Poster award to Markus Kubin
Markus Kubin in front of his poster. © HZB
At the International Conference on X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure Markus Kubin has been selected to receive one out of five poster awards. More than 300 posters have been presented at the poster session.
Markus Kubin is a PhD student at HZB-Institute for Methods and Instrumentation on Synchrotron Radiation Research. He presented results with femtosecond x-ray pulses concerning reactions in the oxygen evolving complex in the protein Photosystem II. This system plays a central role in natural photosynthesis in plants, algae and cyano bacteria.
The XAFS16 was held from 23. – 28. August in Karlsruhe.
- Key technology for a future without fossil fuelsIn June and July 2025, catalyst researcher Nico Fischer spent some time at HZB. It was his sabbatical, he was relieved of his duties as Director of the Catalysis Institute in Cape Town for several months and was able to focus on research only. His institute is collaborating with HZB on two projects that aim to develop environmentally friendly alternatives using innovative catalyst technologies. The questions were asked by Antonia Rötger, HZB.
- Lithium-sulphur batteries with lean electrolyte: problem areas clarifiedUsing a non-destructive method, a team at HZB investigated practical lithium-sulphur pouch cells with lean electrolyte for the first time. With operando neutron tomography, they could visualise in real-time how the liquid electrolyte distributes and wets the electrodes across multilayers during charging and discharging. These findings offer valuable insights into the cell failure mechanisms and are helpful to design compact Li-S batteries with a high energy density in formats relevant to industrial applications.
- Self assembling monolayer can improve lead-free perovskite solar cells tooTin perovskite solar cells are not only non-toxic, but also potentially more stable than lead-containing perovskite solar cells. However, they are also significantly less efficient. Now, an international team has succeeded in reducing losses in the lower contact layer of tin perovskite solar cells: The scienstists identified chemical compounds that self-assemble into a molecular layer that fits very well with the lattice structure of tin perovskites. On this monolayer, tin perovskite with excellent optoelectronic quality can be grown, which increases the performance of the solar cell.