Cleaning glass facades and solar installations is expensive and time-consuming. Dirt reduces the yield of solar modules. Reasons enough to research surfaces that minimise this effort. The Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP has now succeeded within the European Union-funded NewSkin project (GA: 862100) in applying crystalline titanium oxide to ultra-thin glass using a roll-to-roll process, thus achieving hydrophobic surfaces that become superhydrophilic under UV light. Initial results of this showcase of some of the NewSkin open access upscaling facilities will be presented at the Fraunhofer joint booth, No. C2-528, during BAU 2023, 17-22 April, in Munich, Germany.
Dracula Technologies (Valence, France), a pioneer in harvesting energy through indoor light, participates at Eureka Park at CES 2023, the most influential tech event in the world, which will take place in Las Vegas, 5-8 January 2023. Dracula Technologies will showcase its LAYER technology, an organic photovoltaic (OPV) solution that generates energy from light in our living spaces and eliminates the need for batteries. The platform charges low-power indoor (LPI) devices, even in low-light conditions. Using a development kit, partners can tailor the technology to specific applications. Several samples will be presented at the event—including an autonomous temperature logger, a CO2 sensor, an infrared sensor, and a remote-control device.
For the development of next-generation, high-performance solar cells and modules, Meyer Burger Technology AG (Thun, Switzerland) has brought renowned partners on board and signed corresponding multi-year cooperation agreements. Together with CSEM from Switzerland, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, and the Institute of Photovoltaics at the University of Stuttgart, the company is working on the industrialisation of perovskite tandem technology, which is expected to allow the industrial production of solar cells with efficiencies in excess of 30 percent in the future.
