A Versatile Collector (VersCo) for simultaneous Photovoltaic-thermal and Radiative Cooling in Buildings

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This fellowship will train a talented early career researcher (Dr. Q Wang), a winner of the Grand Gold Medal of Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions and the Special Prize of President Scholarship of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for PhD Graduate (the highest honor for PhD), to contribute to scientific excellence in the EU by investigating and developing a Versatile Collector (VersCo) for building integrated renewable energy applications.Photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) and radiative cooling (RC) are two appealing renewable energy technologies driven by solar energy and cold energy in outer space, respectively. Their similarities in renewability and complementarities in types of energy outputs (electricity and heat vs. coldness) and preferable operating periods (cold seasons vs. hot seasons) stimulate the applicants to propose the VersCo design concept aiming to perfectly incorporate PVT and RC technology. The VersCo technology can simultaneously deliver electricity, heat and coldness to buildings with excellent seasonal adaptability. Additionally, the VersCo design will also be capable of addressing the severe drawbacks of less efficiency in stand-alone PVT and RC collectors, which greatly help the implementation of nearly zero energy buildings. To achieve such beneficial functions, the applicants have proposed an ingenious miniature optical module and a novel spectrally selective coating for the VersCo system, which will be optimised, trial-manufactured and evaluated in this fellowship.The project has been carefully designed to match Dr. Wang's expertise with the strengths of the host team at the University of Nottingham in solar energy, micro/nano coating and low/zero carbon buildings, facilitating a two-way knowledge transfer and training. Successful completion of this fellowship will contribute to European excellence in hybrid renewable energy systems and low/zero carbon buildings and promote Dr. Wang's professional competence and career prospect.