Come along to the Long Night of Science on 6 June from 5 pm to midnight
Make your own batteries: Exciting experiments await our guests of all ages. © HZB
A great atmosphere: we look forward to seeing you! © HZB
What does light reveal about materials? How are new medicines developed? And just how cold is liquid nitrogen? During the Long Night of Science, we’re opening our doors and inviting visitors on a journey of discovery through the world of research.
Highlights at HZB
How does a particle accelerator work – and what can be studied with it?
A highlight is the tour of the BESSY II X-ray source. There, you’ll experience first-hand how our researchers use brilliant X-ray light to examine materials, batteries and biological structures. You will learn how electrons race through the storage ring at nearly the speed of light and how this coveted light for research is produced.
Hands-on experiments
Visitors can grow protein crystals or extract the DNA from a tomato. Experience exciting experiments with liquid nitrogen and learn why a vacuum is indispensable for us. Join us as we make chocolate with tiny structures that shimmer in rainbow colours. In the school laboratory, you’ll explore materials with mysterious properties.
Discovering the energy of the future
How can batteries in the future store more energy, charge faster and become more sustainable? How can new solar cells be brought to market more quickly? We are not only developing more efficient solar materials and technologies, but also collaborating with industry partners.
Find out what possibilities the planned BESSY III X-ray source will offer and how carbon dioxide can be used as a raw material with the help of electrochemical processes.
Tickets
Tickets are available online only and can be purchased here.
Adlershof is the perfect place for you. A varied programme awaits you at many venues here. Here is an overview of what’s on offer at the site.
- New contact material boosts the efficiency of perovskite solar cellsA newly developed material for the electron contact improves the efficiency of single perovskite solar cells and perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. The new material is based on a carborane molecule. It offers several advantages over the standard material C60, as shown by the study led by Steve Albrecht’s team. The new material has since been patented and is already commercially available.
- Precision interface chemistry pushes perovskite solar cells beyond 26% efficiencyAn international research collaboration has developed a new molecular strategy for controlling one of the most critical interfaces in perovskite solar cells. The resulting solar cells reached a power conversion efficiency of 26.19% in the n i p architecture, together with strong operational stability under prolonged illumination and elevated temperature. The results have been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
- Perovskite triple-junction solar cells: Even more efficient with GO/SAM bilayersPerovskite semiconductors efficiently convert sunlight into electrical energy; they are also inexpensive and extremely lightweight. A team at HZB has developed a triple-junction solar cell comprising different perovskite semiconductors, with a novel bilayer of graphene oxide (GO) and a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) as the hole conductor. This bilayer significantly increases both efficiency and long-term stability. The efficiency of the novel perovskite triple-junction solar cell is 27.3% and shows hardly any decline even after more than 770 hours of operation. The study has been published in the renowned journal Joule.