Renaud Demadrille, a researcher at IRIG, is head of the Synthesis Structure and Properties of Functional Materials (STEP) team. Since 2002, he has been conducting research about organic materials for photovoltaic solar energy. More specifically, he has achieved pioneering results in the development of solar technology with photochromic dye-based cells whose transparency adapts to sunlight conditions.
Renaud Demadrille's work now focuses on the molecular engineering of photosensitizers, and photochromes in particular. He demonstrates a relevant strategy for the development of semi-transparent solar cells with dynamic optical properties. This makes it possible to design transparent solar cells that can change color and whose light transmission adapts to the light conditions, thus offering the users optimal visual comfort.
In 2019, Renaud Demadrille was awarded the European ERC "Advanced Grant" to lead the PISCO research project (2019-2025) on photochromic solar cells with variable, self-adapting optical transmission.
In 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
His team is a partner in the MONOPOLY project (2023-2026) supported by the ANR agency, to develop polymers to replace fullerenes in organic solar cells, with improved charge carrier mobility, and good crystallinity. The project aims to produce solar cells several square centimetres wide, with efficiencies of more than 15% and a stability of at least 10 years.
The Ivan Peychès Prize created in 1978 is awarded for work on applications in the study of non-metallic materials, mostly relating to glass or solar energy, although it is sometimes in another applied scientific field.