UNC System grants support 3 Carolina research teams
The Research Opportunities Initiative funds, totaling $4.5 million, come from the North Carolina General Assembly.
Three UNC-Chapel Hill research teams will conduct innovative projects thanks to grants from the UNC System.
Carolina faculty will be lead researchers on a solar cell project and contributors to work investigating clean energy and coastal land-sea habitats.
The grants, totaling $4.5 million, are part of the 2025 Research Opportunities Initiative and funded by the North Carolina General Assembly. The program focuses on six priority research areas: advanced manufacturing; data science; energy; marine and coastal science; military and security-related issues; and pharmacoengineering.
Here are this year’s projects:
- Ultra-High Efficiency Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells: Carolina’s Jingsong Huang, professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ applied physical sciences department, is the principal researcher and collaborating with NC State University to boost North Carolina’s energy production and reduce dependence on out-of-state fossil fuels. Their goal is to create all-perovskite tandem solar cells, which have potential to be twice as efficient as silicon-based solar cells.
- Nature Inspired Collaborative Energy Research: Carolina joins principal investigator UNC Greensboro and collaborating institutions North Carolina A&T State University and UNC Charlotte to find ways to use natural products to capture, store and transport clean energy.
- TEAL-SHIPS Transect Expedition to Assess Land-to-Sea Habitats via Interdisciplinary Process Studies: Carolina joins principal researchers at UNC Wilmington and collaborators at East Carolina University and NC State to initiate a research partnership for coastal and marine science that establishes a seasonal expedition to study coastal land-sea habitats.
Over the past 10 years, the initiative has awarded 24 grants amounting to more than $38 million to solve some of the state’s most pressing issues. The funds, distributed over a three-year period, enable faculty to pursue research and make significant contributions to their fields.
