A major trend in electronics is to become mechanically flexible and reach new areas in packaging, health care, intelligent industries, smart cities. Under the umbrella of internet of everything, new zero-energy devices are created on flexible substrates including an energy harvester, energy storage, Si-microprocessors, displays and sensors. While many developments are in progress to make those devices flexible or small enough to be integrated on a flexible substrate, still one key component is missing: a flexible substrate of high thermal conductivity, with efficient dielectric properties that is made of sustainable materials and production methods. “2D-Paper” proposed to combine the 2D-materials based on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and nanocellulose to create a new thermally conducting paper substrate for flexible electronics. Beside a first targeted 2D-material with h-BN, we will also explore other 2D-material combinations and use artificial intelligence applied to materials to find optimum technical performances. Important technical performances will be about mechanical, dielectric, thermal, electrical properties, even optical and chemical properties will be considered as well as life cycle analysis performances. One key aspect is also the consideration of sustainability in the various parts (synthesis, manufacturing, material choice) but with an emphasises on proposing recyclability routes as those new substrates are intended to be mass produced and interfacing with the environment. In “2D-Paper”, we gather world experts of complementary skills, top notch infrastructure, from both academia and companies from Sweden, France and Slovenia to design, optimize, fabricate, characterize, and set technical specifications for flexible electronics, as well as make a proof of concept of a new thermally conducting paper substrates for flexible electronics; and specifically flexible thermoelectrics as an example of this revolutionary concept. The proposed concept is promising and besides bringing this new technology from TRL1 to TRL4, we intend as an international team to transfer knowledge to a business entity to design a new product. At the end of the project, we will decide together the best strategy to go forward and bring that technology on the market, either through our industrial partners or through a start-up company.

THERMOCOOL addresses critical global challenges - energy transition and digitalization. With 20% of global energy used for cooling, and 1.6 billion AC units in use, energy-efficient alternatives are vital. Thermoelectric coolers (TE) offer a solution, saving 1795 kWh/y and reducing CO2 emissions by 38% per person compared to standard AC. Additionally, TE has applications in high-power computing and batteries where conventional cooling falls short. The project leverages novel thermoelectric materials to drive advancements. In parallel,THERMOCOOL contributes to digitalization. The Internet of Everything (IoE) necessitates trillions of connected devices. To power them sustainably, thermal energy harvesters are explored, tapping into heat sources like the human body, buildings, and the sun. This approach reduces maintenance costs and indirectly cuts CO2 emissions by optimizing information flows. THERMOCOOL focuses on three key objectives: 1.Enhancing the efficiency of energy conversion devices, including thermoelectric generators and pyroelectric generators for electricity generation, and thermoelectric coolers and electrocaloric coolers for cooling. 2.Prioritizing low-cost, sustainable materials with minimal reliance on critical raw materials and emphasizing recyclability. 3.Demonstrating the effectiveness of these technologies in challenging environments where conventional systems are less efficient. Collaborative research will elevate these technologies from TRL3 to TRL5, involving researchers with complementary expertise in thermoelectric and ferroelectric materials. These solid-state devices share key advantages: zero maintenance costs, compactness, lightweight, silence, and environmental friendliness. They have the potential to revolutionize energy conversion and cooling, addressing pressing global challenges. THERMOCOOL offers efficient, low-cost, and eco-friendly solutions that will benefit society, the environment, and the economy, heralding a promising future.

STARCELL proposes the substitution of CRM’s in thin film PV by the development and demonstration of a cost effective solution based on kesterite CZTS (Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4) materials. Kesterites are only formed by elements abundant in the earth crust with low toxicity offering a secure supply chain and minimizing recycling costs and risks, and are compatible with massive sustainable deployment of electricity production at TeraWatt levels. Optimisation of the kesterite bulk properties together with redesign and optimization of the device interfaces and the cell architecture will be developed for the achievement of a challenging increase in the device efficiency up to 18% at cell level and targeting 16% efficiency at mini-module level, in line with the efficiency targets established at the SET Plan for 2020. These efficiencies will allow initiating the transfer of kesterite based processes to pre-industrial stages. These innovations will give to STARCELL the opportunity to demonstrate CRM free thin film PV devices with manufacturing costs ≤ 0.30 €/Wp, making first detailed studies on the stability and durability of the kesterite devices under accelerated test analysis conditions and developing suitable recycling processes for efficient re-use of material waste. The project will join for the first time the 3 leading research teams that have achieved the highest efficiencies for kesterite in Europe (EMPA, IMRA and IREC) together with the group of the world record holder David Mitzi (Duke University) and NREL (a reference research centre in renewable energies worldwide) in USA, and AIST (the most renewed Japanese research centre in Energy and Environment) in Japan. These groups have during the last years specialised in different aspects of the solar cell optimisation and build the forefront of kesterite research. The synergies of their joined efforts will allow raising the efficiency of kesterite solar cells and mini-modules to values never attained for this technology.

CUSTOM-ART aims at developing the next generation of building and product integrated photovoltaic modules (BIPV and PIVP respectively), based on earth-abundant and fully sustainable thin film technologies. Nowadays, BIPV and PIPV are identified as key enabling technologies to make “near Zero Energy Buildings” and “net Zero Energy Districts” more realistic, through the integration of a new generation of photovoltaic modules capable of entirely replacing architectural/mobility/urban-furniture passive elements. This promising scenario of mass realisation of BIPV and PIPV solutions can only be achieved by developing cost-efficient and sustainable thin film technologies with unbeatable aesthetic functionalities, including mechanical flexibility and optical tuneability. Unfortunately, mature materials already available at the market such as Cu(In,Ga)Se2 or CdTe are formed by scarce and expensive elements (In, Ga and Te), or toxic ones (Cd). Considering this, CUSTOM-ART will join for the first time a leading group of companies and academic partners all around Europe, to develop advanced BIPV and PIPV products (flexible and semi-transparent solar modules), based on earth abundant kesterite materials, which have been demonstrated in two previous European projects to be at the forefront of emerging inorganic thin film technologies. By combining advanced strategies for materials properties management, with customized modules design in a circular economy approach, two types of products will be developed including flexible PV modules (polymer and steel supports) and semi-transparent (polymer). CUSTOM-ART will bring these technologies from TRL4-5 up to TRL7, demonstrating very competitive conversion efficiencies (20% at cell and 16% at module level) and durability (over 35 years), at a reduced production cost (< 75 €/m2), using exclusively abundant elements and contributing to ensure the full sustainability and competitiveness of the European BIPV and PIPV Industry.