Coordination Funds

今天的技术能够大规模地将太阳能直接（光能转换）或间接（风能或水力发电）转换为电能，而且成本效益正在稳步提高。然而，太阳能的可用性在空间和时间上变化很大。因此，储能是我们向可再生能源系统过渡的主要挑战。在这里，新的分子材料可能为各种惊人的新的和令人惊讶的解决方案铺平道路。在MOST的研究单元中，我们建议探索这种强大的分子策略的潜力：太阳能的转换，存储和释放，所有这些都结合在一个单一的分子中，即所谓的分子太阳能热（MOST）系统。其工作原理如下：可切换分子吸收光，从低能态转换为亚稳态高能态。为了释放储存的能量，施加外部触发（热、催化剂、光、电场或磁场），并且分子返回到其低能量状态，将化学能转换为热。这一概念具有很大的优势，即能量的捕获、储存和释放可以在仅由光致变色分子组成的非常简单的介质中完成。MOST系统中的关键组件是量身定制的光电开关，其设计必须以最佳方式满足特定标准：· 高储能密度，亚稳高能态半衰期长· 高效的光转换（高量子效率，与太阳光谱良好匹配）· 高可逆性和良好的稳定性（即转化和反转化反应的高选择性，降解最小）MOST系统的设计对合成化学提出了巨大的挑战。因此，很明显，多学科的方法是必不可少的，它结合了专业知识（i）开发新的MOST开关（合成），（ii）探索其功能（光谱学），（iii）建模其属性（理论）和（iv）在演示设备中测试它们。在拟议的社会变革管理计划研究股中，我们将汇集所需的专门知识，在德国组建一个带头研究小组，该小组将与国际领先的研究人员沿着，把社会变革管理计划这一新兴领域推向新的水平。然而，所获得的知识远远超出了MOST的概念，并将在有机光化学的一般领域作出宝贵的贡献。

Today’s technologies are capable of converting solar energy to electricity directly (photovoltaics) or indirectly (wind energy or hydropower) at a large scale and at a cost efficiency which is steadily improving. However, the availability of solar energy varies drastically in space and time. Therefore, energy storage is the primary challenge in our transition to a renewable energy system. Here, new molecular materials may pave the road to a phenomenal variety of new and surprising solutions. In the Research Unit FOR MOST, we propose to explore the potential of such a powerful molecular strategy: The conversion, storage and release of solar energy, all combined in just one single molecule so-called Molecular Solar Thermal (MOST) systems. The working principle is as follows: A switchable molecule absorbs light and is converted from a low-energy state to a metastable high-energy state. To release the stored energy, an external trigger (heat, catalyst, light, electric or magnetic field), is applied and the molecule returns to its low-energy state converting the chemical energy to heat. The concept possesses the big advantage that energy capture, storage and release can be accomplished in a very simple medium consisting of the photochromic molecules only. The key components in MOST systems are tailor-made photoswitches, which must be designed to fulfill specific criteria in the best possible way: • High energy storage density with a long half-life of the metastable high-energy state • Efficient photoconversion (high quantum efficiency, good match to the solar spectrum) • High reversibility and good stability (i.e. high selectivity of the conversion and back conversion reaction with minimal degradation) The design of MOST systems poses great challenges to synthetic chemistry. Hence, it is clear that a multidisciplinary approach is indispensable which combines the expertise (i) to develop new MOST switches (synthesis), (ii) to explore their functionality (spectroscopy), (iii) to model their properties (theory) and (iv) to test them in demonstrating devices. In the proposed Research Unit FOR MOST, we will bring together the required expertise to form a spear-heading research team in Germany, which along with leading international researchers, will push the emerging field of MOST to the next level. However, the knowledge obtained goes far beyond the MOST concept and will make valuable contributions in the general field of organic photochemistry.