On Thursday, 28 October 2021 at 5:00 PM Dr. David Jones will be the next speaker of the International Excellence Talk series with the topic: "Materials Development for the Next Generation of Solar Cells". 

We are glad to inform you that this talk will be held as an attendance event. Kindly have a look at the registration as well as the regulations. 

World energy demand is expected to double by 2050, reaching fifteen terawatts (15 TW), however, to supply this demand without increasing carbon dioxide emission remains a challenge.  Rollout of silicon solar cells will be a significant part of the solution with the cost of silicon solar cells reducing as production continues its exponential growth. The embedded energy in silicon solar cells, expressed as an energy payback period, remains high at around 1.4 years, while the lifetime emitted carbon dioxide of silicon solar cells remains at 40-100 gCO2.e/kWh depending on installation location. Next generation solar cells, like organic solar cells, have reported energy payback periods of months, if not weeks, with lifetime emitted carbon dioxide levels of 10 gCO2.e/kWh offering significant environmental advantages. Translating this technology into real commercial devices relies on materials development. My group has been developing new organic semiconductors for his emerging field and in this talk I will discuss recent materials development from new p-type organic semiconductors to the use of quantum coupled process to improved solar cell efficiency.

After the keynote lecture, we invite you to join the networking session where you will have the chance to connect with Dr. Jones and with the other participants during an informal discussion.

Location: KIT Campus South, Strasse am Forum 7, Building 30.48, Room 017

Date and Time: Thursday, 28 October 2021 at 5:00 PM

Registration and Regulations

• Covid 19-3G-Rule: In order to participate in the event, you must present a valid certificate which indicates that you are either vaccinated with a vaccine recognized in Germany, recovered from Covid 19 or tested negatively for Covid 19. 
• Prior to the event, please register here.
• Further information on the current Covid 19 regulations in the state. 

The third International Excellence Talk with Prof. Dr. Antonina Pirrotta on the topic Virtual Experiments? Why and How!  took place.

Prof. Dr. Antonina Pirrotta

• Professor of Civil Engineering at Università degli Studi di Palermo, Italy  
• International Excellence Fellow at Institute of Engineering Mechanics (ITM), KIT 2021
• First European woman to be awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers EMI Fellowship

In her talk, Prof. Dr. Pirrotta presented her insights on virtual experiments and answered questions around their application in science. After the keynote lecture, INTL invited you to join the live interview with Prof. Pirrotta where you had the chance to connect with her and with other participants during an informal discussion.

The second International Excellence Talk took place online with 

Prof. Dr. Dmitry Pelinovsky

• Professor of Mathematics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
• Field of expertise: analysis, differential equations, mathematical modeling, theoretical physics
• Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (KIT, Germany)

on the topic “Rogue Waves in Nature and Integrable Models".

Have a look at the whole talk here. 

• Head of Supramolecular Chemistry Chair at the Institute of High Technologies, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
• Scientific Advisor Lumobiotics GmbH, Germany

Prof. Dr. Igor Komarov is amongst the top-100 most cited Ukrainian scientists, and one of the Ukrainian top-5 experts in the area of organic chemistry. His research into peptidomimetics, whose biological activity can be controlled by light, is at the cutting edge worldwide. Prof. Dr. Komarov is one of the first International Excellence Fellows of KIT (2021), holder of the Georg Forster Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2015), and an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow (2000-2001).
In his talk, Prof. Dr. Komarov has presented the results obtained during his collaboration with the scientific group of Prof. Dr. Anne S. Ulrich (Institute of Biological Interfaces and Chair of Biochemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry of KIT).
After the keynote lecture, participants had the opportunity to connect with other scientists and join the informal discussion in one of the virtual open conversation spaces via Zoom breakout rooms.

Have a look at he full talk here.