MENTOR · Indoor photovoltaics: towards an energy- and climate-neutral world

The MENTOR research initiative will provide a comprehensive and versatile technical platform for the development of next-generation indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) that efficiently re-use energy from artificial illumination to power electronics, eventually contributing to an energy- and climate-neutral future. MENTOR aims to unlock the full potential of IPVs taking into consideration growing concerns about sustainability, through the establishment of the first international network of 8 universities, 7 industrial partners, and 5 research centers. The consortium will cover all the key aspects and technologies related to IPVs, including sustainable design, organic and inorganic materials synthesis, photovoltaics manufacturing and characterization, device physics and modelling, theoretical and machine learning-driven approaches, photovoltaics recycling, and industrial processing. MENTOR will establish an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, and global program of doctoral training and research that propels the development of new leaders capable of directing academic and industrial R&D on renewable energy, electronics, and sustainability through the successful implementation of 16 doctoral candidate (DC) individual projects. This research initiative will amplify the recently recognized importance of IPVs for the sustainable powering of the IoT by advancing novel material designs, processing methods, device architectures, theoretical models, and characterization standards across disciplines and sectors.