MATERIALS FOR ENERGY & LIGHT

Energy generation, storage and use is one of the main challenges for the future of Europe.

This is reflected in a number of European initiatives and strategies:

energy&light_web_1

It is clear that this is also an important focus for Flanders, as each member state of the EU has to play its part in this societal challenge.

When SIM started, a work group was put together with experts from industry and academics. Its task: to identify those areas that should have the highest interest in Flanders from the point of view of pre-competitive demand driven research. It was concluded that focus should be on the following domains:

  • Harvesting of energy with photovoltaics
  • Energy conversion with fuel cells
  • Energy storage with batteries.

Domains that are outside of the SIM scope currently:

  • Solid state lighting: current advances in international research would make it difficult for Flanders research group to gain a competitive position with a critical mass.
  • Photocatalysis: wide industrial opportunities are considered to be too far away.
  • Hydrogen storage: closely related to fuel cells, but it was not given a high priority by the work group experts.

More detailed information?

Find all detailed information about the Durable & Sustainable Structural Materials theme in this attachment.

PROGRAMS WITHIN THIS RESEARCH THEME

SIMBA: all solid state Li-batteries

Sustainable and Innovative Materials for Batteries: the ambition is to bundle knowhow and effort to create a local battery ecosystem, which enables value creation and jobs in Flanders by the time generation 4 batteries (all solid-state, ASSB) break through.

SOPPOM+: printed functionalities

Photovoltaic cells
Solution based processing for printed functionalities. Three main directions are foreseen within this program: printed electronics, printed photonics and printed energy.