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PEARL project holds general assembly to mark its 12-month

On October 8th and 9th 2024, the EU-funded PEARL project consortium convened for its General Assembly at ICIQ-CERCA in Tarragona, Spain. At the two-day event, the partners came together to assess the progress of the project after 12 months.

The assembly kicked off with a session led by the Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, which focused on novel materials and device architectures. This session provided detailed insights into advancements in the development of innovative materials for the project. Following this, VTT presented significant progress in roll-to-roll (R2R) processing of flexible photovoltaic modules.

The second day began with an ethics workshop also led by VTT, emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in research and development processes. The morning continued with updates on the validation of flexible cells and modules from the Helmholtz-Zentrum für Materialien und Energie, as well as life cycle analysis and impact mitigation strategies presented by Saule Spółka Akcyjna and Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology took the lead presenting the strategies on dissemination, communication, and exploitation to ensure PERAL’s project reaches a wide audience and maximizes its impact.

The meeting concluded with a project management wrap-up by the project coordinator VTT, highlighting key action points moving forward. Attendees were then invited on a guided lab tour at ICIQ to see some of the research facilities in action.

About PEARL:

The PEARL project aims to achieve improvements in solar energy technology by incorporating carbon electrodes into perovskite solar cell architecture. This enhancement is expected to lead to reduced material costs, increased device stability, simplified fabrication processes, and significantly lower emissions. The project started on 1^st October 2023 and will run 36 months. PEARL receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

The ICIQ research group led by Prof. Emilio Palomares is involved in the project, which is coordinated by Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus VTT Oy, and also counts with the collaboration of the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek TNO, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Materialien und Energie GmbH, Università degli Studi di Roma Tor Vergata, Dycotec Materials LTD, Fraunhofer Institute for Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Saule Spółka Akcyjna and Eni SPA.