Recruiting film is online!

In June and July 2025, catalyst researcher Nico Fischer spent some time at HZB. It was his sabbatical, he was relieved of his duties as Director of the Catalysis Institute in Cape Town for several months and was able to focus on research only. His institute is collaborating with HZB on two projects that aim to develop environmentally friendly alternatives using innovative catalyst technologies. The questions were asked by Antonia Rötger, HZB.

Battery researcher Prof. Dr. Philipp Adelhelm has been awarded the 2024 Berlin Science Award. He is a professor at the Institute of Chemistry at Humboldt University in Berlin (HU) and heads a joint research group at HU and the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB). The materials scientist and electrochemist is investigating sustainable batteries, which play a key role in the success of the energy transition. He is one of the leading international experts in the field of sodium-ion batteries.

Scientists at HZB run a long-term experiment on the roof of a building at the Adlershof campus. They expose a wide variety of solar cells to the weather conditions, recording their performance over a period of years. These include perovskite solar cells, a new photovoltaic material offering high efficiency and low manufacturing costs. Dr Carolin Ulbrich and Dr Mark Khenkin evaluated four years of data and presented their findings in Advanced Energy Materials. This is the longest series of measurements on perovskite cells in outdoor use to date. The scientists found that standard perovskite solar cells perform very well during the summer months, even over several years, but decline in efficiency during the darker months.