Another innovative EU project with HZB participation kicked off
Symbol picture for BIPV (University of Zurich (Zh) - 100 kWp) © Planeco GmbH
The CUSTOM-ART consortium consists of 17 academic and industrial partners, involving world leading groups and main European actors involved in the development of kesterite technologies. It leads an ambitious and disruptive project for the development and demonstration of the next generation of building and product integrated photovoltaic modules (BIPV and PIPV) based on abundant thin-film materials. The project started September, 1st 2020 and will run for 3.5 years.
HZB contributes to the technology development by systematically investigating the structure-function relationship of kesterite-type materials as one of quaternary chalcogenide compound semiconductors. HZB will study the influence of alkali doping on the point defect scenario and level of structural disorder. These studies will rely on detailed structural investigations of kesterite-type monograins (based on neutron diffraction and multiple energy anomalous X-ray diffraction). Also HZB will contribute with combinatorial high-throughput materials optimization applying especially advanced optoelectronic analytics. HZB has a share of 550 TEUR out of the total funding based on budgeted total costs of 8M€.
- Spintronics at BESSY II: Real-time analysis of magnetic bilayer systemsSpintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking, for each layer separately, how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. They were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: the excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.
- Environmental Chemistry at BESSY II: Radicals in waterwaysHow do radicals form in aqueous solutions when exposed to UV light? This question is important for health research and environmental protection, for example with regard to the overfertilisation of water bodies by intensive agriculture. A team at BESSY II has now developed a new method of investigating hydroxyl radicals in solution. By using a clever trick, the scientists gained surprising insights into the reaction pathway.