Severo Ochoa Programme 2018-2022 Pillar 1: APPLICATION DOMAINS - Energy

Energy research at the ICN2 is focused on optimising the generation, storage and use of energy. Work on the synthesis of novel nanomaterials and the fabrication by printing of various devices has led to innovative technologies that have reached the prototyping stage.

Highlights

Over recent years, research in energy and sustainability at the ICN2 has expanded from a relatively small number of groups devoted entirely to energy research to include a growing number of contributions from across the institute. The coming period will see efforts to integrate these lines and find interdisciplinary topics, with the potential to further drive the development of stable and efficient energy devices.

The key research priorities established for the 2018-2022 period are the development of novel nanomaterials and nanostructures for solar-to-energy and solar-to-fuels conversion, the integration of different structures, materials and functionalities to design better performing solar devices, hybrid/multiharvesting and “harvestorage” systems, and the fabrication of these devices. 

Specific actions will be taken to meet these objectives, which include: establishing a new research group (likely on nanostructure engineering for photo/electrocatalysis); integrating and harnessing the complementarities of a variety of energy-related topics; and organising two international workshops on energy harvesting and storage, and solar energy.