My research combines innovation in photovoltaics with the development of a sustainable and circular energy system. With a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Freiburg and more than two decades of experience in solar energy research, my work focuses on developing photovoltaic technologies for a circular economy, combining materials and device research with reliability, recycling, techno-economic analysis, and concepts for cradle-to-cradle design.
I am a Director at Forschungszentrum Jülich, where I head the Sustainable Photovoltaics Department at the Institute for Photovoltaics (IMD-3). I am also a Professor at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), where I lead the SUMMER Lab for Sustainable Materials for Renewable Energy Conversion.
My career has taken me through leading international research institutions, including the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Forschungszentrum Jülich. Across these positions, my research has addressed both fundamental and applied questions in photovoltaic energy conversion, from solar-cell and module performance to the deployment of photovoltaics at very large scale.
I received the 2021 Hamakawa Award for my contributions to photovoltaic energy conversion and a 2023 ERC Consolidator Grant for my research on cradle-to-cradle recycling of photovoltaic modules. My current research seeks to rethink photovoltaic technologies across their entire life cycle, with the goal of enabling high-performance solar energy systems that are reliable, resource-efficient, recyclable, and ultimately circular.