Uppsala University integrating into solar energy research

Anders Ajaxon Persson, space researcher at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and CEO of the company Fourth State Systems, receives ÅForsk Entrepreneurial Scholarship 2022.

Maria Tenje, professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Division Head of the Division of Biomedical Engineering receives funding for the project PHOENIX. The aim of the project is to develop new microfluid tools to generate organoids. Organoids can be used as an alternative to animal testing within pharmaceutical development and biomedical research.

Marika Edoff, Professor and director for the Division of Solar Cell Technology will become the coordinator of Uppsala University’s new centre of excellence for solar energy, research – SOLVE. The ambition is for more widespread use of solar energy in Sweden. SOLVE will begin operations during January 2022.

SOLVE (Solar Research Center Sweden) is created as a strategic partnership between Sweden's excellent research base in solar energy and a broad group of actors in the public and private sector. The centre's common vision is a broad impact for solar energy in Sweden through smart and well-thought-out integration in cities, on land and in the energy system, in order to contribute to the sustainability goals. Coordinator is Marika Edoff, professor at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Uppsala University.

Prof. Maria Tenje receives a five year prolongation grant to continue the research with her research group EMBLA on organs-on-chip with the aim to reduce the need of animal testing.

Uppsala University is among the higher education institutions jointly embarking on a big new materials research programme aimed at improving scope for a sustainable society. The programme is to be funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Imagine an artificial fibre that can be programmed to contract and stretch just like human muscle fibres. Thin and flexible enough to be woven into a portable, robotic textile muscle, OmniFiber is the result of a collaboration between researchers at KTH, MIT Media Lab and Uppsala University.

The solar cell company Evolar AB, a company with a strong connection to the Division of Solar Cell Technology at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, has placed itself on Ny Teknik's list for successful new technology companies, the so-called 33-list.

Age, injury or disease: regardless of the cause, there is a growing need for treatments to replace bone and other body parts. Researchers at Uppsala University are using 3D printers to develop tomorrow’s biomaterials.

Uppsala University’s Rudbeck Medal was first awarded in 2003. The medal was instituted the previous year in connection with the 300th anniversary of the death of Olof Rudbeck the Elder. It is presented “for extraordinarily prominent achievements in science, to be conferred primarily for such accomplishments or findings attained at Uppsala University”.

A degree project about declaring climate impact from buildings by Agnes Östberg and Josefin Torgerssons receives an essay scholarship from Uppsala Municipality. The 10.000 kr scholarship is rewarded yearly to seven essays.

3D-printed houses and personalized medicines printed at each hospital. And a big investment in 4D printing. Researchers now describe the rate of development in the field as "furious". The question is what will strike militarily?

Gemma Mestres has been awarded Göran Gustafsson's grand prize. The prize consists of a research grant of SEK 2.75 million to be used freely for research. It is Göran Gustafsson's foundations that annually award the Gustafsson Prize to young researchers at Uppsala University and KTH.

Marika Edoff belongs to the world elite in solar cell research, hear her talk about what is happening in the field right now and what research that is going on in her research group. Among other things, there is hope for an upcoming technological leap with so-called tandem solar cells. By combining cells of different materials that absorb light in different parts of the solar spectrum, one could increase the efficiency compared to today's solar cells by more than a third.

Solar energy is an important weapon against climate change. The solar panels that exist today capture just over a fifth of the sun's radiation. Researchers at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering hope to be able to significantly increase efficiency with the help of the mineral perovskite. 

Solar cells have become cheap and often come from China. But warnings are being raised about the production conditions in China. At the same time, there are plans to start solar cell production in several places in Europe.

A gas sensor that was designed to detect traces of life on Mars turned out to have just the right qualities for measuring blood gases in premature babies. Through Region Uppsala Innovation’s project with innovation hubs, researchers and entrepreneurs have been able to gain full insight into needs in healthcare and adapted their innovations to become useful solutions. 

3D printing is so much more than just printing physical objects for fun. In Uppsala, there is research and collaboration between Uppsala University and industry going on which could play a crucial role in tomorrow’s healthcare and increase the chances of saving lives.

Scientists have finally developed a full Heusler material based device that successfully emits terahertz frequencies, opening the door to novel research and application possibilities with terahertz waves

Two research projects on solar cells have been granted SEK 6 million each from the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Energy Agency's call for sustainable energy systems. One project is about methods for recycling photons in thin film solar cells and in the other project a relatively new and promising type of solar cell material, metal halide perovskites, will be investigated in more detail.

A new technique for reducing light interference during telescope observations enables imaging of earth-like planets in nearby solar systems. An international team of astronomers and physicists, including researchers from Uppsala University, have used a diamond coronagraph to look for planets in the solar system Alfa Centauri, just 4.4 light years away. The method has demonstrated promising results

The EU project SOMIRO began at the turn of the year with the goal of developing technology that will help to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture. The project is being coordinated by the Division of Microsystems Technology, where researchers are currently developing swimming, flatworm-inspired milli-robots.

The project "Protective layers should make smart windows even smarter" has received funding within the framework of Uppsala University's Verification for collaboration program, VFS, where researchers and organizations are given the opportunity to jointly develop and test new solutions to needs-driven and concrete challenges.

The SINTEC project coordinated by our Microsystems Technology Division won the prestigious Laurel prize in the .eu Web Awards for the best web page for projects within the  .eu, .ею or .ευ extensions. In the category, 65 web pages were nominated. Apart from the trophy, the project was awarded a 3 months billboard at Brussels airport in 2021.
 

Harmful organic molecules in the indoor air can cause adverse health effects—a problem known as the ‘sick building syndrome’. Current air-cleaning technologies require both energy and upkeep, but a promising new solution is being developed at Uppsala University—window glass with nanostructured coating based on titanium dioxide which uses sunlight to remove organic pollutants from indoor air by passing it between the inner panes of the window.

Ken Welch, professor at the Department of Materials Science, has received funding from the innovation programs Swelife's and Medtech4Health's joint call "Collaboration project for better health" for a research project on chronic pain.

All education and examination is done online until May 15, 2020 in accordance with the decision  of the Vice-Cancellor in response to Covid-19.

The Department of Materials and Engineering Science started on the first of January this year. We are one of three departments that belong to the technical section of the Ångström laboratory at Uppsala University. Previously, we were part of the Department of Engineering Sciences.

New experiments identify the movement of oxygen atoms as the origin of light-induced color changes in the material yttrium oxyhydride.