Marcus Bär accepts W2 professorship for X-ray spectroscopy in Erlangen-Nuremberg
Marcus Bär, here in EMIL lab at HZB, has accepted a professorship at FAU in South-Germany. © Phil Dera
Prof. Marcus Bär has accepted a professorship for X-ray spectroscopy at the Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU). Bär heads the Department of Interface Design at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB). The new W2 professorship was established in cooperation with HZB and Forschungszentrum Jülich in order to strengthen the Helmholtz-Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg für Renewable Energy (HI ERN). In the future, Bär will also be working on HI ERN research topics at HZB, thereby contributing to the intensification of cooperation.
Marcus Bär studied physics at the University of Potsdam and Environmental Engineering/Renewable Energies at the University of Applied Sciences (FHTW) in Berlin. In 2003 he earned his doctorate in electrical engineering in the field of solar energy research at the Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin and at the TU Berlin. Thereafter, Prof. Bär was Emmy-Noether Fellow at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas/USA. He was promoted to an Adjunct Assistant Research Professor at this department in 2006 and to an Assistant Research Professor in 2007. In 2009 he returned to Berlin and became head of the Helmholtz Young Investigator Group "Improving thin-film solar cells by deliberate interface tailoring" at the HZB. Two years later he was appointed professor for photovoltaics at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.
Prof. Bär's research interests lie in the field of X-ray spectroscopic investigation of the chemical and electronic structure of energy-conversion materials and structures with a focus on thin-film solar cells. In the future, Prof. Bär wants to establish the infrastructure for in-situ and operando investigations of (photo/electro)catalytic materials, which are also interesting to the HI ERN researchers.
- How carbonates influence CO2-to-fuel conversionResearchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (FHI) have uncovered how carbonate molecules affect the conversion of CO2 into valuable fuels on gold electrocatalysts. Their findings reveal key molecular mechanisms in CO2 electrocatalysis and hydrogen evolution, pointing to new strategies for improving energy efficiency and reaction selectivity.
- Peat as a sustainable precursor for fuel cell catalyst materialsIron-nitrogen-carbon catalysts have the potential to replace the more expensive platinum catalysts currently used in fuel cells. This is shown by a study conducted by researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and universities in Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia. At BESSY II, the team observed the formation of complex microstructures within various samples. They then analysed which structural parameters were particularly important for fostering the preferred electrochemical reactions. The raw material for such catalysts is well decomposed peat.
- Helmholtz Investigator Group on magnonsDr Hebatalla Elnaggar is setting up a new Helmholtz Investigator Group at HZB. At BESSY II, the materials scientist will investigate so-called magnons in magnetic perovskite thin films. The aim is to lay the foundations for future terahertz magnon technology: magnonic devices operating in the terahertz range could process data using a fraction of the energy required by the most advanced semiconductor devices, and at speeds up to a thousand times faster.