Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and Synchrotron Radiation Innovation Award
From left to right: Prof. Gerard Meijer, Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, Dr. Manfred Faubel, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Dr. Bernd Winter, Fritz Haber Institute, Berlin, Dr. Franziska Emmerling, Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing. © M. Setzpfandt / HZB
From left to right: Dr. Michael Krumrey, PTB, Dr. Dieter Skroblin, PTB, Dr. Franziska Emmerling, BAM. © M. Setzpfandt / HZB
This year, the Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (Freundeskreis des HZB e. V.) awarded the Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize to Dr. Dieter Skroblin of the Technische Universität Berlin for his outstanding doctoral thesis. The European Innovation Award Synchrotron Radiation went to Dr. Manfred Faubel from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen and Dr. Bernd Winter from the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. The award ceremony took place at this year's HZB user meeting.
The 2024 Synchrotron Radiation Innovation Prize was awarded to Dr. Manfred Faubel of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen and Dr. Bernd Winter of the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. They received the prize for their groundbreaking development and application of liquid jet photoelectron spectroscopy (LJ-PES). The method is widely used to study surface phenomena, biochemical reactions and atmospheric chemistry. Prof. Gerard Meijer from the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin gave the laudatory speech at the award ceremony on December 11, 2024 in Berlin-Adlershof.
The Ernst-Eckhard-Koch Prize 2024 was awarded to Dr. Dieter Skroblin from the Technical University of Berlin. His dissertation “Application of X-ray Characterization Tools for ordered Nanostructures: Hybrid Detectors, Magnetic Sample Environment & Computational Simulations” was carried out at PTB and combines innovative X-ray scattering and spectrometry methods to study nanomaterials. Dr. Skroblin made significant progress in experimental setups and data interpretation, including the calibration of a hybrid pixel detector and the development of a device for aligning nanoparticles in a magnetic field. The award committee recognized the importance of his work for future research priorities at the planned synchrotron radiation source BESSY III.
Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e.V.
The "Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e. V." is dedicated to promoting science and research with synchrotron radiation, and in particular young scientists. It aims to be a link between the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the public, and to cultivate cooperation between the HZB, its friends and supporters, and other institutions in Germany and abroad. The association's main activities include the annual awarding of the Ernst Eckhard Koch Dissertation Prize and the Synchrotron Radiation Innovation P
- Battery research: visualisation of aging processes operandoLithium button cells with electrodes made of nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides (NMC) are very powerful. Unfortunately, their capacity decreases over time. Now, for the first time, a team has used a non-destructive method to observe how the elemental composition of the individual layers in a button cell changes during charging cycles. The study, now published in the journal Small, involved teams from the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the University of Münster, researchers from the SyncLab research group at HZB and the BLiX laboratory at the Technical University of Berlin. Measurements were carried out in the BLiX laboratory and at the BESSY II synchrotron radiation source.
- New instrument at BESSY II: The OÆSE endstation in EMILA new instrument is now available at BESSY II for investigating catalyst materials, battery electrodes and other energy devices under operating conditions: the Operando Absorption and Emission Spectroscopy on EMIL (OÆSE) endstation in the Energy Materials In-situ Laboratory Berlin (EMIL). A team led by Raul Garcia-Diez and Marcus Bär showcases the instrument’s capabilities via a proof-of-concept study on electrodeposited copper.
- Green hydrogen: A cage structured material transforms into a performant catalystClathrates are characterised by a complex cage structure that provides space for guest ions too. Now, for the first time, a team has investigated the suitability of clathrates as catalysts for electrolytic hydrogen production with impressive results: the clathrate sample was even more efficient and robust than currently used nickel-based catalysts. They also found a reason for this enhanced performance. Measurements at BESSY II showed that the clathrates undergo structural changes during the catalytic reaction: the three-dimensional cage structure decays into ultra-thin nanosheets that allow maximum contact with active catalytic centres. The study has been published in the journal ‘Angewandte Chemie’.