The Helmholtz Association – of which Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is one centre – seeks to provide sustainable solutions to the challenges facing society today. A wide range of interdisciplinary research is underway within the Nanophotonics for Energy group at KIT, spanning from fundamental
research to field-work in Africa.

The research topics all have their origins in solar energy harvesting, however over the years success in other fields has led to a diversification.

This seminar will detail one example of this; how luminescent materials can be utilized to enhance the efficiency of solar cells, but then along the way learning that these materials have a valuable role to play in applications such as plastic recycling, anti-counterfeiting and, more recently, bio-medical imaging.