Warm welcome at Catlab Federal Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger!
From the left: Thomas Frederking (administrative Director HZB), Beatriz Roldán-Cuenya (Director FHI), Bernd Rech (scientific Director HZB), Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Jürgen Rabe (Director IRIS Adlershof).
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
The minister is introduced to the research of hydrogen conversion. This is how catalysis works: scientist Katarzyna Skorupska (FHI) explains the process in the chemical reactor.
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
Facility spokesperson Antje Vollmer (4th from left) gives the Minister an insight into the X-ray source BESSY II, an essential pillar of CatLab.
From left to right: Thomas Frederking (administrative Director HZB), Bernd Rech (scientific Director HZB; CatLab Project Manager), Bettina Stark-Watzinger, Antje Vollmer (Spokesperson BESSY II), Beatriz Roldán-Cuenya (Director FHI), Robert Schlögl (Director FHI; CatLab Project Manager)
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
Dynamic steps through the experimental hall of BESSY II. The next stop is the EMIL - Energy Materials In Situ Laboratory.
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
Olga Kasian (HZB) shows in the EMIL lab how catalytic materials are studied to understand and improve their properties.
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
The CatLab research family in a picture with minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
With HZB and FHI, the Science and Technology Park Adlershof offers ideal conditions for research on green hydrogen at CatLab.
Pioneering laboratory infrastructures will be created here by 2025.
© HZB / D. Ausserhofer
The Federal Minister for Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, was in Berlin-Adlershof today to visit the Catalysis Laboratory (CatLab). CatLab is a research platform of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and the Max Planck Society, dedicated to catalysis research that will deliver important innovations for achieving a green hydrogen economy. Upon her visit to the CatLab, the minister gained an insight into the latest technological advancements on producing and characterising thin-film catalysts and special methods for operando analytics and digital catalysis.
“I want to make Germany a hydrogen republic. We are already a world leader when it comes to technologies for producing green hydrogen. Next, we need to accelerate the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. The Federal Ministry of Research has been investing in the necessary research and development for many years now. CatLab is an excellent example of this,” emphasised Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger during her visit.
“To make our energy system carbon-neutral, it is vital to produce green hydrogen on an industrial scale and process it into basic chemicals and synthetic fuels. Novel catalysts and catalytic processes are the key to this,” said Prof. Dr. Bernd Rech, Scientific Director of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. “In order to develop novel thin-film catalysts, we are pursuing a unique research approach in which we closely intertwine data science with material and technology development, and are cooperating with industry at an early stage of research and development,” explained Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán-Cuenya, Director of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society. “The Energy Materials In-Situ Laboratory (EMIL) at the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II is ideal for studying catalytic processes under real-time conditions. Another important focus is digital catalysis, which is employing AI methods to search for the most suitable catalyst materials. Industrial partners are also participating here in the development of novel reactors,” added Prof. Dr. Robert Schlögl, Director of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society.
The CatLab reactor and characterisation labs are located in the neighbouring Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences (IRIS Adlershof) of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Prof. Dr. Jürgen P. Rabe, Director of IRIS-Adlershof, emphasised the significant synergies that this creates. Within the framework of partnerships with Humboldt University in Adlershof, Technische Universität Berlin, and the UniSysCat cluster of excellence, CatLab is deeply embedded in the university research landscape of Berlin.
CatLab is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with more than 50 million euros. In total, the five-year development project will cost around 100 million euros. Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and two Max Planck institutes, the Fritz Haber Institute (FHI) and the Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC), are pooling their expertise and expanding the research platform together with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. A new office and laboratory building is being constructed for CatLab in the immediate vicinity of BESSY II light source.
Further information
Dr. Kasia Skorupska
skorupska@fhi.mpg.de
Dr. Tobias Sontheimer
tobias.sontheimer@helmholtz-berlin.de
