Functional Materials II [SS 2025]

This elective course is part of the Materials Science module of the MSc programme at the Chemistry Department of the University of Fribourg.  It focusses on energy materials, with a particular focus on renewable energy technologies for solar-to-electric energy conversion in photovoltaics (PV).

The course will cover the following topics: 

(1) introduction to the course, motivation, and  general  principles  of  energy  conversion  with  basic  semiconductor  physics; 

(2) principles of solar cell operation; 
(3) Si and chalcogenide thin-film solar cells; 
(4–5) emerging  PV  technologies  and organic  photovoltaics;  (6–7) dye-sensitized  solar 
cells; 
(11–12) supramolecular energy materials and new generation PVs; (13) an overview of 
strategies for the development of energy materials (student seminars & discussions).
(8–9) perovskite solar cells; 
(10) tandem solar cells and other PV concepts;