Royal Society of Chemistry praises HZB team’s paper on hybrid perovskite structures
T-x phase diagram has been created for MAPb(I,Br)3 for the first time. It was revealed that the phase transition temperature of the iodine-rich mixed crystals drops as iodine content increases. © RSC Advances
For the 10th anniversary collection of its journal, the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) selected a paper published by a team from HZB. The paper from HZB is described as one of the most important contributions in the field of solar energy in recent years. The journal praised 23 selected papers that had been often cited or downloaded, and which offered a valuable advantage for further research.
The HZB paper focuses on the systematic characterisation of hybrid perovskites containing mixed halides (MAPb(I,Br)3). The samples of the mixed crystals were produced in powder form using a solvent-based synthesis method. The research team from HZB’s Department Structure and Dynamics of Energy Materials (SE-ASD) showed that the crystal structure of the mixed crystal compounds is temperature dependent. As the materials go through different phase transitions, they form either a tetragonal or a cubic perovskite structure depending on the temperature and chemical composition. Now, a comprehensive T-x phase diagram has been created for this solid solution series for the first time. It was revealed that the phase transition temperature of the iodine-rich mixed crystals drops as iodine content increases, which stabilises the cubic perovskite structure at room temperature.
For their temperature-dependent in-situ experiments, HZB’s team used the DIFFRACTION end station of the BESSY II beamline KMC-2. They additionally determined the band gap energy and studied the optoelectronic properties of these perovskite compounds (among other things using photoluminescence spectroscopy).
The results led to a fundamental structural characterisation of these mixed halide perovskite compounds. Although the study was based on powder-form materials, the insights gained on the temperature-dependent behaviour of these hybrid halide perovskites can be now be applied to thin-film materials like those used to create absorbers for thin-film solar cells.
The paper was authored by Frederike Lehmann as part of her doctoral thesis in the graduate school HyPerCell. Her thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr. Susan Schorr and Dr. Alexandra Franz from the HZB Department Structure and Dynamics of Energy Materials and by Prof. Dr. Andreas Taubert from Potsdam University. “The paper was an excellent team achievement, and we are delighted that the RSC chose to write about us,” says Susan Schorr.
Click here for the RSC Advances Anniversary Collection “Solar Energy
- Hatice Mutlu appointed to the Helmholtz Institute HIPOLE in JenaProf. Dr Hatice Mutlu is the new professor of sustainable polymer chemistry at HIPOLE Jena, the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications. On 17 August 2026, she visited the HZB campus in Berlin-Adlershof including the BESSY II lightsource and discussed future collaboration with researchers and the board of directors.
- Special prize by Jugend Forscht awarded to former school internShaoxuan Wang has won a special prize in the Jugend Forscht competition for her project ‘Smart Capsules – intelligent microcapsules for glucose-dependent insulin release’. She designed the project as a “special achievement” for her A-levels. To carry out the experimental work, Shaoxuan was able to spend a further two weeks in the laboratory at the HZB Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage, where she had completed a school internship two years earlier.
- Five Berlin-based research institutions join forces in data-driven materials researchResearch data is regarded as key to materials research in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Five Berlin-based research institutions have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish long-term collaboration in the fields of research data, data infrastructures and AI.