Discover HZB at our Open Day on 28 August
© HZB/M. Setzpfandt
We 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.
📅 28 August 2026 from 2 pm to 6 pm. Followed by a get-together with music from 6 pm. Food and beverages are available for purchase (2-8 pm). Free entry.
📍 Helmholtz Centre Berlin, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, 14109 Berlin (travelling by public transport is recommended).
Please bring a valid identity card or passport with you, as it is required for admission.
Visit our labs, ask questions and try out experiments yourself
How about joining our mini workshop ‘Batteries from Everyday Materials’? You will build a small aluminium-air battery and learn how batteries work. You can alos discover how particles from our accelerator are used in the treatment of eye cancer.
Would you like to explore the campus and our laboratories? Then join one of our 12 guided tours. For example, look at an electron microscope to discover tiny structures. Afterwards, you can find out how layers are actually produced that are 1,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Fascinating talks
Would you rather sit back and listen? Then come along to one of our talks by HZB scientists. Among other things, they will explain how sunlight can be used to convert waste into green hydrogen and what the solar cells of the future which we are researching today will look like.
We will also introduce you to BESSY III, the materials discovery machine of the future, and provide insights into the next generation of our research using particle accelerators.
Fun and discoveries for young explorers
There is plenty to discover for little science enthusiasts too! See how our in-house fire brigade puts out fires. Afterwards, cool down by making creamy ice cream with liquid nitrogen. Or transform into an animal or superhero with face painting.
An overview of our programme
Feel free to browse through the programme on our website and find out what you will enjoy and find interesting.
How to get here
Our campus is directly accessible by public transport from Wannsee S-Bahn station. Take bus route 318 and get off at Hahn-Meitner-Platz.
Important: Please make sure you bring a valid ID card or passport with you for your visit.
We look forward to an exciting day with you!
- Nanosilver as an electrocatalyst for CO₂ reductionVia electrolysis, CO2 can be reduced to CO, a raw material for further chemical products such as fuels. Within the GreenQuest Project, an internation team led by HZB chemist Prashanth Menezes has now systematically investigated catalyst layers made of silver nanoparticles, varying both the size of the particles and their density. The best yield was achieved with nanoparticles with diameters of around 10 nm, which were loosely distributed. Furthermore, they demonstrated how the economic efficiency of the electrochemical cell can be enhanced by integrating an additional chemical reaction at the anode, enabling the simultaneous production of a valuable formic acid, hydrogen, and CO in one device.
- 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.
- Hatice Mutlu appointed to the Helmholtz Institute HIPOLE in JenaProf. 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.