EXC 2089:  e-conversion 2.0

• Subject Area: Chemical Solid State and Surface Research ; Molecular Chemistry ; Condensed Matter Physics ; Physical Chemistry ; Theoretical Chemistry
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390776260

While today’s energy research is largely partitioned into specialized communities that target specific technologies along vertical trajectories – from basic science to applications – the cross-cutting, “horizontal” e-conversion approach strives to harness common concepts at the level of fundamental excitations, microscopic mechanisms, and the bottlenecks shared by different energy technologies, ranging from photovoltaics through (photo)electrocatalysis to batteries. Seizing synergies across typically disjunct energy domains and focusing on model systems, e-conversion 1.0 has been highly successful in exploring fundamental energy conversion processes, yielding a remarkable output of publications (>930 to date), generating a wealth of functional materials and structures, and seeding new concepts that open up exciting new avenues for energy conversion research. Building on this powerful foundation, e-conversion 2.0 will tackle new challenges associated with our increasingly diverse energy demands and the gaps that emerge as the energy transition proceeds. Here, we recognize basic research needs that are common across diverse energy technologies, identifying three cross-cutting themes that guide our research: controlling complexity, advancing sustainability, and boosting acceleration, which together drive innovation and maximize impact across both existing and novel energy conversion and storage concepts. Recognizing the complexity inherent to all energy conversion schemes, we will now move from characterizing fundamental excitations in model systems to controlling coupled (quasi)particle excitations, directing light-matter interactions, and harnessing multiscale disorder in realistic energy systems to maximize performance and impart new function. A holistic approach to sustainability will strategically guide our materials design and spark new energy solutions by, for example, leveraging dynamic triggers to activate and regenerate catalysts or to rejuvenate interphases by directed self-healing. To rapidly translate our fundamental discoveries into innovative energy technologies, e-conversion 2.0 will integrate high-throughput experimentation, computation, and AI/ML-assisted active learning, thus training a new generation of “Data-Informed Scientists”. Armed with these tools, we will explore “outside-of-the-box” energy solutions by amalgamating our fundamental insights and cross-cutting expertise – a hall-mark of e-conversion – into new hybrid energy conversion concepts, such as solar batteries, that provide flexible, integrated, and efficient energy solutions with enhanced utility. Embedded in one of Europe’s major technology hubs and supported by a strategic partnership with the Deutsches Museum, e-conversion 2.0 is poised to expedite innovation, educate the public, policy makers, and the next generation of energy scientists alike, and in doing so, provide new solutions for the energy transition 2.0.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Co-Applicant Institution: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Museum (DM); Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (FHI); Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung (MPI-FKF)
• Spokespersons: Professor Dr. Frédéric Laquai; Professorin Dr. Jennifer Rupp; Professor Ian D. Sharp, Ph.D.
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Aliaksandr Bandarenka; Professor Dr. Emiliano Cortés; Professor Dr. David Egger; Professorin Dr. Johanna Eichhorn; Professor Dr. Benjamin Fingerhut; Professor Dr. Jonathan J. Finley; Professor Dr. Roland A. Fischer; Professor Dr. Hubert A. Gasteiger; Professor Dr. Achim Hartschuh; Professorin Dr. Ivana Ivanovic-Burmazovic; Professorin Dr. Katharina Krischer; Professorin Dr. Barbara Lechner; Professor Dr. Tim Liedl; Professorin Dr. Bettina Valeska Lotsch; Professor Dr. Peter Müller-Buschbaum; Professor Dr. Knut Müller-Caspary; Professor Dr. Christian Ochsenfeld; Professor Dr. Karsten Reuter; Professor Dr. Patrick Rinke; Professorin Dr. Beatriz Roldan Cuenya; Professor Dr.-Ing. Helge Sören Stein; Professor Dr. Alexander Urban