As photovoltaic technologies diversify, the design and optimization of materials tailored for specific applications become crucial. This symposium focuses on advanced materials and device architectures developed to meet the distinct requirements of emerging PV applications — from integration into everyday environments to operation under extreme conditions. Contributions are welcome on all types of PV technologies, including silicon, III-V, CIGS, perovskite, organic, and dye-sensitized and tandem systems. Topics of interest include materials and interfaces for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), such as semitransparent and color-tunable absorbers; materials engineering for Indoor PV optimized under low-light spectra; and innovations enabling AgriPV and PV–battery hybrid systems. We also invite research on functional materials for solar-to-fuel conversion, wearable and flexible PV for portable electronics, and robust PV architectures for space and underwater operation. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the interplay between composition, stability, and performance in non-conventional environments. The symposium aims to bring together materials scientists, device engineers, and application specialists to advance the rational design of photovoltaic materials enabling new frontiers in energy harvesting and integration.
- Advanced materials design and interface engineering for emergent PV technologies (perovskite, organic, tandem architecture, CIGS, III V, DSSC, Si-based).
- Semitransparent and color-tunable absorbers for Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV).
- Materials optimization for Indoor Photovoltaics operating under low and artificial illumination.
- Photovoltaic materials and architectures for AgriPV and energy–food co-production systems.
- Coupled PV–battery and hybrid materials for integrated energy harvesting and storage.
- Photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical materials for solar-to-fuel conversion.
- Flexible, wearable, and lightweight PV materials for portable and self-powered devices.
- Robust and stable materials for extreme environments: space, underwater, and harsh terrestrial conditions
Dr Stefania Cacovich is currently a CNRS researcher working at IPVF. Her research activity lies in the field of the advanced characterization of hybrid and inorganic materials for photovoltaic applications by employing a multi-scale and multi-technique approach.
Her research into hybrid devices started during her doctoral studies (2014-2018), carried out at the Department of Materials Science of the University of Cambridge (UK) under the supervision of Prof Caterina Ducati. Her thesis focused on the study of the chemical, structural and morphological properties of hybrid organic-inorganic thin films and photovoltaic devices using advanced analytical electron microscopy techniques. In 2018, she moved to Paris for a postdoctoral research position at IPVF to work on multidimensional spectrally and time resolved photoluminescence imaging methods. From 2020-2022, she was Marie Curie Individual Post-doctoral fellow in Physics at CNRS (UMR 9006) with a project aimed at exploring the fundamental photophysical processes underlying the operation of advanced optoelectronic devices.