HZB hosts Humboldt Research Award Winner Alexei Gruverman
An award by Humboldt-foundation enables Professor Alexei Gruverman to visit the HZB institute "Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology". © privat
Professor Alexei Gruverman was granted a Humboldt Research Award in October 2020. Due to the COVID pandemic, he could not travel until this year. For a few months he is now hosted by Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin at the Institute “Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology”.
The renowned award is endowed with 60 000 Euros and is presented annually by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to outstanding scientists from abroad to support collaborative projects with researchers in Germany.
“We are very much honored and happy to welcome Alexei Gruverman at the HZB. He is a worldwide leading scientist in the field of nanoscale ferroelectrics. We will further develop our cooperation with him on several topics”, says Prof. Catherine Dubourdieu, head of the institute “Functional oxides for energy efficient information technology” at HZB.
Professor Alexei Gruverman is a Charles Bessey Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. His research includes diverse scientific subjects from nanoscale static and dynamic properties of ferroic materials, to electronic properties of polar surfaces, and electromechanical properties of biomaterials.
The Humboldt Research Award recognizes his outstanding research achievements in the field of fundamental studies of nanoscale physical phenomena in a wide range of materials using a variety of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) methods. Gruverman has pioneered the development of piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM), which since its inception has become a method of choice in both academic and industrial groups for the investigation of the nanoscale properties of ferroelectric materials and structures. Other major scientific accomplishments include the manipulation of ferroelectric domains at the nanoscale, the development of an approach for fast switching dynamics in ferroelectric capacitors, the demonstration of the tunneling electroresistance effect in ferroelectrics and nanoscale studies of electromechanical behavior of biological systems.
His current research topics include the emergence of the ferroelectric ordering in 2D electronic materials and the exploration of the physical mechanism of their polarization-coupled transport properties.
Gruverman plans to spend this first stay associated with the Humboldt Research Award in Germany at the HZB in Berlin and NamLab in Dresden.
- Green hydrogen: A cage structured material transforms into a performant catalystClathrates are characterised by a complex cage structure that provides space for guest ions too. Now, for the first time, a team has investigated the suitability of clathrates as catalysts for electrolytic hydrogen production with impressive results: the clathrate sample was even more efficient and robust than currently used nickel-based catalysts. They also found a reason for this enhanced performance. Measurements at BESSY II showed that the clathrates undergo structural changes during the catalytic reaction: the three-dimensional cage structure decays into ultra-thin nanosheets that allow maximum contact with active catalytic centres. The study has been published in the journal ‘Angewandte Chemie’.
- An elegant method for the detection of single spins using photovoltageDiamonds with certain optically active defects can be used as highly sensitive sensors or qubits for quantum computers, where the quantum information is stored in the electron spin state of these colour centres. However, the spin states have to be read out optically, which is often experimentally complex. Now, a team at HZB has developed an elegant method using a photo voltage to detect the individual and local spin states of these defects. This could lead to a much more compact design of quantum sensors.
- Solar cells on moon glass for a future base on the moonFuture settlements on the moon will need energy, which could be supplied by photovoltaics. However, launching material into space is expensive – transporting one kilogram to the moon costs one million euros. But there are also resources on the moon that can be used. A research team led by Dr. Felix Lang of the University of Potsdam and Dr. Stefan Linke of the Technical University of Berlin have now produced the required glass from ‘moon dust’ (regolith) and coated it with perovskite. This could save up to 99 percent of the weight needed to produce PV modules on the moon. The team tested the radiation tolerance of the solar cells at the proton accelerator of the HZB.