HZB Researcher on the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society
Catherine Dubourdieu is head of the IFOX Institute at HZB and was elected now into the board of directors of the MRS.
In September 2019, Prof. Dr. Catherine Dubourdieu was elected into the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society (MRS). The MRS is one of the largest scientific associations and has almost 14000 members from various areas of the natural sciences and engineering.
Catherine Dubourdieu heads the HZB-Institute IFOX (Functional Oxides for Energy Efficient Information Technology) and holds a professorship at the Freie Universität Berlin. She investigates the growth and properties of functional oxides and semiconductor materials with the aim of developing energy-efficient devices for information technology, that can be integrated on silicon chips. Over the past 15 years, the physicist has also established numerous collaborations with industry and holds 10 patents. She has already published over 140 articles in peer-review journals and has an excellent international network.
In the Materials Research Society Catherine Dubourdieu has been active for over 20 years, also in responsible functions. As of 2020, Catherine Dubourdieu will be a member of the MRS Board of Directors to support the global materials research community and provide a framework for the various disciplines to collaborate.
The MRS's mission is to advance international interdisciplinary materials research and technology for the benefit of the human society. It was founded in 1973 and today has around 14000 members from various areas of the natural sciences and engineering. The governance of the Society is the responsibility of the Board of Directors, composed of 6 officers and 18 directors, 15 of whom are elected by the membership. One third of the Board is renewed each year. Catherine Dubourdieu will serve in this position over the next three years.
- Nanosilver as an electrocatalyst for CO₂ reductionVia electrolysis, CO2 can be reduced to CO, a raw material for further chemical products such as fuels. Within the GreenQuest Project, an internation team led by HZB chemist Prashanth Menezes has now systematically investigated catalyst layers made of silver nanoparticles, varying both the size of the particles and their density. The best yield was achieved with nanoparticles with diameters of around 10 nm, which were loosely distributed. Furthermore, they demonstrated how the economic efficiency of the electrochemical cell can be enhanced by integrating an additional chemical reaction at the anode, enabling the simultaneous production of a valuable formic acid, hydrogen, and CO in one device.
- Spin waves inside a nano-oscillator imaged for the first timeFor the first time, researchers have directly imaged the magnetisation dynamics inside a spin Hall nano-oscillator — a nanoscale device that converts direct current into tunable microwave signals and is a promising building block for energy-efficient wireless communication and brain-inspired computing. A Swedish–German team led by the University of Gothenburg and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) achieved this using time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy at the MAXYMUS instrument at BESSY II. The results, now published in Advanced Materials, reveal spin-wave features that had escaped previous, indirect measurement techniques.
- Marcel Risch has been appointed Professor at the Freie Universität BerlinMarcel Risch was appointed to a W2-S professorship in the Department of Physics at Freie Universität Berlin in August 2026. His research group has been transformed into the department 'Mechanisms of Sustainable Electrocatalysis'. Risch investigates the fundamental mechanisms of electrocatalytic reactions and, on this basis, develops knowledge- and data-driven strategies to improve electrocatalysts for the sustainable production of hydrogen, fuels and chemicals.