A highlight of the visit is the tour of the BESSY II experimental hall. Here, the Deputy Prime Minister (3rd from left) discovers the endstations of the X-ray source with the Scientific Director Bernd Rech (4th left).
© C. Collado / HZB
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore visits HZB
At the beginning of the visit, Bernd Rech introduces the Helmholtz Association and HZB's research as well in Adlershof as in Wannsee.
© C. Collado / HZB
The Deputy Prime Minister follows Andreas Jankowiak's presentations with great interest. In the control room of BESSY II, the accelerator expert introduces the guests to how the light source works.
© C. Collado / HZB
The first stop in the experimental hall is the hutch of the macromolecular crystallography research group. Manfred Weiss reports, among other things, on the research that led to the decoding of the three-dimensional structure of the main protease of the SARS-CoV2 virus.
© C. Collado / HZB
This is the size of the pin on which a crystal is mounted where the brilliant X-ray light (synchrotron light) shines through. This allows researchers to peer into the matter and better understand its secrets.
© C. Collado / HZB
The second stop at BESSY II brought the delegation to EMIL (Energy Materials In-Situ Laboratory Berlin).
© C. Collado / HZB
With humour and Lego, Steffi Hlawenka brings thin-film technology closer to the guests and reports on the new research platform for catalysis: CatLab.
© C. Collado / HZB
In bright sunshine, the delegation learned about new technologies in the field of photovoltaics and solar cells.
© C. Collado / HZB
Postdoc Jiahuan Zhang proudly presents a solar cell developed in her group that currently holds a world record with an efficiency of almost 30 per cent.
© C. Collado / HZB
At the end, the participants exchange ideas about research and R&D in Germany and Singapore. They agree that they would like to build on these fruitful discussions and envisage future projects.
© C. Collado / HZB
A group picture with the delegation and all those involved from the HZB.
Thank you very much for your visit, Heng Swee Keat!
© C. Collado / HZB
On Friday, 17 June, a delegation from Singapore visited HZB. Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, was accompanied by the Ambassador to Singapore in Germany, Laurence Bay, as well as representatives from research and industry.
It is the Prime Minister's first trip to Europe since the start of the pandemic. Before his stop in Berlin, he was in the UK, including London Tech Week and the Oxford Science Park.
The delegation led by Heng Swee Keat got some insights into HZB's energy and materials research as well as the science conducted at BESSY II light source and in the new catalyst laboratory CatLab.
All participants were delighted about the fruitful discussions and would like to deepen the scientific exchange between the two countries.
- MXene for energy storage: More versatile than expectedMXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual MXene flakes to explore these processes in detail. Using the in situ Scanning transmission X-ray microscope 'MYSTIIC' at BESSY II, the scientists mapped the chemical states of Titanium atoms on the MXene flake surfaces. The results revealed two distinct redox reactions, depending on the electrolyte. This lays the groundwork for understanding charge transfer processes at the nanoscale and provides a basis for future research aimed at optimising pseudocapacitive energy storage devices.
- Bernd Rech elected to the BR50 Board of DirectorsThe Scientific Director at Helmholt-Zentrum Berlin is the new face behind the "Natural Sciences" unit at Berlin Research 50 (BR50). Following the election in December 2025, the constituent meeting of the new BR50 Board of Directors took place on 22 January 2026.
Its members are Michael Hintermüller (Weierstrass Institute, WIAS), Noa K. Ha (German Centre for Integration and Migration Research, DeZIM), Volker Haucke (Leibniz Research Institute for Molecular Pharmacology, FMP), Uta Bielfeldt (German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin, DRFZ) and Bernd Rech (HZB).
- A record year for our living lab for building-integrated PVIn 2025, our solar facade in Berlin-Adlershof generated more electricity than in any of the previous four years of operation.