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
• In-line connected photoelectrochemical reactor with GC detection system

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

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

• PHOENIX (Photo-electro Integrated Next-Generation energy technologies) Coupling efficient PV-EC and PEC systems for converting CO2 to propanol and PET to valuable products (EU Horizon RIA project) https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101172764
• FOTON (Sunlight as a power source for green chemicals and fuels) (Interreg project) https://project-foton.com/
• SolVa (Solar To Value) : Couple electrocatalysts and highly performing photoabsorbers for designing novel photoelectrodes and PEC cells for reducing CO2 to formic acid (MSCA pf project) https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101150737
• SCCORE (Silicon/Copper (I) Oxide Tandem for Standalone CO2 Reduction) Develops advanced solar cells that remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and convert it into useful substances using scalable, low-cost, and abundant materials (MSCA pf project) https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101208825
• CHALCON (Chalcogenide-Silicon tandem PEC for CO2 reduction) high performing tandem photoelectrodes and PEC cells for reducing CO2 to formic acid and glycerol to glycolic acid. (MSCA pf project) https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101067667
• NECTAR creates a method to convert solar energy directly into clean hydrogen with minimal CO₂ emissions, making hydrogen production more sustainable and affordable (MSCA pf project)
• 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
• 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 (Energietransitiefonds project)
• Procura Belgium (https://procurabelgium.be/en) Power to X, carbon capture & utilization roadmap for Belgium
• KESPER (https://www.uhasselt.be/en/projects/detail/24269-project-r-13406) Kesterite based Photoelectrodes for Water and Nitrogen Reduction. (M-ERA.NET project)
• Hydrogen Booster, EMR Interreg project (https://www.emrh2booster.eu/) Energy transition towards the development of carbon-free energy solutions by SMEs

Main relevant publications

1. Precursor-Driven Reconfiguration of Bulk and Interface Enhances the Solar-Driven Water-Splitting Performance of Carbon Nitride Photoanode, Nano Lett., 25, 50, 17332–17340, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c04295
2. Elucidating Carrier Dynamics and Interface Engineering in Sb2S3: Toward Efficient Photoanode for Water Oxidation, ChemSusChem, 18,14, e202402764, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202402764
3. Origin of photoelectrochemical CO2 reduction on bare Cu(In,Ga)S2 (CIGS) thin films in aqueous media without co-catalysts, EES Cataysis., 3, 327-336, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EY00233D
4. Probing the Electronic Band Structure of Emerging Chalcogenide Absorbers for Photoelectrochemistry, J. Phys. Chem. C, 129, 44, 20015–20024, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5c05834
5. Shining light on hybrid perovskites for photoelectrochemical solar to fuel conversion, EES Catal., 2, 1072-1091, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4EY00091A
6. Prospects of copper–bismuth chalcogenide absorbers for photovoltaics and photoelectrocatalysis, J. Mater Chem A, 11, 22087-22104, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TA03564F
7. Facile Aqueous Solution-Gel Route toward Thin Film CuBi2O4 Photocathodes for Solar Hydrogen, Advanced Sustainable Systems, 7,8, 2300083, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.202300083
8. Li-Doping and Ag-Alloying Interplay Shows the Pathway for Kesterite Solar Cells with Efficiency Over 14%, Advanced Functional Materials, 34, 42, 2404669, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202404669