HZB-Highlights 2022 published
© HZB/M.Setzpfand
The Highlights 2022 report on a selection of the most important research results and events at HZB.
This year, the cyber attack made it much more difficult to compile the highlights 2022. But now it's done! One focus in this report is energy research, in which HZB is extraordinarily successful, from basic research to technology transfer. In 2022, HZB teams developed tandem solar cells with record efficiencies, and there was great progress in research on batteries and "green" hydrogen as well. In addition, HZB further expanded its collaborations with industrial partners fostering innovation in the solar industry in Europe. Selected research results from the fields of information and matter provide insights into the diversity of research at HZB and at our X-ray source BESSY II. The report ends with facts, figures, personalia, a short report on the Diversity Charter and a review of special events such as the visit of the swedish King.
- Freeze casting - a guide to creating hierarchically structured materialsFreeze casting is an elegant, cost-effective manufacturing technique to produce highly porous materials with custom-designed hierarchical architectures, well-defined pore orientation, and multifunctional surface structures. Freeze-cast materials are suitable for many applications, from biomedicine to environmental engineering and energy technologies. An article in "Nature Reviews Methods Primer" now provides a guide to freeze-casting methods that includes an overview on current and future applications and highlights characterization techniques with a focus on X-ray tomoscopy.
- IRIS beamline at BESSY II extended with nanomicroscopyThe IRIS infrared beamline at the BESSY II storage ring now offers a fourth option for characterising materials, cells and even molecules on different length scales. The team has extended the IRIS beamline with an end station for nanospectroscopy and nanoimaging that enables spatial resolutions down to below 30 nanometres. The instrument is also available to external user groups.
- Clean cooking fuel with a great impact for southern AfricaBurning biomass for cooking causes harmful environmental and health issues. The German-South African GreenQUEST initiative is developing a clean household fuel. It aims to reduce climate-damaging CO2 emissions and to improve access to energy for households in sub-Saharan Africa.