The University of Toledo will receive up to $15 million from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to explore new ways to harvest solar energy in outer space.

The money will be used to support a team of physicists led by Randall Ellingson. It builds on decades of research into thin-film solar technology at UT, which established its Wright Center for Photovoltaics Innovation and Commercialization in 2007.

The new project tasks the physicists with developing new materials for use in space-based solar technology, including materials to absorb and convert electromagnetic radiation from the sun, efficiently generating electricity for critical power needs, university officials said.

“We’re accelerating our efforts to develop thin-film photovoltaics for space applications,” Professor Ellingson said. 

The Air Force Research Laboratory funded the project with an initial allocation of $2.6 million, with a cost-reimbursement contract capped at nearly $15 million through 2029. The funding is expected to support 12 graduate and 10 undergraduate researchers, in addition to postdoctoral and faculty researchers at the Wright Center.

First Published September 4, 2024, 6:35 p.m.