The LEEMONS project has just been featured in PV Magazine, highlighting our research on nanostructured silicon and low-energy electron multiplication (LEEM).
📰 Read the article here:
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/03/16/nanostructured-silicon-could-push-solar-cells-beyond-shockley-queisser-limit/
💡 The idea behind LEEMONS is simple in principle but ambitious in practice:
What if a single high-energy photon could generate more than one electron in silicon?
This is exactly what carrier multiplication aims to achieve.
Instead of losing excess photon energy as heat, nanostructured silicon created by ion implantation could allow high-energy carriers to generate additional electron-hole pairs before thermalization.
If demonstrated in real devices, this approach could:
âš¡ Reduce thermalization losses
âš¡ Push silicon solar cells beyond the traditional efficiency limits
âš¡ Remain compatible with existing PV manufacturing lines
Today, the consortium is working on key steps before full device demonstrations:
🔬 Optimizing metallization processes to preserve implanted nanostructures
🔬 Understanding carrier lifetime after implantation
🔬 Preparing the first M6 solar cell prototypes
A big thank you to Emiliano Bellini and PV Magazine for covering the LEEMONS project and helping share this research with the global PV community.
👥 The project is funded by Horizon Europe and brings together partners from industry and research:
Segton Advanced Technology, CEA-Leti, ISC Konstanz, CSEM, Roltec and UMLP.
#SolarEnergy #Photovoltaics #HorizonEurope #SolarInnovation #Nanotechnology #EnergyTransition
