ICARUS Project

ICARUS: Project ambition

ICARUS aims to develop next-generation solar energy conversion technology to produce both electricity and green hydrogen from sunlight and water, supporting Europe's 2050 carbon neutrality goal. It will achieve this through a novel system integrating photoelectrochemical water splitting and photovoltaic power generation, using a spectrum-splitting approach for optimized sunlight use. The project will culminate in a prototype validating this hybrid renewable energy solution, including hydrogen storage.

Objective

The objective of ICARUS is to enhance the efficiency of solar energy conversion and improve the economic viability of green hydrogen production by concurrently generating electricity and solar hydrogen from sunlight and water.

Means

The project brings together experts working in Materials Science and Engineering, Electrochemistry, Physics, Chemistry, and Mechanical Engineering. The consortium represents an international and multidisciplinary research effort.

The final challenge is to realize a self-standing prototype device that produces electricity and hydrogen in parallel directly from sunlight by means of a synergetic coupling of PEC and PV modules.

Prototype

ICARUS: Coordinator

Luca Pasquini

Full professor at the University of Bologna since 2024, he carries out experimental research in the field of materials physics and nanoscience. His research activity is mainly focused on the growth of nanoparticles and nanostructures by physical methods and on the investigation of structure-property relationships. His current interests include hydride materials for solid-state hydrogen storage and semiconducting oxide nanostructures for solar energy conversion. He collaborates with several universities and research institutions across Europe. He is author of about 130 papers on international peer-reviewed journals and has presented his research achievements at 40 international conferences. h-index: 36 (Google scholar), 31 (Scopus)

The consortium

This european research project has a double ambition: to train the researchers of the future and to develope innovations capacity. This will be done by by favoring the exchanges between first class research centers, multidisciplinarity and public / private partnerships

4 Countries and 5 Partners

1.2 M€ Financing