Projects
Physical understanding of defects in perovskites for a science-based approach to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells KU Leuven
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) were introduced in 2009, only achieving 3.8% power conversion efficiency (PCE). A rapid increase in effiency has followed ever since, achieving already 23% PCE nowadays. In this perspective, it can already start to compete with crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar cells, which represent more than 90% of the market. Also, the abundancy of the materials and their low cost, combined with the low-temperature, simple ...
A Boundary Modeling Scheme to Bridge the Computational Gap Between Classic Electrodynamics and Quantum Physics KU Leuven
The physics of Coronal Mass Ejections through novel Extreme Ultraviolet Imager observations and modeling KU Leuven
The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) onboard Solar Orbiter (SolO) is providing novel and unprecedented observations of the solar corona and chromosphere, revealing us the details on the coronal structures not seen up to now. These observations are crucial for improving our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the sun's atmosphere. The main scientific objective of this PhD project is to study and characterize Coronal Mass Ejections ...
Physics based energy yield modelling of thin-film photovoltaics KU Leuven
Solar energy accounts for 60% of the predicted growth in renewables in the next 5 years. Various research institutes have developed energy yield prediction models to accurately estimate the fluctuating power output of a crystalline Silicon (c-Si) PV. State of the art energy yield models for Silicon PV are available from various research organizations like Sandia Laboratories IMEC, TNO and NREL. These yield prediction models have given the ...
Rapid oscillations in the solar corona detected with Solar Orbiter KU Leuven
The Sun's corona is very hot. To understand how it is heated, it is important to know what happens for small and fast waves. These scales are at the moment inaccessible with the current instrumentation. In the two years from now, the newly launched Solar Orbiter spacecraft will for the first time observe the solar atmosphere with extremely high resolution and a fantastic temporal cadence in its Extreme Ultraviolet Imager. With this new ...
Equation Discovery and Machine Learning applications on Solar Wind and Solar Corona space-based data KU Leuven
Vacancy: 3 PhD positions in a ERC AdG project on the study of the Earth Space Environment (ref. BAP-2023-221) The study of the Earth space environment is of great intellectual interest for the direct access it o↵ers to critical processes with many astrophysical and laboratory applications (waves, instabilities, magnetic reconnection, particle acceleration, turbulence, shocks). But the study of the magnetosphere is also of great societal ...
In-situ data-driven estimation of dynamic solar gains in buildings: Grey- and black- box approaches KU Leuven
On-site measured data are increasingly combined with statistical techniques to create reduced-order models, which are used for evaluating a building's actual energy performance, model predictive control (MPC), defect detection, and energy grid optimization. Solar gains, the part of the buildings’ indoor energy gain contributed by the sun, play a vital role in the indoor heat balance and thermal dynamics. A precise estimation of dynamic solar ...
Understanding the acceleration of the fast solar wind by linking remote-sensing and in-situ observations KU Leuven
The objective of this project is to combine observations of the Sun and observations near the Earth in order to perform “linkage” analysis from the outer layers of the Sun’s atmosphere (solar corona) to the solar wind that blows out of this atmosphere towards the interplanetary space, so as to identify and constrain the mechanisms that heat the solar corona and accelerate the fast solar wind. We will use computational tools to track the solar ...
Wave properties in the low solar atmosphere KU Leuven
The solar atmosphere is in a dynamic state and ubiquitous waves can be observed in all layers. At the same time, above the photosphere, the temperature increases in the chromosphere and corona with increasing distance from the solar surface. It is yet not clear which non-thermal process supplies the upper layers with sufficient energy to maintain their temperature. This is termed the coronal heating problem. The ubiquitous waves in the solar ...