FOM appoints two focus groups for fundamental energy research
The Executive Board of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter decided last week to appoint two FOM focus groups for fundamental energy research in Amsterdam and Groningen. The focus group under the leadership of Professor Kees Hummelen has the theme 'Next generation organic photovoltaics' and will be based at the University of Groningen. The focus group with the theme 'Light management in new photovoltaic materials' will be led by Professor Albert Polman at FOM Institute AMOLF in Amsterdam. The initiative to set up these two FOM focus groups fits within the Strategic Plan FOM/N 2010-2015, in which energy research is one of the most important lines of action. Both focus groups will also collaborate closely with the new FOM institute for fundamental energy research that will have a national coordinating task and will be set up by FOM at the campus of Eindhoven University of Technology. The focus groups will each have a budget of more than 5 million euros and accommodate about 30 researchers.
FOM focus group 'Next generation organic photovoltaics'
Over the next 10 years this group shall carry out research that by 2020 should result in 'plastic' solar cells for widespread use in cheap and sustainable electricity generation. This ambition means that the yield, lifetime and cost price of the solar cells and the sustainability of the materials and processes used need considerable improvement. The emphasis is, for example, on the development of a completely new generation of molecular semiconductors with which the differences between the current organic semiconductors and the traditional inorganic semiconductors can largely be bridged. If that proves successful then spectacular new electronic materials will be created that could also be extremely useful beyond the field of solar energy. The focus group shall work with Dutch knowledge institutes and industrial partners on the scaling up and preparations needed for large-scale production and use. The FOM focus group will be led by Professor Kees Hummelen and will consist of a multidisciplinary team of six physicists and chemists at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials at the University of Groningen.
FOM focus group 'Light management in new photovoltaic materials'
The key theme of this new FOM focus group is 'light management': controlling the capture, construction, concentration and conversion of light at the nanoscale. The researchers will focus on new materials, combined with new geometries, to find out how solar cells can convert sunlight into electric current in a cheaper and more efficient manner. By combining special nanostructures with new and existing semiconductor materials, light will be more efficiently converted into electric current. The new designs will require far less material, which will mean a significant drop in the production costs of the solar cells. For these future solar cell structures, new cleanroom techniques such as soft imprinting and molecular self-assembly will be developed. AMOLF will start this programme with three new research groups that will work on three different areas: (1) ultra-thin solar cells based on silicon, (2) 'dye-sensitized' solar cells with which light is converted into a current via a die and an electrolyte and (3) solar cells made from semiconducting nanocrystals with which the entire visible spectrum of the sun can be converted into current. The research will be realised in collaboration with Utrecht University and Energy research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). The programme will be led by Professor Albert Polman and will have a duration of nine years.
FOM and fundamental energy research
The setting up of FOM focus groups at Dutch universities and research institutes is one of the initiatives with which FOM wants to shape new energy research in the Netherlands over the coming years. Other initiatives are the expansion of the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics Rijnhuizen into a FOM Institute for fundamental energy research, the setting up of the programme 'Fellowships for Young Energy Scientists' (YES!) and entering into collaborative partnerships with other disciplines.
FOM focus groups are used to enrich and give a significant innovative boost to existing national fundamental energy research. By facilitating new high-quality research at various locations in the Netherlands, FOM wants to contribute to the strengthening of the Dutch position in international energy research.
What is a FOM focus group?
A FOM focus group is a scientific research group that under the strong leadership of a renowned researcher works on a single, clearly defined, scientific objective within a research theme that is often multidisciplinary in nature. FOM focus groups are housed at a Dutch research institute. FOM makes substantial financial resources available to each focus group for a period of about 10 years so that the groups can work on their own scientific programme, appoint personnel (especially senior researchers and sometimes technicians) and purchase equipment. The group is also required to incorporate the activities of groups elsewhere in the Netherlands in realising the programme by coordinating and financing the research in its area.
The selection
In the summer of 2010, FOM wrote a call for proposals, in which Dutch universities and research institutes were invited to submit a preproposal for accommodating one of the focus groups of fundamental energy research at their institute. Seven different universities and research institutes submitted a proposal. Subsequently, on Thursday 23 September a discussion day was held at NWO's offices in The Hague to discuss the proposals for the FOM focus groups. Based on all of this information, the Executive Board of FOM subsequently decided to invite five of the applicants to submit a full proposal. These were evaluated by international referees and following this the Board decided to fund these two focus groups last week.
Further information
Jasper Reijnders, programme officer FOM, +31 (0)30 600 12 17.
Gabby Zegers, Head of Communication FOM, +31 (0)30 600 12 08.
About FOM and energy research: Energy.