Helmholtz Innovation Labs: HySPRINT at HZB
HZB will be setting up the new Helmholtz HySPRINT Innovation Lab for jointly developing new combinations of materials and processes in energy applications with commercial partners. Silicon and metal-organic perovskite crystals will be the centre point of the Lab’s work. The Helmholtz Association is supporting the project for the next five years with 1.9 million Euros from its Initiative and Networking Fund, with additional contributions from HZB itself as well as from industry.
The Helmholtz Association is supporting a total of seven Helmholtz Innovation Labs in order to strengthen the transfer of research results to the applications domain. The Association is making about twelve million Euros available over the next five years for setting up and operating the Innovation Labs.
The HZB proposal was selected from a field of 27 competing applications. HySPRINT stands for “Hybrid Silicon Perovskite Research, Integration & Novel Technologies”. It will focus on hybrid materials and components based on silicon and perovskite crystals able to be employed for energy conversion in photovoltaics as well as for solar hydrogen production.
“We intend to further develop silicon hybrid technology, liquid-phase crystallisation of silicon, nano-print lithography as well as the implementation of prototypes by means of 3D techniques for microcontacts in cooperation with industrial partners – and demonstrate the potential for industrial-scale production”, says Professor Bernd Rech from the HZB Institute for Silicon Photovoltaics.
The Innovation Lab will be set up as a core lab at HZB and will work closely with the HZB Institute PVcomB. Professor Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, Scientific Director of HZB poitbs out: “HySPRINT will establish itself as a creative pillar of Technology Transfer at HZB and within the Helmholtz Association.”
- Long-term stability for perovskite solar cells: a big step forwardPerovskite solar cells are inexpensive to produce and generate a high amount of electric power per surface area. However, they are not yet stable enough, losing efficiency more rapidly than the silicon market standard. Now, an international team led by Prof. Dr. Antonio Abate has dramatically increased their stability by applying a novel coating to the interface between the surface of the perovskite and the top contact layer. This has even boosted efficiency to almost 27%, which represents the state-of-the-art. After 1,200 hours of continuous operation under standard illumination, no decrease in efficiency was observed. The study involved research teams from China, Italy, Switzerland and Germany and has been published in Nature Photonics.
- Energy of charge carrier pairs in cuprate compoundsHigh-temperature superconductivity is still not fully understood. Now, an international research team at BESSY II has measured the energy of charge carrier pairs in undoped La₂CuO₄. Their findings revealed that the interaction energies within the potentially superconducting copper oxide layers are significantly lower than those in the insulating lanthanum oxide layers. These results contribute to a better understanding of high-temperature superconductivity and could also be relevant for research into other functional materials.
- Electrocatalysis with dual functionality – an overviewHybrid electrocatalysts can produce green hydrogen, for example, and valuable organic compounds simultaneously. This promises economically viable applications. However, the complex catalytic reactions involved in producing organic compounds are not yet fully understood. Modern X-ray methods at synchrotron sources such as BESSY II, enable catalyst materials and the reactions occurring on their surfaces to be analysed in real time, in situ and under real operating conditions. This provides insights that can be used for targeted optimisation. A team has now published an overview of the current state of knowledge in Nature Reviews Chemistry.