Appointment to University of Florida
After two years of postdoctoral research at HZB, Dr. Charles Hages has received an appointment as Assistant Professor at the University of Florida. © Privat
Dr. Charles Hages has received an appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida. Hages has been a postdoctoral researcher at HZB in the Department of Structure and Dynamics of Energy Materials for two years. At University of Florida, Hages will advance his work in developing energy materials and looks forward to continued collaborations with his HZB colleagues.
Prior to coming to HZB, Charles (Chuck) Hages pursed his doctoral degree at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, working in nanoparticle/solution-based photovoltaics. During this time Hages worked with many HZB researchers as part of an international research effort to develop earth-abundant photovoltaic materials. Following his Ph.D. work, Hages joined HZB as a postdoc to learn and contribute to state-of-the-art semiconductor characterization work being done in the group of Dr. Thomas Unold.
“Thomas has been a valuable mentor for many years – I look forward to many more discussions and collaborations in the future,” says Hages. As a chemical engineering faculty, Hages will specialize in various synthesis processes and characterization techniques for novel semiconductor-based energy materials, from solar cells and light-emitting diodes to supercapacitors, thermoelectric materials, and electrodes for chemical energy storage, for example.
Hages is now looking forward to new challenges, including teaching, where he will initially develop a course on electron transport for chemical engineers. What is he taking with him from his time at the HZB? “I enjoy the honesty and openness of our scientific discussions and debates. Also our group cohesion of meeting regularly, not only for meetings or weekly seminar, but also for coffee, daily lunch, and after work. I'd like to keep it that way in my new group.”
- 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.
- Berlin Science Award goes to Philipp AdelhelmBattery researcher Prof. Dr. Philipp Adelhelm has been awarded the 2024 Berlin Science Award. He is a professor at the Institute of Chemistry at Humboldt University in Berlin (HU) and heads a joint research group at HU and the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB). The materials scientist and electrochemist is investigating sustainable batteries, which play a key role in the success of the energy transition. He is one of the leading international experts in the field of sodium-ion batteries.