Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSPProfile
Dr. Klemens Ilse, Acting Head of Business Unit »Fraunhofer CSP«; Group Manager »Materials Diagnostics for H2 Technologies«
Research activities
- International cooperation on hydrogen research
- Production of green hydrogen and its derivates from renewable energy, e.g. in desert locations
- Hydrogen logistics
- Standardization and certification of electrolyzers
- New methods for degradation analysis and optimization of electrolyzer components
- Photovoltaics in harsh climates
Academic/professional resume
Since 10/2025
Acting Head of Business Unit "Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP"
Since 2022
Group Manager "Materials Diagnostics for H2 Technologies"
2020 - 2022
Research associate in business unit "Hydrogen Technologies", Fraunhofer IMWS
2020
Head of team "Functional and optical surfaces" within the group "Diagnostics and Metrology", Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP
2015 – 2020
PhD thesis, written at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg and Fraunhofer CSP. Topic: "Microstructural investigation and simulation of natural soiling processes on PV modules"
2015 – 2020
Research associate and project management, Fraunhofer CSP and Anhalt University of Applied Science, Köthen
2012–2015
Master of Science in Physics at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. Thesis: "Fabrication and characterization of silicon nanoparticles embedded in aluminum oxide"
2010 – 2015
Research assistent, group "Diagnostics and Metrology", Fraunhofer CSP
2009 – 2012
Bacherlor’s degree in Physics at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg. Thesis: "Electrical characterization of circuit structures for thin-film photovoltaic modules"
Awards
2021
Schott AG Materials Award for PhD thesis "Microstructural investigation and simulation of natural soiling processes on PV modules"
2019
Junior Award of the Heinz Bethge Foundation for Applied Electron Microscopy for PhD thesis "Microstructural investigation and simulation of natural soiling processes on PV modules"
2019
"Overall EU PVSEC Student Award" at 36th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC 2019) for "Physics of soiling and dust adhesion - lessons learnt from laboratory soiling tests"
2019
"Best Poster Award" at 46th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC 46) for "Quantification of abrasion-induced ARC transmission losses from reflection spectroscopy"
2017
"Best Student Paper Award" at 44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC 44) für "Comparing indoor and outdoor soiling experiments for different glass coatings and microstructural analysis of particle caking processes"
Publications