Robert Witteck joined  NREL's Chemistry and Nanoscience Center in 2022 as a postdoctoral researcher for materials science and photovoltaics (PV). His current research focuses on the solar module integration of perovskite as well as perovskite-tandem solar cells.

Robert received his doctoral degree in physics from the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover in 2019. In his doctoral thesis, he investigated the optical and electrical cell-to-module losses for passivated emitter and rear cells and the ultraviolet stability of these cells in a solar module. While obtaining his doctorate, he worked for the PV module group at the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH). Since the successful completion of his doctorate, he led the SUPERPV project on cost reduction of solar modules at ISFH, an European Union Horizon2020 project with 26 international partners. For the project, he developed integrated bypass diodes and light-harvesting structures for bifacial solar modules.

Research Interests

Solar modules

Perovskite solar cells and modules

Tandem solar cells and modules

Education

Ph.D., Physics, Leibniz University Hannover

Professional Experience

Postdoc, Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (2019–2022)

Doctoral Student, Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (2014–2019)

Featured Work

Optimized Interconnection of Passivated Emitter and Rear Cells by Experimentally Verified Modeling, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics (2016)

UV-Induced Degradation of PERC Solar Modules with UV-Transparent Encapsulation Materials, Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications (2017)

UV Radiation Hardness of Photovoltaic Modules Featuring Crystalline Si Solar Cells with AlOx/p+-type Si and SiNy/n+-type Si Interfaces, physica status solidi – Rapid Research Letters (2017)

Three Bypass Diodes Architecture at the Limit, IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics (2020)

Partial Shading of One Solar Cell in a Photovoltaic Module with 3-Terminal Cell Interconnection, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells (2021)

Awards and Honors

Best 20 Paper Award, SiliconPV Conference (2020)

Best Student Presentation Award,  IEEE 46th Photovoltaics Specialists Conference (2019)