© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
Thank you for a fantastic Long Night of Science!
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
On 6 June 2026, we opened our doors once again for the Long Night of Science. With 3,100 visitors, BESSY II welcomed 500 more people than last time. We would like to thank everyone for their interest! We captured the best moments of the evening in the photo gallery.
The tour of the BESSY II accelerator was packed in many places. Lots of people stood on the bridge, marvelling at the experiments and asking plenty of questions. The hands-on experiments were once again particularly popular. There was also a crowd at the stands run by the Competence Centre for Photovoltaics, Battery Research and Protein Crystallography. The BESSY III team provided information about the new successor facility and received a great deal of positive feedback from our guests.
On Instagram there is a video with highlights from the evening.
“This is not something to be taken for granted” – Great interest in science across Berlin
“The Long Night of Science in Berlin is the largest science festival in the whole of Germany. Almost 60 institutions and many researchers are involved. We had around 30,000 visitors – that’s not something to be taken for granted. What better way to build support for science than through direct encounters?” says Dr Christina Quensel, Managing Director of the Long Night of Science Association.
The next Long Night of Science is scheduled for 19 June 2027.
- Green hydrogen with PEC electrolysers: New insights into transport processesOne method of storing solar energy is to use PEC electrolysers to produce hydrogen. However, scaling up this technology remains challenging. Now, a team at the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels has used 2D fluorescence imaging and particle velocimetry to observe the movement of ions and dissolved gases within the electrolyte during electrolysis. These new insights may prove useful in the development of larger PEC electrolysers.
- 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.