Long night of Sciences at HZB: Experience science up close!
Can you make solar cells from fruit tea? You can find out how at the Long Night of the Sciences. © HZB/P. Dera
Come by and be surprised: Take a look at the accelerator BESSY II during the Long Night of the Sciences. © HZB/M. Setzpfandt
Important info: At the HZB, FFP2 masks are mandatory indoors from the age of 14 during this event.
How can solar cells be produced even more efficiently? Why is "green" hydrogen so important for our future? Why does Berlin need an accelerator to screen materials? The answers are available at the Long Night of the Sciences. On July 2, 2022, 5 p.m. to midnight, HZB opens its doors at the Adlershof site and invites young and old to experiment.
Our researchers will discover new energy materials and develop technologies for a climate-neutral energy supply - a topic that is more topical than ever. Ask us what you always wanted to know about renewable energy. There will be opportunities to do so at the booths or at the lectures on the "Road of Energy" (located at Kekuléstraße) as well as at the panel discussion "No energy transition without hydrogen" at 7 pm in the BESSY lecture hall. We are looking forward to the dialog with you!
We cordially invite you to visit our electron accelerator BESSY II. It provides intense light to develop new solar cells, batteries or catalysts. On a tour through the accelerator you will find out why electrons race in circles at almost the speed of light. Children can participate in a scavenger hunt through the accelerator or experiment in the school lab.
About 100 meters away, at our location in Kekuléstraße 5, photovoltaics experts are setting up an outdoor energy street. There you can experience what working in the lab is like. Among other things, you can build your own solar cells from toothpaste and fruit tea or come to the "Temple of Solar Cells".
Programme
Further information and the exact times of the programme offers mentioned here can be found on our website:
- Programme around BESSY II: Albert-Einstein-Str. 15
- Programme Road of Energy: Kekuléstr. 5
- Info about tickets
- website Long Night of Sciences
Please bring an FFP2 mask for your visit to HZB. Due to the pandemic and construction measures, the number of visitors in the BESSY building will be limited. We ask for your understanding if there are waiting times in front of the building. Thank you very much!
- Postdocs at HZB: Crucial for research, innovation and diversityAt HZB, 117 postdocs from 29 countries are employed. They play a crucial role in driving the main research activities, fostering creativity and innovation. To honor them, the Postdoc Appreciation Week was first organised in the USA in 2009 and has in the meantime become a regular event in Germany as well in the third week of September every year.
- Green hydrogen: MXenes shows talent as catalyst for oxygen evolutionThe MXene class of materials has many talents. An international team led by HZB chemist Michelle Browne has now demonstrated that MXenes, properly functionalised, are excellent catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in electrolytic water splitting. They are more stable and efficient than the best metal oxide catalysts currently available. The team is now extensively characterising these MXene catalysts for water splitting at the Berlin X-ray source BESSY II and Soleil Synchrotron in France.
- Green hydrogen: ‘Artificial leaf’ becomes better under pressureHydrogen can be produced via the electrolytic splitting of water. One option here is the use of photoelectrodes that convert sunlight into voltage for electrolysis in so called photoelectrochemical cells (PEC cells). A research team at HZB has now shown that the efficiency of PEC cells can be significantly increased under pressure.