Marina Freitag

🔓 We kept this quiet long enough.

ICEMCR 2026 Costa Rica

30 researchers. Debates with teeth. One country running on 99% renewables.

The future of energy materials.

🌐 icemcr.com
🔬 www.rsc.org/events/detai...

The secret's out. ⚡ @rsc.org @chemistryncl.bsky.social @prxenergy.bsky.social

Imagine a world where indoor photovoltaics power our devices seamlessly while AI optimizes energy use—transforming smart homes into eco-friendly havens. Exciting times ahead! #futurism

PhD Studentship: Next-Generation Indoor Photovoltaics and AI-Integrated Energy Storage for Autonomous Environmental IoT at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - PhD Studentship: Next-Generation Indoor Photovoltaics and AI-Integrated Energy Storage for Autonomous Environmental IoT at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚀 Open PhD position! Join us to develop next-gen indoor photovoltaics & AI-driven energy storage for sustainable IoT sensors. Shape the future of green tech apply now or share with someone who’d be a great fit! 🌱🔬🤖 #PhD #GreenTech #AI #IoT #Sustainability www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Flash-Infrared-Annealing-Enabled High-Temperature Sintering of Photoanodes on Flexible Polymer Foils for Ultralight Photovoltaics Ultralight photovoltaics are indispensable wherever every gram counts, from self-powered Internet of Things nodes to free-hanging greenhouse covers. In dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) the required 4...

🎉Huge congrats to 🌟David on paper #1! Flash-Infrared-Annealing-Enabled High-Temperature Sintering of Photoanodes on Flexible Polymer Foils for Ultralight Photovoltaics | ACS Energy Letters pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... @acs.org @newcastleuni.bsky.social @chemistryncl.bsky.social #DSSC😘 #PhdLife

PhD Studentship: Next-Generation Indoor Photovoltaics and AI-Integrated Energy Storage for Autonomous Environmental IoT at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - PhD Studentship: Next-Generation Indoor Photovoltaics and AI-Integrated Energy Storage for Autonomous Environmental IoT at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

🚀 Open PhD position! Join us to develop next-gen indoor photovoltaics & AI-driven energy storage for sustainable IoT sensors. Shape the future of green tech apply now or share with someone who’d be a great fit! 🌱🔬🤖 #PhD #GreenTech #AI #IoT #Sustainability www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Honored to be featured in the Royal Society's #WomenInSTEM display celebrating 80 years of women FRS Fellows! 🙌✨
#STEMinist #LabCoatLegends #ScienceSquad @chemistryncl.bsky.social @royalsociety.org

Thrilled to announce my new role as Theme Lead for SOLARIS: Sustainable Optimization & Learning with AI for Resilient Intelligent Systems at @newcastleuni.bsky.social Centre for AI Safety! 🚀
From light-powered AI to tackling e-waste, AI at the edge is not just safe, but truly sustainable. 💡

Pretty stuff to share…#newcastle #cycling

Fantastic conference in Doha! Really enjoyed the inspiring talks, especially from Sarbajit Banerjee. Great to meet new people in the field like Harris Kohl. #Science #Energy #sustainability

We’re live at the #BritishScienceFestival in Liverpool with our berry solar cells exhibition! Huge thanks to @newcastleuni.bsky.social and David for all the support. Come check out BerryCells and let’s chat about the future of pv energy science! 🍇🔬 berrycells.com #Science #Innovation

From Zombies to Smart Devices: The Evolution of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells for IoT Applications The evolution of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) has been fundamentally shaped by advances in charge transport materials, with copper-based coordination complexes enabling efficient redox mediation and, uniquely, the in situ formation of solid-state hole transport networks. This Spotlight traces the materials design principles underpinning the “zombie” DSC, devices that maintain or even improve performance after the spontaneous solidification of a liquid electrolyte within the mesoporous TiO2 scaffold. Building on the 2015 demonstration of copper–phenanthroline complexes forming self-assembled, conductive matrices, we discuss the interplay of ligand rigidity, redox potential, and reorganization energy and compare with recent breakthroughs in cobalt and iron polypyridyl complexes as well as polyiodide systems. Advances in ligand engineering have yielded amorphous, robust hole conductors with conductivities exceeding 1 mS cm–1 and power conversion efficiencies up to 38% under 1000 lx indoor light, with less than 5% efficiency loss after 1000 h continuous operation. Rapid, scalable processing, such as direct electrode drying and microwave-assisted evaporation, now enables large-area modules to be fabricated in under an hour, with stable integration into Internet of Things (IoT) sensor systems. By uniting molecular design, process optimization, and real-world device integration, zombie DSCs offer a compelling route to sustainable, high-performance indoor photovoltaics and self-powered electronics. Envisioning a new phase of IoT, these DSCs can power small, autonomously operating sensor modules. Moreover, integrating local intelligence, such as resource-limited neural networks, allows on-device analytics and real-time energy management, boosting efficiency while relying solely on ambient light.

Thrilled to share our spotlight article “From Zombies to Smart Devices”! Consider this a small hommage to “28 Years Later” the original “zombie” DSC name was definitely inspired by related cult classic. @nano-kez.bsky.social #Accepted #28YearsLater #SolarCells #zombies

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Temperature-guided solidification of copper coordination complexes as hole transport materials We report a rapid and controllable solid-state formation process of copper coordination complex hole-transport materials (HTMs) in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs), reducing processing times from ove...

Thrilled to announce our new paper: “How to Make Hot Zombies: Temperature-guided solidification of copper coordination complexes as HTMs.” With just 20 minutes at 70 °C, we revive copper-based solar cells for peak performance. #SolarResearch #MaterialsScience🧟‍♀️☀️ pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Live from the Royal Society Summer Science Soirée: testing “next-gen RED buttons” 🔴 (keep calm), now with a sustainability twist—turning trash into “craphite”… or ideally something useful… #ScienceSoirée #Innovation #EcoLaughs @royalsociety.org @newcastleuni.bsky.social

Thrilled to share that David, just hit “submit” on his first paper! 🚀 As proud supervisor, I couldn’t be more excited. 🙌
Now, let’s raise our mugs to the mercy of our reviewers ☕️ May their coffee be strong & patience boundless. 🤞 #phdlife #bekind @chemistryncl.bsky.social

Unlocking high-performance photocapacitors for edge computing in low-light environments Driving continuous, low-power artificial intelligence (AI) in the Internet of Things (IoT) requires reliable energy harvesting and storage under indoor or low-light conditions, where batteries face co...

Fantastic news! 🎉 Our paper "Unlocking High-Performance Photocapacitors for Edge Computing in Low-Light Environments" is a TOP 10% HOT Paper in EES! 💡

pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
@chemistryncl.bsky.social @rsc.org
#Photocapacitors #EdgeAI #LowLightEnergy #IoTPower #HOTPaper #EESJournal

Just saw a zombie hunter bus cruising through Scotland. Should I be concerned? surely that only puts me on the *renewable* most-wanted list. #DSC #ZombieCells 😱

#TGIF with Anders after the UK-Sweden Life Sciences Symposium at the Royal Society. #goodoldtimes @uppsalauni.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social

New standard developed for battery-free, AI-enabled IoT devices A landmark international collaboration led by Newcastle University has developed the world's most efficient integrated light-harvesting and storage system for powering autonomous Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the edge of the Internet of Things (IoT).

A new integrated light-harvesting and storage system enables battery-free, AI-powered IoT devices, offering high efficiency and sustainable operation for smart infrastructure and edge applications. doi.org/g9gv4s

🎉Thrilled to announce our new work in EES @rsc.org. 🚨 Our photocapacitor powers edegAI networks with just indoor light! Imagine billions of IoT devices, zero batteries, pure sustainability.

Check it out: pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...

bit.ly/42QogtM

#Innovation #IoT #AI #Sustainability #EnergyTech

Next #TGIF #Roma #LiberationDay

C60-based ionic salt electron shuttle for high-performance inverted perovskite solar modules Although C60 is usually the electron transport layer (ETL) in inverted perovskite solar cells, its molecular nature of C60 leads to weak interfaces that lead to non-ideal interfacial electronic and me...

C60-based ionic salt electron shuttle for high-performance inverted perovskite solar modules | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New work from out NREL perovskite PV team and CHOISE EFRC work. Nice work Shuai!

The magic words that make my heart flutter…”I am pleased to accept your manuscript for publication in its current form.” #staytuned #academicbsky @newcastleuni.bsky.social @chemistryncl.bsky.social

DIY Aperol Spritz #whileinRome #TGIF

[2/3] With talks from @aronwalsh.github.io 💻, @emjewls.bsky.social 🔋, @ifanstephens.bsky.social 🔌, Petra Cameron ☀️, Libby Gibson ♻️ and Jessica Higgins ☢️

and networking opportunities and poster sessions organised by @titiricigroup.bsky.social @proffreitag.bsky.social...

Had a cute visitor in the office today 🦄🌟❤️ @chemistryncl.bsky.social #future

Obligatory Friday G&T #TGIF

First paper submitted for Timo! #theacademiclife #reviewersbekind

🌟 Excited for Energy 2025 on April 29! A fantastic opportunity for early career researchers to connect with industry and academic leaders in energy and green tech. Don't miss out—register early to secure your spot! ⚡️🔋 #Energy2025 #FutureOfEnergy

Exciting news! Last week, a member of our research team 🌟Kezia @nano-kez.bsky.social proudly represented us in Parliament, showcasing our impactful outreach programs BerryCells.com with such a prestigious audience. #Innovation #Outreach @royalsociety.org @chemistryncl.bsky.social

Marina explains this study as follows:

“Our research demonstrates the critical interconnectivity between advanced materials and intelligent devices."