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Quantum simulations & energy materials.

A multi-year research programme led by Dr. Katawoura Beltako at the Université de Lomé — funded by the African Academy of Sciences through the AU- and EU-supported ARISE pilot programme. Below: the cumulative metrics across team, publications, infrastructure and partnerships.

8
Published papers
5
PhD researchers
7
MSc students trained
4
BSc students trained
11
Capacity events

Workshops · schools · conferences

500+
People directly trained

Workshops, schools and doctoral programmes

5
Partner institutions
1
Compute cluster

First ever at Université de Lomé

Funded by
African Academy of Sciences (AAS)· Implementing partnerAfrican Union· Co-funderEuropean Union· Co-funder

A multi-year programme studying quantum transport across molecular junctions and nano-structured materials — from charge to heat transport, excited states and dynamics. The work bridges electronic-structure theory with materials discovery for energy applications, with the goal of efficient nano-refrigerators and thermoelectric devices that recover wasted heat at the nanoscale.

Access to clean energy & cooling systems

Predictive models of efficient nanojunctions and new materials for energy harvest, electronics, and thermoelectric applications — including organic-based coolers and thermal management systems.

Efficient nano-electronics & low power consumption

Hard-tech innovations in nano-electronics through new material discovery with low energy and thermal waste while operating — unlocking the next chapter of breakthrough computation, especially in health and education.

Four lanes of work.

1

Energy materials

Develop energy-efficient materials for solar, cooling/heating, fuel and storage applications.

2

Low-power electronics

Highly efficient electronics and reasonable energy consumption through new material discovery.

3

Technology transfer & training

Train qualified human resources in quantum technologies, AI-augmented materials engineering, quantum computing and HPC — and transfer these technologies into Africa.

4

Innovation support

Support innovative research ideas that can be transferred from lab to market.

What's done, what's next.

  • WKP-1

    Administrative process, equipment & hiring

    • 5 faculties + 5 PhD students + 4 DevOps interns onboarded
    • 10 scientific computers + 1 compute cluster (first at U. Lomé)
    • Group website live · LinkedIn channel active
  • WKP-2

    Literature review & research methodology

    • Methodology framework adopted across all PhD trajectories
  • WKP-3

    Active research & data analysis

    • 8 peer-reviewed papers published (2 more under review)
    • Open-access where the venue allowed; AAS acknowledged on attributable papers
  • WKP-4

    Workshops, seminars & conferences

    • 4 capacity-building workshops
    • 2 training schools with ICTP
    • 3 doctoral workshops (2023, 2024, 2025)
    • 1 international conference (ACP 2025, Togo)
    • 1 regional conference (SOAPhys, Dec 2024)
  • WKP-5

    Reporting

    • 7 of 10 bi-annual reports delivered
  • WKP-6

    Algorithms & open packages

    • 3 home-made code packages for energy-materials discovery in development
    • 5 digital packages planned for public release before project close
  • WKP-7

    External meetings & collaboration travel

    • Mobility of PhD students to Aix-Marseille from March 2026
    • Joint photovoltaic research with Nanodevice Quantum Simulation group
    • Showcase at Togo Digital / NdabaX

People behind the work.

Supervisors

5 faculties from Université de Lomé

  • Dr. Katawoura Beltako (PI & Coordinator)
  • Prof. Mohou M. Agbeko (Thesis Director)
  • Prof. Dzagli M.M. (Thesis Director)
  • Assoc. Prof. Sodoga Antoine (Thesis Director)
  • Assoc. Prof. Gadedjisso (Thesis Director)

PhD students

5 active doctoral researchers · planned defenses 2026 / 2028

  • Kotoko Jacques2022-2026

    Graphynes electronics — low-power consuming materials and devices

  • Donkata Kossivi2022-2026

    Efficient perovskite-based solar cells

  • Don-Tsa Delchere2022-2026

    Thermoelectric materials properties prediction (Physics + AI)

  • Sambiani Damegarin2022-2026

    Plasmonic effects in small molecules — organic solar cells

  • Hounkpati Julien2025-2028

    Co-tutelle with University of Toulon, France

DevOps interns

4 BSc engineering interns supporting the platform side

5 institutions, three continents.

Public university

University of Konstanz

Prof. Rainer Winter

Collaborative research on coordination chemistry & junctions

Public university

University of Augsburg

Prof. Fabian Pauly

Single-molecular electronics with experimental partners

Public university

Aix-Marseille University — Nanodevice Quantum Simulation

Prof. Fabienne Michelini · Prof. Fabrice Aubepart

PhD mobility, joint research on photovoltaics and 2D-material transistors

Visit
Research institution

AIMS Research & Innovation Centre

AIMS-RIC

Data analytics, innovation, and a 5-country technology-transfer assessment (Senegal, Ghana, Rwanda, Cameroon, South Africa)

Corporate

Synopsis

Youseung Lee

Capacity building on device physics for graduate students

Different angles on the same project.

Knowledge

  • Published papers

    8

  • Submitted

    2

  • Reports delivered

    7 / 10

People & training

  • PhD researchers

    5

  • MSc students trained

    7

  • BSc students trained

    4

  • DevOps interns

    4

  • Trained & employed at QA

    Last 4 years · PhD + MSc + BSc + interns

    20+

Capacity building

  • Workshops organized

    4

  • Training schools (with ICTP)

    2

  • Doctoral workshops

    3

  • Conferences (intl + regional)

    2

  • People directly trained

    Event attendees & trainees

    500+

Communications

  • Social-media audience

    1500+

  • Posts published

    200

  • Social-media reach

    300

  • Media commentary reach

    1000+

  • Press mentions

    2

Infrastructure

  • Compute clusters

    First ever at Université de Lomé

    1

  • Scientific computers

    10

  • Code packages (in dev)

    3

Network

  • Partner institutions

    5

  • Countries assessed

    AIMS-RIC technology-transfer survey

    5

8 papers · all open-access where the venue allowed.

  • Numerical simulation and optimization of highly efficient inorganic lead-free perovskite solar cells

    DOI: 10.1016/j.sciaf.2025.e02841

    Open

  • Co-effect of pH control agent and pH value on physical properties of ZnO thin films

    DOI: 10.3390/surfaces8030046

    Open

  • Simultaneous effect of precursor sources and concentration on ZnO nanostructured thin films

    Int. J. Renew. Energy Dev. 2025, 14 (3), 495-504

  • InGaP/InGaAs/Ge multi-junction solar cells efficiency improvements using interposed transport layers

    DOI: 10.51646/jsesd.v14i1.338

    Open

  • Solar Energy & Sustainable Development — perovskite stack engineering

    DOI: 10.51646/jsesd.v14i1.338

    Open

  • Single-molecule conductance studies on quasi- and metallaaromatic dibenzoylmethane coordination compounds

    J. Phys. Chem. C 2024, 128, 40, 17058–17072

  • Predictive models for inorganic materials thermoelectric properties with machine learning

    DOI: 10.1088/2632-2153/ad6831

    Open

  • Single-molecule conductance studies on coordination compounds

    Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 5305-5316 · DOI: 10.1039/D2NR05670D

    Open

Plan for the final phase.

5 open digital energy-device packages

Publicly available code packages for AI-based quantum analysis of energy materials — published at packages.quantum-arise.com/docs.

PhD mobility to Aix-Marseille

Two PhD students rotating to the Nanodevice Quantum Simulation group from March 2026 — six-month residency.

International conference

Hosting an international conference around the project's thematic agenda.

Compute-cluster cooling system

Stabilising thermal management for the Lomé compute cluster ahead of the next compute-intensive cohort.

Want to collaborate or fund the next phase?

We're actively shaping the post-2027 continuation — industry, government and academic partners welcome.