Complex of online and onsite lectures on materials for hydrogen generation by solar water splitting

Materialutvikling for spaltning av solvann og grønn hydrogenenergi er et av de strategiske temaene. Fremtidig ledelse på dette feltet krever en ny generasjon av forskere og eksperter som ikke bare er eksperter på ett emne, men som forstår det komplekse samspillet mellom ulike aspekter knyttet til det. Dette krever et tett samarbeid som kombinerer utdanning og forskningsinstitusjoner og industri. Slik opplæring er utenfor evnene til en akademisk eller industriell gruppe. Målet med prosjektet er å gi så kompleks opplæring til unge forskere. For å løse den flerfaglige oppgaven åtte team Institutt for solenergi, Institutt for energiteknologi, Kjeller, Institutt for matematikk og fysikk, Universitetet i Stavanger, Fysisk institutt, Universitetet i Oslo, KeraNor AS, Oslo, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers Cedex , Frankrike, Institutt for keramikkteknikk. Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India og University of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India har slått sammen innsatsen. Nett- og forelesninger på stedet, en nettbasert og hybrid internasjonal skole har blitt implementert for studenter, doktorgradsstudenter og forskere på tidlig stadium. Vitenskapelig samarbeid er etablert gjennom utvekslingsbesøk av senior og yngre forskere. Noen av resultatene fra fellesforskningen er dokumentert i fagfellevurderte internasjonale tidsskrifter.

(i) development and implementation of onsite and online lectures that reflected the latest demands and developments in materials and photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen generation; (ii) implementation of exchange visits of Master and PhD students as well as staff; (iii) organizing summer and winter schools in online and hybrid formats; (iv) publication of 12 joint papers in International journals with impact factor >3 and Conference presentations. The project was the platform for establishing the collaboration between the network teams. It has led to joint International projects.

Materials development for conversion of solar energy into storable chemical energy by water splitting using photoelectrochemical cells (PEC) is an important problem. Despite many years of research in this field, there are many challenges to be solved such as, e.g., non-toxic, low cost materials development, device fabrication by scalable methods, extending durability of the cells, understanding degradation mechanism, testing the devices in realistic conditions, life-cycle assessment, recycling, and commercialization. Future management in this field requires a new generation of scientists and experts that are not only experts in one particular topic, but understands the complex interactions between different aspects related to it. This requires close cooperation combining education and research Institutions and industry. Such training is beyond the capabilities of one academic or industrial group. It is the aim of the COOL LONGBOAT project to provide such complex training to young researchers for a future career in this field of technology. To solve the the multidisciplinary task online and onsite lectures will be developed and implemented for undergraduate, graduate, post-graduate students, and early stage researchers, summer schools will be organized; scientific collaboration will be established through exchange visits of senior and young researchers, joint journal articles will be published and a joint proposal will be submitted to continue the collaboration. To solve the above challenges seven teams: (i) the Department of Solar Energy, Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, (ii) the Institute for Mathematics and Physics, University of Stavanger, (iii) Department of Physics, University of Oslo, (iv) KeraNor AS, Oslo, (v) Université de Poitiers, Poitiers Cedex, France, (vi) Department of Ceramic Engineering. Indian Institute of Technology, Varanasi, India and (vii) University of Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan will combine their efforts.