Graduate school MatSEC: New PhD students can apply now
The first students of the graduate school MatSEC (Materials for Solar Energy Conversion) have defended successfully their PhD thesis. The graduate school, which is organised jointly by Dahlem Research School of Freie Universität Berlin, is now open for new PhD-students. The research portfolio, which was focused on kesterites, does now include wide bandgap semiconductors and thermoelectrica as well.
MatSEC was the first graduate school, HZB had installed under the roof of Dahlem Research School and in cooperation with several universities in the region. „The graduate school MatSEC is to be continued, but with a much broader research field“, Prof. Dr. Susan Schorr, speaker of MatSEC explains. The organisators can rely on their cooperation with other research institutes and universities in Germany and have won international partners: the Weizmann-Institute of Science in Rehovot and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Young scientists can apply for PhD grants in MatSEC now.
In the summer term 2013 as well as the winter term 2013/2014 the first seven PhD students of the newly established graduate school MatSEC had started their PhD at the HZB. In December 2016 the first four students have finished: Anna Ritscher at the Technical University Berlin, Marcel Quennet and Laura Elisa Valle Rios as well as Kai Neldner at Freie Universität Berlin.
The young scientists focused their work on structure-function relations in kesterites, a quaternary compound semiconductor which can be used as absorber material in thin film solar cells. While Marcel Quennet dealed with first principle calculations, Anna Ritscher, Laura Elisa Valle Rios and Kai Neldner worked experimentally using also the instrumentation at HZB's two large scale facilities. All have already published their results in a number of papers. Further degrees are expected in spring: Leonard Köhler has already submitted his PhD thesis at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, Anastasia Irkhina and Martin Handwerk are close to its completion.
Doctoral Studies at the HZB within Graduate Schools
The HZB currently offers graduate studies in four graduate schools in cooperation with universities in the region. The range of subject areas for the graduate schools focusses on researching various materials for the energy conversion. Graduates studies are fundamentally available for all of the research fields in which the HZB conducts research.
With the successive establishment of graduate schools, the HZB is implementing one of the main requirements of the Doctoral Studies Guidelines of the Helmholtz Association. In future, all of the doctoral studies at the HZB shall be based around organised graduate schools in conjunction with universities.
More informationen on MatSEC (Materials for Solar Energy Conversion)
- A simpler way to inorganic perovskite solar cellsInorganic perovskite solar cells made of CsPbI3 are stable over the long term and achieve good efficiencies. A team led by Prof. Antonio Abate has now analysed surfaces and interfaces of CsPbI3 films, produced under different conditions, at BESSY II. The results show that annealing in ambient air does not have an adverse effect on the optoelectronic properties of the semiconductor film, but actually results in fewer defects. This could further simplify the mass production of inorganic perovskite solar cells.
- BESSY II: How pulsed charging enhances the service time of batteriesAn improved charging protocol might help lithium-ion batteries to last much longer. Charging with a high-frequency pulsed current reduces ageing effects, an international team demonstrated. The study was led by Philipp Adelhelm (HZB and Humboldt University) in collaboration with teams from the Technical University of Berlin and Aalborg University in Denmark. Experiments at the X-ray source BESSY II were particularly revealing.
- Fuel Cells: Oxidation processes of phosphoric acid revealed by tender X-raysThe interactions between phosphoric acid and the platinum catalyst in high-temperature PEM fuel cells are more complex than previously assumed. Experiments at BESSY II with tender X-rays have decoded the multiple oxidation processes at the platinum-electrolyte interface. The results indicate that variations in humidity can influence some of these processes in order to increase the lifetime and efficiency of fuel cells.