Affordable and Clean Energy

Nanopatterned functional foil for new applications project carried out at the University of Oulu has been successfully accomplished to a phase in which R2R hot embossed patterns from in-house made seamless R2R Ni master sleeve could be fully replicated. Measured antireflection properties of the produced foils were outstanding. Full master tool replication has been performed by using a certain polymer types. Current set of polymers were intentionally chosen for indoor solar cell (SC) aka indoor light energy harvesting (LEH) applications. Outdoor SC foil patterning requires different weather-proof polymer(s) to be used in order to replicate the indoor master Ni sleeve patterns for outdoor applications. The R2R process conditions, i.e. temperature and pressure, are demanding for the new type of polymer. This requires extensive work to be addressed to ESR employee.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Affordable and Clean Energy

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems (NANOMO)

Supervisors: Professor Wei Cao (NANOMO) and Dr. (Tech), Janne Remes (Centre for Material Analysis) and Dr. (Tech) Raimo Korhonen (iScent Oy)

Partners: iScent Oy (Finland)

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a unique thin film deposition technique used to create highly conformal and ultrathin films on 3D structures with atomic level accuracy. ALD plays an integral role, e.g., in semiconductor fabrication and nanomaterial synthesis. For optimizing the processes, the precursor-surface interaction needs to be well understood and characterized. In this project ALD processes will be studied in situ, starting from first layers of growth on different types of substrates using time-resolved infrared spectroscopy (IR) and ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS). The aim is to develop and apply new methodology for combining IR and APXPS on ALD systems of high relevance to novel semiconductor devices and energy and environmental applications.

Related I4WORLD research themes: Affordable and Clean Energy; Sustainable Industries and Production

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems (NANOMO)

Supervisors: Doc. Samuli Urpelainen (NANOMO), Prof. Joachim Schnadt (Lund University), Assoc. Prof. Rainer Timm (Lund University), Dr. Esko Kokkonen (MAX IV Laboratory) and Dr. Ashley Head (Brookhaven National Laboratory)

Partners: Lund University (Sweden), MAX IV Laboratory (Sweden) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)

Double Degree information: Intended Double Degree between University of Oulu and Lund University

Important: Only 1-2 doctoral researchers can be hosted with this project.

Global CO2 emissions remain a nearly constant by-product in many industrial branches despite the changes for example in energy production. Instead of storing CO2 in caves, the better way is to reuse it in a cycle of regenerative energy carriers. CO2 can then be seen as an abundant source of an inexpensive raw material to be transformed using solar irradiation into other energy carriers such as methane or methanol. The doctoral researcher's task is to study the combination of photocatalysts with plasmonic active metals that enhance absorption of light beyond the band gap limitations and drive selected reactions to enhance the output of specific solar fuels based on utilization of CO2-emissions. The work benefits both from catalytic materials engineering and advanced spectroscopic studies.   

Related I4WORLD research themes: Affordable and Clean Energy; Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems 

Supervisors: Prof. Wei Cao (NANOMO), Prof. Max Lemme (Electronic Devices, RWTH-Aachen and AMO GmbH), Dr. Ulrich Plachetka (AMO GmbH.) and Doc. Satu Ojala (Environmental and Chemical Engineering)

Partners: RWTH-Aachen (Germany), AMO GmbH. (Germany)

Growing energy demands need technological developments for photocatalysis. Semiconductors with band gaps ranging from visible to ultraviolet are favorable photocatalysts, as incident photons with energies greater or equal to the band gap liberate charge carriers that migrate to the surface leading to redox reactions. Existing technologies are limited by low quantum efficiency, charge recombination, and chemical back-reactions. The doctoral student will develop novel two-dimensional (2D) materials and Van der Waal’s heterostructures that satisfy band gap requirements using extensive density functional theory calculations combined with high throughput simulations. In a secondment in Switzerland, the student will conduct photoemission spectroscopy experiments to test/refine the predictions.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Affordable and Clean Energy

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems (NANOMO)

Supervisors: Doc. S. Assa Aravindh (NANOMO), Prof. Matti Alatalo (NANOMO) and Prof. Claude Monney (University of Fribourg)

Partner: University of Fribourg (Switzerland)

Photocatalytic materials and processes have already been developed for decades. Still, full commercial exploitation of these environmental technologies waits for a break-through. The major obstacle in adaptation of the photocatalysis is the high price, that could be overcome with development of more economic, still efficient catalytic materials, and new innovative reactor technologies. The World is also in a turn point in seeking clean and economic energy production alternatives. In this perspective production of hydrogen from water using solar light could be the answer. This work will focus on the development of a novel photocatalytic reactor for solar hydrogen production. The doctoral thesis work may include reactor design and prototyping, CFD modelling, in situ characterization of novel catalytic materials, reaction experiments.

Related I4WORLD research themes: Affordable and Clean Energy; Clean Water, Biodiversity and Environment

Location of the position: Environmental and Chemical Engineering (ECE)

Supervisors: Doc. Satu Ojala (ECE), Prof. Marko Huttula (Nano and Molecular Systems) and Prof. Sergio Botelho de Oliveira, (Federal Institute of Goias)

Partner: Federal Institute of Goias (Brazil)

Hydrogen will be the key energy carrier of the coming century. Large-scale production of green hydrogen can hardly circumvent materials engineering along with deep mechanistic understanding of the processes. In photocatalysis the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is dictated by the semiconductor absorption and carrier recombination. To enhance HER efficiency, semiconductors have been formed to heterostructures. The focus of this project is on the heterostructure formation via materials engineering and characterization of tailored low dimensional 2D/1D composites through advanced spectromicroscopic studies. The electronic and optical properties of 2D/1D heterojunctions, which define light absorption, carrier distribution and redox potentials, will be studied on immobilized thin film layers.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Affordable and Clean Energy

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems (NANOMO)

Supervisors: Prof. Wei Cao (NANOMO), Prof. Max Lemme (Electronic Devices, RWTH-Aachen and AMO GmbH), Dr. Ulrich Plachetka (AMO GmbH.) and Doc. Satu Ojala (Environmental and Chemical Engineering)

Partners: RWTH-Aachen (Germany), AMO GmbH. (Germany)

To optimize large scale renewable energy systems (RES) (wind farms, utility-scale PV), data from geographic information systems (GIS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and remote sensing can be analyzed using artificial-intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) techniques along with internet-of-things (IoT). This would enable real-time condition monitoring, fault detection, prediction of energy production and maintenance needs, which can help to optimise the operation and profitability of RES. This research will develop and apply advanced AI/ML techniques, integrated UAV, GIS and remote/IoT sensing data to provide short-/long-term intelligent services for the optimization, operation and planning of RE systems in terms of descriptive, predictive, diagnostic and prescriptive analytics. Close research collaboration with energy utility companies.            

Related I4WORLD research theme: Affordable and Clean Energy

Location of the position: Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering (WE3)

Supervisors: Professor Eva Pongrácz (WE3), Associate Professor Mehdi Rasti (CWC-NS&WE3) and Maria Kopsakangas-Savolainen (SYKE)

Partners: Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) (Finland), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) (Finland)

The energy transition from fossil fuels to sustainable and clean resources as zero-carbon energy demands technologies propelling Power-to-X strategies such as hydrogen production from green electricity. Currently, green hydrogen generated from water electrolysis is massively dependent on expensive noble-metal catalysts (eg. Pt, Ir). This project focuses on designing and fabricating cost-effective Multi-element Transition Metal Phosphide (MTMP) electrocatalyst systems for green hydrogen production, employing electrochemical methods followed by characterization and electrochemical testing. The project goals are 1) Modelling and simulation of optimised MTMPs by first principle calculations 2) Synthesis of MTMPs by electrochemistry 3) Performance analysis, and (OER/HER) catalyst testing.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Affordable and Clean Energy

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems (NANOMO)

Supervisors: Doc. Assa Aravindh Sasikala Devi (NANOMO), Dr. Zhenyuan Xia (Industrial and Materials Science, Chalmers University of Technology), Doc. Samuli Urpelainen (NANOMO), Prof. Matti Alatalo (NANOMO)

Partners: Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden) and MAXIV (Sweden)

Inorganic and metal nanoparticles are key components in many applications such as photovoltaics, medical imaging, and catalysis. At their interface with the environment (solid substrate or surrounding fluid), important coupling takes place defining their properties and performance in these applications. Both can be controlled and modified via an interlayer of organic or non-organic ligands. In this project, we study surface, interlayer and interfacial properties of nanoparticles using pump-probe techniques at ultrafast laser facility (CELIA), and X-ray based spectroscopic methods using in-house and synchrotron (e.g. SOLEIL, MAX IV) sources. The early-stage researcher carries out experimental work and takes part to the implementation of the nanoparticle instrumentation at CELIA.

Related I4WORLD research theme: Affordable and Clean Energy

Location of the position: Nano and Molecular Systems (NANOMO)

Supervisors: Assoc. prof. Minna Patanen (NANOMO), Dr. Anna Levy (Institut des Nanosciences de Paris, INSP), Dr. Jérôme Gaudin and Dr. Valerie Blanchet (The Center for Intense Lasers and Applications, CELIA), Dr. Christophe Nicolas and Dr. Denis Ceolin (Synchrotron SOLEIL)

Partners: INSP (France), CELIA (France) and SOLEIL (France)