Dissertation Prize Adlershof 2021 goes to Amran Al-Ashouri
Congratulations: Amran-Al Ashouri (3rd from right) wins the 2021 Dissertation Award. A total of three nominees gave exciting presentations at the event. © IGAFA/Matthias Brandt
The world record cell from HZB. With his research, Amran Al-Ashouri made an important contribution to this success. © Amran Al-Ashouri /HZB
02:15
On February 17, 2022, the Adlershof Dissertation Prize was awarded for the 20th time. Dr. Amran Al-Ashouri (3rd from right) from the HZB young investigator research group "Perovskite tandem solar cells" received the prize endowed with 3,000 euros. The physicist is researching how new organic contact layers can be used to optimize highly efficient perovskite silicon tandem solar cells.
Today's solar modules are mainly made of silicon, and it is no longer possible to significantly increase their efficiency. For some years now, perovskites have therefore become an important focus of research. These semiconductor compounds efficiently convert sunlight into electrical energy. In particular, they can be excellently combined with silicon solar cells to form tandem solar cells that can use sunlight much more efficiently.
In his doctoral thesis, Amran Al-Ashouri developed new organic contact layers for perovskite silicon tandem solar cells and researched the fine-tuning of the electrical interfaces for minimal charge carrier losses. The tandem solar cells realised with several teams at HZB achieved record efficiencies, due to this optimization (see news "World record again at HZB"). Due to their low resource and cost requirements, tandem solar cells represent an important technology that can accelerate the energy transition.
"My PhD thesis is about a novel technology that can boost solar cells. Our goal is that the results in tandem solar cells can be used by industry," Amran Al-Ashouri said at the award ceremony. He said he deliberately chose this research topic. "The technologies for combating the climate crisis are mostly available, however, innovation from research drives the transition and makes their future use more effective."
The Dissertation Award is jointly sponsored and organized each year by the IGAFA e. V. research network, Humboldt University in Berlin and WISTA Management GmbH. This year there were nine applicants, of which three made it to the final selection. The nominees presented their scientific achievements in a vivid way within 15 minutes.
About Amran Al-Ashouri
Dr. Amran Al-Ashouri studied physics at the University of Duisburg-Essen. From September 2017 to February 2021, he completed his doctorate at HZB and the Technical University of Berlin. Since then, the physicist has been working as a postdoc at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin in the young investigator research group "Perovskite tandem solar cells".
- Key technology for a future without fossil fuelsIn June and July 2025, catalyst researcher Nico Fischer spent some time at HZB. It was his sabbatical, he was relieved of his duties as Director of the Catalysis Institute in Cape Town for several months and was able to focus on research only. His institute is collaborating with HZB on two projects that aim to develop environmentally friendly alternatives using innovative catalyst technologies. The questions were asked by Antonia Rötger, HZB.
- 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.