Hatice Mutlu appointed to the Helmholtz Institute HIPOLE in Jena
Prof. Hatice Mutlu conducts research at HIPOLE Jena on polymerization processes for energy materials. © HIPOLE
This week, Hatice Mutlu met with Bernd Rech, the scientific director at HZB in Berlin-Adlershof. © HZB/F. Krawatzek
Prof. Dr Hatice Mutlu is the new professor of sustainable polymer chemistry at HIPOLE Jena, the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications. On 17 August 2026, she visited the HZB campus in Berlin-Adlershof including the BESSY II lightsource and discussed future collaboration with researchers and the board of directors.
Since 15 June 2026, Mutlu has strengthened research on sustainable polymer materials through a joint appointment with Friedrich Schiller University Jena. She develops resource-efficient polymerisation methods and innovative synthesis strategies for energy and high-performance materials. Her other research interests include light-driven synthesis, sulfur-containing polymers and concepts for a circular materials economy. Her expertise complements HIPOLE’s research on polymer materials for batteries, photovoltaics and other energy conversion and storage applications.
Mutlu studied chemistry in Istanbul and completed her doctorate on sustainable polymer platform chemicals. Following research positions at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), she was appointed to a junior professorship at the Université de Haute-Alsace in 2022. In 2025, she became a W3 Professor at RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau and Research Director at the Leibniz Institute for Composite Materials. In June 2026, Friedrich Schiller University Jena and HIPOLE Jena jointly appointed her Professor of Sustainable Polymer Chemistry.
- BESSY II: Evaporated perovskites in tandem solar cells improvedPerovskite-silicon tandem solar cells achieve significantly higher efficiencies than silicon solar cells on their own. One particularly attractive method is co-evaporation of the perovskite precursor molecules on top of the silicon subcell. Scientists at HZB have analysed film growth on the nanoscale at BESSY II and found a new way to improve the quality of the perovskite layer: adding a thin seed layer of caesium chloride between the two sub-cells promotes uniform perovskite growth and suppresses the formation of undesired lead iodide at the interface.
- Discover HZB at our Open Day on 28 AugustWe warmly invite you to our Open Day at the Lise Meitner Campus of the Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HZB) in Wannsee! A varied programme awaits you, featuring around 20 stations, guided tours, talks and hands-on activities for all.
- Special prize by Jugend Forscht awarded to former school internShaoxuan Wang has won a special prize in the Jugend Forscht competition for her project ‘Smart Capsules – intelligent microcapsules for glucose-dependent insulin release’. She designed the project as a “special achievement” for her A-levels. To carry out the experimental work, Shaoxuan was able to spend a further two weeks in the laboratory at the HZB Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage, where she had completed a school internship two years earlier.