School of Physics professor Aline Pan, is representing the university in Germany
Photo: Bruno Todeschini
The coordinator of the specialization program in Renewable Energies and Solar Energy Technology Nucleus (NT-Solar) researcher, Aline Cristiane Pan, is representing PUCRS at the 7th Brazilian-German Frontiers of Science and Technology Symposium. The event will be held from Oct 5 – 8, in Germany.
Dr. Pan is among the three Brazilian participants and has been chosen for her innovative research on photovoltaic solar energy. “This symposium is intended to foster the cooperation between the prospective scientists and engineers from our country (CAPES) and Germany (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation). PUCRS will earn a tremendous amount of respect and recognition as it is one of the three institutions representing Brazil in this event”, says Aline.
Aline, who is the coordinator of the Research Group in Photon Converters and Quantum Dots Applied to Photovoltaic Solar Energy, of NT-Solar, is looking into methods for increasing the efficiency of the electrical conversion of current solar cells under a lower production cost. “I have proven the combination of photon converters with higher energies and quantum dots in silicon bifacial solar cells to be viable, as I have addressed pretty much all essential elements to attest the application and existence of such phenomena. I mean, I have looked at the theory, and worked on their implementation and characterization”, says she.
The conference, which is sponsored by CAPES and by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) of Germany, brings together 60 young researchers in the areas of sciences and engineering from both countries every year, and fosters the cooperation among these researchers, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and CAPES. The event will promote both a binational and interdisciplinary exchange and will introduce the latest research findings and encourage the reflection on the development of new investigations. “NT-Solar and the School of Physics will be able to show their research findings and innovations. Our University will be highly valued as this will make a major contribution for the development of science and technology and for human resources training”, claims she. The 2017 edition will address the multifunctional integration, the collection of solar energy, climate passive control and urban agriculture.
All the networking done at the event will be useful for future cooperation actions between Germany and Brazil. “By joining this event for the first time, PUCRS will be able to attract new national and international partners, for research and teaching, since several Brazilian and German universities will be joining too.” A follow-up program ensures us that many doors will open to participants so that they go on working on their research. Besides that, other Alexander von Humboldt programs will be able to bring the cooperation actions to another level, such as the Humboldt Institute Research Grants, from which many Brazilian researchers have benefited while doing their research in Germany.
The program, which is already in its 5th edition, is open to students from all over the country and relies on the infrastructure of the NT-Solar, Wind Energy Center and Chemistry Laboratories, among other PUCRS facilities. “This specialization program makes a major contribution and brings the training and development of professionals to work with Renewable Energies to another level. We are talking about an academic contribution, in the area of solar cells, and global one, in the area of renewable energies”, claims the program’s head and coordinator Aline Cristiane Pan.
Solar cells are devices that rely on sophisticated processes of fabrication in order to have a higher level of efficiency. The cost must be taken into consideration. We are well aware that there are many losses associated to this device, especially for transmission and reflection, which compromise the efficiency. Dr. Pan’s main research goal is to show the feasibility of the incorporation of trivalent rare earth ions as photon converters and quantum dots in silicon bifacial solar cells in order to get an efficiency increase. “We can take better advantage of solar radiation in silicon bifacial solar cells by using photon converters in higher energies and quantum dots”, claims she.
