UHasselt: Institute for Materials Research (IMO-IMOMEC) / Materials for Energy Applications

General expertise of the research group

Our research team focuses on developing chalcogenide and new materials for Photovoltaic (PV) and PVintegrated solar fuel devices. Additionally, Photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic pathways are being explored as a testbed to study fundamental interactions at semiconductor electrolyte interface. Our research team consists of around 16 members including 5 senior researchers, 8 PhD students and various thesis/internship students with strong expertise in materials development, advanced optoelectronic characterization and catalyst engineering.

Specific hydrogen- related expertise & research topics

• Development of high-efficiency PV tandem devices which can be integrated to water electrolytic cells for PV-EC applications.
• Engineering various chalcogenide and emerging promising materials as photo absorbers and cocatalysts for photoelectrochemical water splitting.
• Development of photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photocatalytic (PC) cells for direct solar to hydrogen generation.
• Designing flow cells and electrode materials for efficient and low-overpotential electrocatalytic hydrogen generation systems.
• Advanced opto-electrical, structural, and configuration characterization of potential materials and devices applicable to PV and photo-electrochemical studies.

Available equipment/tools:

• Physical vapor deposition tool including large scale (35 x 35 cm2) deposition
• Tabletop Tescan SEM equipped with EDX for elemental analysis
• Electrical D.C. Hall measurement Setup
• Steady state and transient Photoluminescence spectrometer
• X-ray diffractometer (XRD)
• LCR electronics for capacitance measurements (temperature and illumination dependent)
• Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (SIMS)
• State-of-the-art facility for hybrid PV cells development under controlled environment
• Solar simulators
• Electrochemical workstation for photoelectrochemical PV-electrolyzer testing

Participating in FL/B/EU funded projects with H2 related research:

• Development of high-efficiency tandem PV, e.g. for PV-EC
  • PERCISTAND (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/850937) Development of all thin-film perovskite on cis tandem photovoltaics
  • LASERGRAPH (https://www.era-learn.eu/network-information/networks/fetflag-02-2018/flag-era-joint-transnational-call-jtc-2019/in-situ-laser-fabrication-of-graphene-electrodesandinterlayers-for-next-generation-cigs-perovskite-solar-cells) In-situ laser fabrication of graphene electrodes and interlayers for next generation CIGS/ Perovskite solar cells
  • LAFLEX2T (https://projecten.topsectorenergie.nl/projecten/flexible-large-area-2tmonolithictandem-psc-cigs-33526) Flexible Large area 2T monolithic Tandem PSC-CIGS
  • ARLEA (https://www.uhasselt.be/nl/projecten/detail/23616-project-r-13035) Advanced Recombination Junction Layer Engineering and Application for Scalable and Stable Monolithic Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells with Two Different Bottom Cells. (Si-CIGS)
  • SITA (https://www.sitasolarcells.eu/imec) Stable Inorganic TAndem solar cell with superior device efficiency and increased durability
• Development of chalcopyrite materials for photo-electrochemical applications
  • SYNCAT (https://moonshotflanders.be/mot3-syn-cat/) Synergetic design of catalytic materials for integrated photo-and electrochemical CO2 conversion
  • T-REX (https://www.uhasselt.be/en/projects/detail/21780-project-r-12321) Conversion of CO2 into renewable materials via electrified routes
  • Procura Belgium (https://procurabelgium.be/en) Power to X, carbon capture & utilization roadmap for Belgium
  • CHALCON (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101067667) Chalcogenide-Silicon tandem PEC for CO2 reduction
• Development of kesterite materials for photo-electrochemical applications
  • KESPER (https://www.uhasselt.be/en/projects/detail/24269-project-r-13406) Kesteritebased Photoelectrodes for Water and Nitrogen Reduction
  • Hydrogen Booster, EMR Interreg project (https://www.emrh2booster.eu/) Energy transition towards the development of carbon-free energy solutions by SMEs.

International collaborations

• International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Portugal
• Technical University of Denmark
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of New South Wales, Australia
• Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Singapore
• Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
• Karlstad University, Sweden

Main relevant publications

On the last two years

1. Santos, D., Shukla, S., Vermang, B., (2023) Prospects of copper–bismuth chalcogenide absorbers for photovoltaics and photoelectrocatalysis, J. Mater Chem A, 11, 22087-22104. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TA03564F.
2. Scaffidi, R., Birant, G., Brammertz, G., de Wild, J., Flandre, D., Vermang, B. (2023) Ge-alloyed kesterite thin-film solar cells: previous investigations and current status – a comprehensive review. J. Mater. Chem. A, 11, 13174-13194. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TA01218B.
3. Silvano, J., Hamtaei, S., Verding, P., Vermang, B., Deferme, W., (2023) Investigating the Fabrication of Perovskite Solar Cells by Ultrasonic Spray Coating: A Design of Experiments Approach. ACS Appl. Energy Mater., 6, 14, 7363–7376. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.3c00491.
4. Joos, B., Elen, K., Ham, J., Meulendijks, N., Buskens, P., Paulus, A., Wouters, K., Manca, J., D’Haen, J., Shukla, S., Vermang, B., Van Bael, M., Hardy, A. (2023) Facile Aqueous Solution-Gel Route toward Thin Film CuBi2O4 Photocathodes for Solar Hydrogen Production. Adv. Sustainable Syst. 7, 8,
   2300083. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.202300083
5. de Wild, J., Scaffidi, R., Brammertz, G., Birant, G. and Vermang, B.,(2023) Dielectric Front Passivation for Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Solar Cells: Status and Prospect. Adv. Energy Sustainability Res. 2200132. https://doi.org/10.1002/aesr.202200132
6. Ramesh, S., Tuomiranta, A., Hajjiah, A., M. Meuris, B. Vermang, J. Poortmans. (2022) Physics-based electrical modelling of CIGS thin-film photovoltaic modules for system-level energy yield simulations. npj Flex Electron 6, 87. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-022-00220-5
7. Birant, G., de Wild, J., Meuris, M., Poortmans, J. and Vermang, B. (2022) “To Spin or Not to Spin?”— Is Spin-Coating the Ideal Technique for Pre-Deposition of Sodium Fluoride for CIGS Rear Surface Passivated Ultrathin Solar Cells?. Phys. Status Solidi A, 219: 2100830. https://doi.org/10.1002/
   pssa.202100830
8. Ratz, T., Nguyen, N. D., Brammertz, G., Vermang, B., Jean-Yves Raty, J.-Y., (2022) Relevance of Ge incorporation to control the physical behaviour of point defects in kesterite, J. Mater. Chem. A, 10, 4355-4365. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta09620f