New Materials for Photovoltaics: HZB starting its first own Graduate School
Prof. Susann Schorr with participants of Graduate School MatSEC
Well-structured Ph.D. program
New HZB Graduate School: Ph.D. candidates to study materials for energy conversion
Yesterday’s workshop was the official starting signal for the opening of the Helmholtz Center Berlin’s new Materials for Solar Energy Conversion (MatSEC) Graduate School. MatSEC is the first HZB graduate training program for the Center’s doctoral students. The school is located at the Dahlem Research School (DRS) of the Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin). Up to ten Ph.D. students will be able to take advantage of MatSEC’s course offerings while working towards their degree.
The MatSEC graduate school’s focus is on the study of kesterites, a new class of materials used in photovoltaics. Kesterites are considered highly promising absorption film candidates for thin-film photovoltaics and could potentially double as photoelectrodes for splitting water using solar energy. The ultimate goal is to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between this connecting semiconductor’s internal structure and its properties. This knowledge could aid researchers in developing customized materials for use in more cost-effective and efficient solar cells.
Prof. Dr. Susan Schorr, head of the Department for Crystallography at the HZB and a professor at FU Berlin, is the new graduate school’s spokesperson. Research groups at FU Berlin, the Technical University of Berlin, the Humboldt University of Berlin, and the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus are all partners of the new graduate school. “It is precisely in this interdisciplinary research structure that MatSEC’s strengths lie,” says Schorr.
Doctoral students attend lectures that are relevant to their research at the different participating university campuses. Workshops, study abroad programs, and course offerings at the Dahlem Research School complement the program. “We’re thrilled that we’re able to offer seven additional spots for students as part of our graduate program,” says Gabriele Lampert, Ph.D. coordinator at the HZB.
- BESSY II shows how solid-state batteries degradeSolid-state batteries have several advantages: they can store more energy and are safer than batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, they do not last as long and their capacity decreases with each charge cycle. But it doesn't have to stay that way: Researchers are already on the trail of the causes. In the journal ACS Energy Letters, a team from HZB and Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, presents a new method for precisely monitoring electrochemical reactions during the operation of a solid-state battery using photoelectron spectroscopy at BESSY II. The results help to improve battery materials and design.
- HySPRINT Photovoltaics Lab inauguratedAfter around four years of renovation, photovoltaics research groups moved into their offices in Kekuléstraße on 20 June 2024. With the reopening, the building has also been given a new name that makes the research more visible: it is now called HySPRINT Photovoltaics Lab.
- Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena) InauguratedOn June 17, 2024, the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena) was officially inaugurated in Jena in the presence of Wolfgang Tiefensee, Minister for Economy, Science, and Digital Society of the Free State of Thuringia. The institute was founded by the Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB) in cooperation with the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. It is dedicated to developing sustainable polymer materials for energy technologies, which are expected to play a key role in the energy transition and support Germany’s goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045.