Great Interest in the HySPRINT Industry Day: Joining forces to advance perovskite solar cells
No fewer than 70 participants attended the first Industry Day of the Helmholtz Innovation Lab HySPRINT devoted to the topic of perovskite solar cells at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) on 13 October 2017. This far exceeded the expectations of the event hosts. The knowledge shared on Industry Day will serve as the basis for deepening the collaboration even further with strategically important companies in the scope of HySPRINT.
“Seeing the industry partners’ active participation was very gratifying. We could feel in the lively discussions how there is great interest on both sides to collaborate even more closely on technology transfer,” says Dr. Stefan Gall, project manager of the Helmholtz Innovation Lab HySPRINT (“Hybrid Silicon Perovskite Research, Integration & Novel Technologies”). On the Industry Day, eight companies presented those topics that especially interest them. “From this, certain problems emerged that we are now going to work on targetedly with our industrial partners.”
The focus of this Industry Day was perovskite solar cells, an especially promising class of materials. Since 2009, their efficiency has been increased from just under 4 percent to more than 20 percent. In the scope of HySPRINT, several HZB institutes and young investigator groups are working on improving the efficiency and longevity of perovskite solar cells. Yet another important aim of HySPRINT is to upscale the process technology, given that perovskite solar cells have only ever been produced on a laboratory scale over small surface areas so far.
The Helmholtz Innovation Lab HySPRINT was founded in 2017 under the management of HZB. It is one of seven Helmholtz Innovation Labs with which the Helmholtz Association intends to boost technology transfer. HySPRINT is essentially financed from the President’s Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association.
For Dr. Martin Kamprath, a programme manager of the Helmholtz Association, this concept was validated on the first HySPRINT Industry Day. “The event was an exciting prelude to the HySPRINT LAB, during which industrial partners and scientists got together as equals. HySPRINT could become THE germ cell in which perovskite solar cells are developed to market maturity.”
Given the positive feedback, the HySPRINT Industry Day will from now on continue to be held once a year.
Companies with short presentations on the HySPRINT Industry Day:
Aleo Solar, Fluxim, FOM Technologies, JCM Wave, Kurt. J. Lesker Company, LIMO Lissotschenko Mikrooptik, Oxford PV, PI Berlin
- Porous Radical Organic framework improves lithium-sulphur batteriesA team led by Prof. Yan Lu, HZB, and Prof. Arne Thomas, Technical University of Berlin, has developed a material that enhances the capacity and stability of lithium-sulphur batteries. The material is based on polymers that form a framework with open pores (known as radical-cationic covalent organic frameworks or COFs). Catalytically accelerated reactions take place in these pores, firmly trapping polysulphides, which would shorten the battery life. Some of the experimental analyses were conducted at the BAMline at BESSY II.
- Shedding light on insulators: how light pulses unfreeze electronsMetal oxides are abundant in nature and central to technologies such as photocatalysis and photovoltaics. Yet, many suffer from poor electrical conduction, caused by strong repulsion between electrons in neighboring metal atoms. Researchers at HZB and partner institutions have shown that light pulses can temporarily weaken these repulsive forces, lowering the energy required for electrons mobility, inducing a metal-like behavior. This discovery offers a new way to manipulate material properties with light, with high potential to more efficient light-based devices.
- 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.