ERC Consolidator Grant for HZB researcher Robert Seidel
Dr. Robert Seidel was awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant for his research project WATER X. © HZB / Kevin Fuchs
The WATER-X research project is funded by the EU under the project number 101126299.
Physicist Dr Robert Seidel has been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). Over the next five years, he will receive a total of two million euros for his research project WATER-X. Seidel will use state-of-the-art X-ray techniques at BESSY II to study nanoparticles in aqueous solution for the photocatalytic production of "green" hydrogen.
With the Consolidator Grant, the ERC supports researchers with several years of experience who are now planning a large-scale research project. The physicist Robert Seidel is an expert in X-ray methods at BESSY II. In high-profile published studies, he has already shown that water still holds many surprises.
In his ERC project WATER-X, he is focusing on the process of photocatalysis, in which water molecules are split into hydrogen and oxygen. If the energy required for the catalysis comes from renewable sources, the hydrogen produced is considered "green". Hydrogen will play an important role in the fossil-free energy system of the future, whether as energy storage, fuel or raw material for industry. However, catalysts are needed for a highly efficient process, and this is where the WATER-X project comes in.
"In WATER-X, we will investigate the ultrafast processes on catalytically active nanoparticles in water that can be activated by light," says Seidel. While the entire photocatalytic water splitting process is relatively slow (milliseconds to seconds), the light-induced processes on the catalyst particles are so fast (picoseconds to nanoseconds) that they have been very difficult to study experimentally. The team will focus on four different transition metal oxides that can be activated by light (photons) and are considered interesting candidates for inexpensive and efficient catalysts.
Seidel will investigate these picosecond processes at the interfaces of transition metal oxide nanoparticles in water by combining the "liquid microjet setup" at BESSY II with time-resolved femtosecond laser photoelectron spectroscopy. For the first time, short-lived molecular intermediates and their decay mechanisms could be precisely observed experimentally.
"At the end of the WATER-X project, we will understand the light-induced processes between catalyst nanoparticles and water much better and also, how to improve them," says Seidel. This could significantly accelerate the development of novel, highly efficient catalysts for many purposes, not just green hydrogen.
The WATER-X research project is funded by the EU under the project number 101126299.
WATER-X: PHOTO-INDUCED ELECTRON DYNAMICS AT THE TRANSITION-METAL OXIDE–WATER INTERFACE FROM TIME RESOLVED LIQUID-JET PHOTOEMISSION
- Nanosilver as an electrocatalyst for CO₂ reductionVia electrolysis, CO2 can be reduced to CO, a raw material for further chemical products such as fuels. Within the GreenQuest Project, an internation team led by HZB chemist Prashanth Menezes has now systematically investigated catalyst layers made of silver nanoparticles, varying both the size of the particles and their density. The best yield was achieved with nanoparticles with diameters of around 10 nm, which were loosely distributed. Furthermore, they demonstrated how the economic efficiency of the electrochemical cell can be enhanced by integrating an additional chemical reaction at the anode, enabling the simultaneous production of a valuable formic acid, hydrogen, and CO in one device.
- Spin waves inside a nano-oscillator imaged for the first timeFor the first time, researchers have directly imaged the magnetisation dynamics inside a spin Hall nano-oscillator — a nanoscale device that converts direct current into tunable microwave signals and is a promising building block for energy-efficient wireless communication and brain-inspired computing. A Swedish–German team led by the University of Gothenburg and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) achieved this using time-resolved scanning transmission X-ray microscopy at the MAXYMUS instrument at BESSY II. The results, now published in Advanced Materials, reveal spin-wave features that had escaped previous, indirect measurement techniques.
- Marcel Risch has been appointed Professor at the Freie Universität BerlinMarcel Risch was appointed to a W2-S professorship in the Department of Physics at Freie Universität Berlin in August 2026. His research group has been transformed into the department 'Mechanisms of Sustainable Electrocatalysis'. Risch investigates the fundamental mechanisms of electrocatalytic reactions and, on this basis, develops knowledge- and data-driven strategies to improve electrocatalysts for the sustainable production of hydrogen, fuels and chemicals.