Jan 28, 2026
ERC funding for two technologies on the way for industrial use
Digital luminescence for electron beams and more sustainable photovoltaics from crystalline semiconductors
The European Research Council (ERC) is funding proof-of-concept studies by two researchers at Dresden University of Technology (TUD). Prof. Sebastian Reineke, Professor of Organic Semiconductors, and Prof. Yana Vaynzof, Chair of Emerging Electronic Technologies and spokesperson for the new Cluster of Excellence Responsible Electronics in the Climate Change Era (REC²), are two of 136 scientists in Europe who have been selected for a renowned proof of concept grant. This comes with €150,000 in funding that can be used to explore the commercial or social potential of research results.
ERC Proof of Concept E-RADOS: ‘Digital luminescence for thin-film electron radiation dosimetry’
Electron beams are used in many industrial and scientific applications, e.g. in cancer therapy, vaccine development, sterilisation, but also for energy-saving ink curing and the recycling of plastic. Until now, however, it has been almost impossible to determine how many electrons are actually entering the material. This is where the ERC Proof of Concept project ‘Digital luminescence for thin-film electron radiation dosimetry (E-RADOS)’ by Sebastian Reineke, Professor of Organic Semiconductors at TU Dresden, comes in. With his LEXOS working group, he aims to further develop the principle of digital luminescence in order to demonstrate the interaction of electrons with organic semiconductors as a new sensor principle and prepare it for later commercial use.
“With our technology, we have already successfully commercialised a sensor technology for UV radiation through the start-up PRUUVE GmbH. With E-RADOS, we want to validate whether this technology can also be reliably used for electron beam measurement,” says Reineke.
ERC Proof of Concept SpeedUp: “High-Speed Vapour Deposition of Metal Halide Perovskites for Scalable Applications”
The development of sustainable renewable energy technologies is crucial given the increasing global energy demand. Yana Vaynzof, Chair of Emerging Electronics at TUD Dresden University of Technology, Director at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW) and speaker of the new Cluster of Excellence REC², is working on emerging photovoltaic technologies based on metal halide perovskites, that are promising crystalline semiconductor materials. Her team focuses in particular on the key challenges that prevent the industrialization of this new material system. The Proof-of-Concept Grant by the European Research Council (ERC) for the project ‘High-Speed Vapour Deposition of Metal Halide Perovskites for Scalable Applications (SpeedUp)’ will enable her to develop new methods for rapid deposition of metal halide perovskites that are necessary to accelerate their integration into industrial optoelectronic applications, such as photovoltaics.
"Our proof-of-principle investigations revealed that high-quality perovskite layers can be deposited by electron-beam deposition at impressive rates of ~100 nm/min. These preliminary results suggest that, with further investigation, electron-beam deposition of metal halide perovskites has strong potential to achieve the required rates for industrial applications. This method could make perovskite solar cell manufacturing significantly faster and more cost-effective, thus accelerating their large-scale industrialization," explains Vaynzof.
ERC Proof-of-Concept Grants (POC)
The Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant is a funding line of the European Research Council (ERC) that can be awarded in addition to the main funding lines (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced and Synergy Grant). It is aimed exclusively at researchers who already hold an ERC grant and now wish to explore the commercial or societal potential of their pioneering research projects. PoC grants are endowed with 150,000 euros for a maximum of 18 months.
Contact:
Prof. Sebastian Reineke
TU Dresden
Tel. +49-351-463-38686
email: