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!"
- Innovative battery electrode made from tin foamMetal-based electrodes in lithium-ion batteries promise significantly higher capacities than conventional graphite electrodes. Unfortunately, they degrade due to mechanical stress during charging and discharging cycles. A team at HZB has now shown that a highly porous tin foam is much better at absorbing mechanical stress during charging cycles. This makes tin foam an interesting material for lithium batteries.
- BESSY II: Building block of the catalyst for oxygen formation in photosynthesis reproducedIn a small manganese oxide cluster, teams from HZB and HU Berlin have discovered a particularly exciting compound: two high spin manganese centres in two very different oxidation states and. This complex is the simplest model of a catalyst that occurs as a slightly larger cluster in natural photosynthesis, where it enables the formation of molecular oxygen. The discovery is considered an important step towards a complete understanding of photosynthesis.
- HZB-magazine lichtblick - the new issue is out!In the cover story we introduce Astrid Brandt. She is Head of User Coordination at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. She and her team keep constant track of applications, measurement times and publications of the 1000 guest researchers who come to BESSY II each year.
She has always been fascinated by science. But she has also never let go of her other passion, which is music.