The researcher from the University of La Coruña (Galicia) is studying how to prevent the degradation of materials so that they can be used in windows that generate electrical current. (Autor: Hugo Fernandez de la Pradilla)
Although he opted for chemistry when he finished high school, as soon as he had the opportunity to work in a laboratory, researcher Jaime Martin Perez ended up settling in physics. Originally from Bergara (Basque Country), he has an extensive work record working in laboratories in Madrid, Germany, San Sebastian and London. However, after the pandemic he decided to establish himself as a researcher at the University of A Coruña (UDC), where he came into contact with the Oportunius programme, promoted by the ‘Galician Innovation Agency’ with the aim of attracting research talent to the Galician ecosystem.
In October 2023, the University of A Coruña obtained for the first time in its history a grant from the European Research Council (known as ERC Consolidator Grant) to carry out over the next five years a project that will investigate the structure of semiconductor polymers with the aim of developing more efficient and stable solar cells. Jaime Martin, lecturer and researcher at the Functional Polymers Laboratory of the Centre for Research in Naval and Industrial Technologies (Citeni) on the Ferrol Campus (Galicia), is leading this initiative, which has raised two million euros and will be carried out entirely at Citeni itself.
Solar cells: Jaime Martin’s project
Its main goal is to develop organic solar cells that do not degrade. ‘The efficiency of these cells is already good enough. The problem is that after a few days or weeks they break down. And nobody is going to buy a device and then have to replace it after such a short time,’ he explains.
The project’s strategy is to achieve this goal by understanding how the materials of which solar cells are composed behave: ‘This complements our fundamental research, which is in materials science. Almost the entire project revolves around generating new knowledge about semiconducting polymers and semiconducting organic molecules, which will then lead to the fabrication of the photovoltaic cell,’ he clarifies.
‘The main difference between classic solar panels, usually seen on rooftops, and these solar cells is their usability. The latter are semi-transparent, flexible and much lighter. This opens up a whole new range of possibilities for their use. For example, they can be installed in windows so that they function as windows, allowing light to pass through, on the one hand, and generate electricity, on the other’, states the researcher.
‘They are very interesting devices, but they have a problem, which is that their properties degrade very quickly, they do not last, they break down in a matter of days, weeks or months, which makes them unviable for commercialisation. There are currently no commercially exploitable devices of this type and in this project we are going to explore a new strategy to try to increase their durability’, he concluded.
