Untiring dedication to solar energy

Award ceremony in Valencia

Award ceremony in Valencia

Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schock <br /> at Institute of Solar Energy Research. © HZB/F.Rott

Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schock
at Institute of Solar Energy Research. © HZB/F.Rott

Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schock received today <br /> the prestigious “Becquerel Prize”. © HZB/E. Zürn

Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schock received today
the prestigious “Becquerel Prize”. © HZB/E. Zürn

HZB researcher honoured with solar award for his successful research

Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Schock, department head and spokesman for Solar Energy Research at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), received on 9th september the prestigious “Becquerel Prize” at the 25th “European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition” in Valencia. The EU Commission honoured the HZB scientist for his life’s work in the field of photovoltaics.

The award ceremony took place as a highlight of the European photovoltaics conference which was held this year together with the 5th “World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion”. Hans-Werner Schock received the “Becquerel Prize” following his plenary lecture on “The Status and Advancement of CIS and Related Solar Cells”. The chairman was Daniel Lincot, head of solar energy research at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris (ENSCP).

Prof. H.-W. Schock was distinguished by the committee for his outstanding performance in the field of solar energy technology and the development of thin-film solar cells. The first pioneer tests on chalcopyrite-based solar cells took place under his direction as early as 1980, and were to make solar energy more efficient and more competitive.

Such solar cells are made of copper-indium-sulphide (CIS) or copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGSe), for example. At present, Hans-Werner Schock’s group is researching new material combinations of abundant, environmentally friendly chemical elements and is continuing to refine solar cells based on these materials. The solar cells developed at HZB under Hans-Werner Schock’s leadership hold several efficiency records: CIS cells in the high-voltage range (12.8%), flexible cells made from plastics (15.9%) and conventional CIGSe cells (19.4%). The aim is for “solar cells to be integrated into buildings, for example, no longer as an investment, but as a matter of course,” says Schock.

Scientific director for Research Field Energy at HZB, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Eberhardt, is delighted about the award: “With its research on thin-film solar cells, HZB has made it its duty to develop the technology for our future energy supply. Mr. Schock’s work is a major contribution to this. We are delighted about the worldwide recognition his work has found, and congratulate Mr. Schock on receiving this award.”

Hans-Werner Schock, born in 1946 in Tuttlingen, studied electrical engineering at University of Stuttgart and earned his doctorate at the Institute of Physical Electronics, where he later became scientific project leader of the research group “Polycrystalline Thin-Film Solar Cells”. Since 2004, he has worked at HZB as department head of the Institute for Technology. He is author and co-author of more than 300 publications and has submitted and been involved in more than ten patents in the field of solar energy technology.

The “Becquerel Prize” was first awarded in 1989 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Becquerel’s classic experiment on the description of the photovoltaic effect. With it, French physicist Alexandre Edmond Becquerel laid the foundation for the use of photovoltaics.

  • Copy link

You might also be interested in

  • Battery research: visualisation of aging processes operando
    Science Highlight
    29.04.2025
    Battery research: visualisation of aging processes operando
    Lithium button cells with electrodes made of nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides (NMC) are very powerful. Unfortunately, their capacity decreases over time. Now, for the first time, a team has used a non-destructive method to observe how the elemental composition of the individual layers in a button cell changes during charging cycles. The study, now published in the journal Small, involved teams from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the University of Münster, researchers from the SyncLab research group at HZB and the BLiX laboratory at the Technical University of Berlin. Measurements were carried out in the BLiX laboratory and at the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source.
  • New instrument at BESSY II: The OÆSE endstation in EMIL
    Science Highlight
    23.04.2025
    New instrument at BESSY II: The OÆSE endstation in EMIL
    A new instrument is now available at BESSY II for investigating catalyst materials, battery electrodes and other energy devices under operating conditions: the Operando Absorption and Emission Spectroscopy on EMIL (OÆSE) endstation in the Energy Materials In-situ Laboratory Berlin (EMIL). A team led by Raul Garcia-Diez and Marcus Bär showcases the instrument’s capabilities via a proof-of-concept study on electrodeposited copper.
  • Solar cells on moon glass for a future base on the moon
    Science Highlight
    07.04.2025
    Solar cells on moon glass for a future base on the moon
    Future settlements on the moon will need energy, which could be supplied by photovoltaics. However, launching material into space is expensive – transporting one kilogram to the moon costs one million euros. But there are also resources on the moon that can be used. A research team led by Dr. Felix Lang of the University of Potsdam and Dr. Stefan Linke of the Technical University of Berlin have now produced the required glass from ‘moon dust’ (regolith) and coated it with perovskite. This could save up to 99 percent of the weight needed to produce PV modules on the moon. The team tested the radiation tolerance of the solar cells at the proton accelerator of the HZB.