An international research team including Solar TAP Steering Committee member Christoph Brabec and Principal Investigator Pascal Friederich has received €9.7 million in ERC funding to develop a new approach to materials discovery using artificial intelligence.
Developing new materials is essential for advancing technologies such as next-generation solar cells. Yet identifying and optimizing materials with the right properties remains a complex and time-consuming process.
The newly funded research project ODDITY (On-Demand Discovery by Molecular IngenuiTY) aims to change this. Supported by a €9.7 million ERC Synergy Grant, the six-year project brings together researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Oxford.
The international team includes Prof. Christoph Brabec, a member of the Solar TAP Steering Committee, and Prof. Pascal Friederich, a Principal Investigator within Solar TAP, alongside Prof. Iain McCulloch from the University of Oxford.
Rethinking How New Materials Are Developed
ODDITY combines artificial intelligence, automated experimentation and reversible chemistry to accelerate the discovery of functional materials.
Rather than searching only among existing molecules, the researchers aim to design new materials with properties tailored to specific applications.
To achieve this, the team plans to develop a flexible molecular building-block system that combines AI-guided molecular design with experimental validation. This approach could make materials discovery faster, more targeted and more efficient.
From Materials Innovation to Photovoltaic Applications
Advances in materials research are particularly relevant for photovoltaics, where new functional materials can enable improvements in efficiency, stability and device performance.
ODDITY’s approach could help accelerate the identification of materials with tailored optical and electronic properties, opening up new opportunities for future solar technologies.
This is also closely aligned with the mission of Solar TAP: bridging the gap between scientific research and industrial application.
As a Helmholtz Innovation Platform, Solar TAP supports the development, testing and transfer of emerging photovoltaic technologies. While ODDITY is an independent research project, its approach illustrates how advances in fundamental materials science can create new opportunities for application-oriented research and technological innovation.
With Christoph Brabec and Pascal Friederich contributing their expertise to both the ODDITY project and the Solar TAP network, the project also highlights the importance of connecting scientific disciplines and research communities.
We look forward to following ODDITY’s progress and the opportunities its research may open up for future photovoltaic technologies.
Further information here