JUMP INTO SPACE consortium includes 4 universities, 3 internationally renowned Research and Technology Organisations (RTO) and 1 SME from 5 EU countries, whose expertise ranges from material synthesis to flexible PSC manufacturing via diverse and versatile deposition techniques, from advanced characterization of materials and devices to optoelectronic modelling and life cycle assessment, from comprehensive testing protocols to simulate the operating conditions in space to degradation modelling, as shown in the table below. Partners’ expertise is synergetic to each other, covering all aspects required to assure the fulfilment of the project’s objectives. This synergy will be reinforced by research stays and visits among the organisations involved in the project. All consortium partners own high‐level facilities, which are relevant to carry out the tasks allocated to them. This results in a unique infrastructure available to all partners.
University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy)
The University of Rome “Tor Vergata” is based on a campus of 600 hectares with 43000 students and 19 Departments. The University has established in 2006 together with the Lazio Region the “Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy” (CHOSE). The centre’s objectives are the research and development for the industrialization of organic and hybrid organic-inorganic technologies via three main steps: define a technological process for organic/hybrid cells, develop fabrication processes for industrialization, foster technology transfer towards SMEs. CHOSE main laboratory has a surface of 650 m2 with over 300 m2 of class ISO7 clean room facilities with all the equipment necessary to carry out research on different photovoltaic technologies.
MOF group at UNITO has more than 20 years of experience in the design, synthesis and characterization of innovative materials for emerging photovoltaic technologies including, among others, functional molecules as sensitizers in NIR-DSSCs and small molecules and polymers as hole transport materials in PSCs. Since 2013, the group has been at the forefront of the development of aqueous DSSCs and more recently a research line on encapsulants for flexible solar cells has been developed. In the last years, the group focused the research effort on the development of a sustainable protocol for the synthesis of smart materials.
The headquarters of R2ES are hosted at the Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy (DBCF), University of Siena, which has been recently appointed as Department of Excellence 2018-2022 by the National Agency for Evaluation of University and Research. The research group consists of 3 PhD students, experts in computational chemistry and in environmental sustainability analyses; 2 research fellows, expert in LCA and methodology for environmental sustainability analysis, as well as in computational chemistry; Prof. Parisi, an expert in the application and teaching of LCA analysis and of the methods of the Life Cycle Thinking approach, and Prof. Sinicropi, an expert in computational chemistry applied to the study and development of techniques and technologies to support environmental sustainability analysis.
Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias (Portugal)
Instituto de Desenvolvimento de Novas Tecnologias (UNINOVA) is a multidisciplinary, independent, and non-profit research institute employing around 180 persons, located in the metropolitan area of Lisbon. It was formed in 1986 by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the Nova University of Lisbon (FCT-UNL – www.fct.unl.pt), a group of industrial associations, a financial holding, and up to 30 companies. It is an active partner of Madan Parque (www.madanparque.pt), a business facilitator and accelerator, incubating Micro and SME’s through several layers of support to entrepreneurial activity.
The main aim of UNINOVA is to pursue excellence in scientific research, technical development, advanced training, and education. By working closely with industry and universities, technological innovations are transferred into profitable business concepts and, existing products further developed to match new industrial requirements. Due to its tight connection with the University and Madan Parque, UNINOVA has, since its foundation, hosted and supported the development several Ph.D. thesis, as well as the creation of several successful spin-offs.
Department Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells: The focus of the group is to develop highly efficient perovskite tandem solar cells. In combination with a second absorber in so-called tandem solar cells, a significant improvement in solar cell efficiency can be realized, above the limit of single-junction solar cells. Our multidisciplinary group investigates the different optical and electrical loss mechanisms to improve the performance of these cells. For this, our group uses the infrastructure of the HySPRINT Innovation Lab and collaborates internationally with other groups as well as industrial partners. In the past years, several advances and independently certified world record tandem solar cells have been achieved by the group in the field of perovskite tandem solar cells.
Department Optics for Solar Energy: We work on experimental and numerical optics in and for photovoltaic devices. From an optical point of few the Sun is a challenging energy source: solar energy devices have to be optimized for a broad spectral range and for a light source changing the illumination direction during the course of the day and the year with varying shares of direct and diffuse irradiance. This requires advanced optical concepts ranging from “conventional” ray optics to nanophotonic concepts and spectral conversion. Our reseach brings together experimental expertise—mainly nanoimprint lithography—and optical simulations. Our current research topics include light management in perovskite solar cells and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells, antireflective microstructures, energy yield calculations, and photon upconversion.
Saule Technologies is a high-tech company that develops innovative solar cells based on perovskite materials. We have pioneered the use of inkjet printing for the production of flexible, lightweight, ultrathin, and semi-transparent photovoltaic modules.
Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales (France)
The French aeronautics, space and defense research lab. A multi-disciplinary organization with experimental means unique in Europe, ONERA brings expertise to government programs, both institutional and industrial. It is a public research organization, with eight major facilities in France and about 2,000 employees, including 1,500 scientists, engineers and technicians.
