Modernisation of BESSY II+ light source
Antje Vollmer is spokeswoman for BESSY II and project lead of the BESSY II+ project. She says: "BESSY II is rising to the scientific and societal challenges. The positive feedback from users encourages us in this!" © HZB/M. Setzpfandt
The 16th edition of the BESSY@HZB user meeting will take place on 11-12 December 2024 in Berlin-Adlershof. 400 participants exchange information about research at BESSY II. This year, Romania is the country of honour. © HZB/M. Setzpfandt
The focus of the User Meeting 2024: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) presents the BESSY II+ upgrade programme. It enables world-class research at BESSY II to be further expanded and new concepts to be tested with regard to the successor source BESSY III.
Every year in December, HZB invites the users of BESSY II light source to Adlershof for an exchange of expertise. Research highlights of the year are presented and the wishes of the user community regarding future developments are discussed.
"BESSY II is now in its 27th year of operation," says Antje Vollmer, BESSY II spokesperson. "The expectations of our users have changed over the years. They want additional infrastructures, laboratories close to the beamlines and have high expectations of the sample environment. Research interests have also changed. For example, we are seeing a strong interest in battery research and energy conversion processes."
This is where the BESSY II+ project comes in. The aim is for BESSY to become an "operando synchrotron for the energy transition".
A bridge to the future: the BESSY II+ project
BESSY II+ offers new experimental possibilities, especially for operando investigations. These make it possible, for example, to watch batteries or solar cells "at work". In addition to the new "operando" possibilities, the BESSY II+ project also focuses on the two topics of "modernisation" and "sustainability". Sustainability involves, among other things, the utilisation of waste heat from the BESSY II experimental hall. Machine learning and artificial intelligence will also be even more integrated into many processes.
Funding of BESSY II+
As part of the modernisation project, the HZB has received additional funding from the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). "Invest BESSY II+" covers the most important investments for the project, which the BMBF is supporting to the tune of 17.45 million euros. This funding secures the development of new infrastructures, such as the SoTeXS instrument, which stands for soft-to-tender X-ray spectroscopy. This is a comprehensive concept for operando, metrological, multi-modal experiments that will be of great benefit to research into batteries and materials for energy applications.
Antje Vollmer emphasises: "BESSY II is facing up to the scientific and social challenges. The positive feedback from users encourages us to do so!"
- MXene for energy storage: More versatile than expectedMXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual MXene flakes to explore these processes in detail. Using the in situ Scanning transmission X-ray microscope 'MYSTIIC' at BESSY II, the scientists mapped the chemical states of Titanium atoms on the MXene flake surfaces. The results revealed two distinct redox reactions, depending on the electrolyte. This lays the groundwork for understanding charge transfer processes at the nanoscale and provides a basis for future research aimed at optimising pseudocapacitive energy storage devices.
- AI re-examines dinosaur footprintsFor decades, paleontologists have pondered over mysterious three-toed dinosaur footprints. Were they left by fierce carnivores, gentle plant-eaters, or even early birds? Now, an international team has used artificial intelligence to tackle the problem—creating a free app that readily lets anyone decipher the past.
- Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025At the 27th BESSY@HZB User Meeting, the Friends of HZB honoured the dissertation of Dr Enggar Pramanto Wibowo (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg). The Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025 went to Prof. Tim Salditt (Georg-August-University Göttingen) and Professors Danny D. Jonigk and Maximilian Ackermann (both, University Hospital of RWTH Aachen University).