need for advancing renewable energy sources to meet the commitments of the Paris Agreement while keeping the EU a global leader in renewables.

Photovoltaics Overview

Among the existing renewable energy technologies, photovoltaics are one of the most mature, promising to reach a worldwide production of 8,519 GW by 2050. Silicon-PVs (Si-PVs) are the most advanced approach to reach the above goal at low costs.

Challenges in Silicon-PVs

However, they still face the problem of thermalization, an energy loss mechanism by which the excess energy of the absorbed photons with respect to the Si band gap is lost.

Project Goals

BioSinFin will tackle this issue by developing the first bioinspired photomultiplier coating based on singlet fission, a multiple exciton generation process.

Methodology

1. Singlet-fission active chromophores and red-emitting materials are bioconjugated to protein scaffolds with nanometer precision.
2. These materials are used to fabricate a coating to sensitize Si solar cells.

Expected Outcomes

This approach promises up to an additional 5% to the absolute power conversion efficiency of commercial Si PVs, which translates to about a 25% improvement.

Market Impact

The project aims to lead to a revaluation of the Si-PV market of up to 15%.

Conclusion

This multi-photon protein family and its respective coatings will allow for the realization of a low-cost, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and highly performing new generation of multi-photon low-energy bio-hybrid emitters. This is of great interest for photonics, with a final proof on overcoming thermalization in silicon solar cells, helping the EU to fulfill the Revised Renewable Energy Directive.