HZB Newsroom

Once upon a time, I was a kid who loved doing home experiments and unravel the explanation behind everyday phenomena. This passion and curiosity helped me to land up here in Berlin to work on the growth of crystalline materials at the wonderful campus of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. But unlike many other stories, mine starts with an introductory question: What makes growing crystals fun and also challenging?

The first major challenge was facing my own initial lack of knowledge. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by entirely new protocols: what can be touched with gloves, what is strictly glove-free, and how to safely move items through the space. As I did not fully know how new equipment operates, getting startled when something goes off-routine is inevitable.

Shaoxuan 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.

In Peru, I am part of a research project focused on developing sensors that can detect acetone. The samples were fabricated by members of our research group using different thin layers and thermal treatments. My task is to understand what happened to their surface during this process and how these changes may affect their performance as sensors.

Acht Wochen sind sie hier und arbeiten in verschiedenen Laboren und Gruppen mit. Zwölf Studentinnen und Studenten aus aller Welt haben sich hier in Berlin eine Bleibe auf Zeit gesucht und gehen jeden Tag ins Labor statt an den Strand. Sie werten Messungen aus, erlernen die Bedienung von komplizierten Maschinen oder programmieren. Und sie schreiben über ihre Erfahrungen im Blogprojekt. Und zwar in englisch, obwohl es nicht ihre Muttersprache ist. Herausgekommen sind Einblicke in ihren Alltag im Labor, ihre Gedanken und ihre Lernprozesse.

Being accepted into the 2026 International Summer Student Program (ISSP) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin was one of the best pieces of news I have ever received. I still remember waking up in the middle of the night, checking my email, and reading the acceptance letter. It didn't feel real.

I've always thought about the correlation between art and science, and how art can symbolize science in ways that add to it and make it more than just the trials or the data you try to interpret.

And you can see this through a spin coater.

A machine designed for thin-film coating can create something that resembles a beautiful flower.

And that's where my story begins.

Every morning begins the same way. I put on my lab coat, prepare my electrochemical setup, and wait for the first measurement of the day to appear on my screen. Even though I have repeated the procedure many times over the past weeks, I still find myself wondering: Will today's experiment behave differently from yesterday's?

That question has quietly become my favourite part of my internship at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin.

When I applied to the International Summer Student Programme at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, I never thought that I would be diving into a whole new, and to me previously unknown, area of physics. Though I have had courses on related topics like mechanics and electromagnetism, accelerator physics also includes special relativity, optics and a whole lot of maths. All these areas of physics are combined in order to calculate, as precisely as possible, the movements of the particles inside the accelerator.

Have you ever tried doing precise work while wearing oversized rubber gloves attached to a giant glass box? Neither had I, until today. My first experience working in a glovebox turned out to be one of the most memorable parts of the experiment.

It was almost 11 p.m. when I arrived in Berlin. After a long journey from Colombia, all I wanted was to get to my accommodation, take a shower, and finally sleep.

Instead, I missed my train. Thinking it would follow the same route as the previous one as it would in my hometown of Medellín I confidently boarded the next train. About twenty minutes later, I realized something was wrong. I was heading in the wrong direction.

As if that was not enough, my phone battery was almost empty. Suddenly, I found myself alone in a city I had never visited before, late at night, speaking a language I did not understand, with no idea how to get back.

This was not how I had imagined the beginning of my first international trip....

An 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.

On 23 April 2026, the annual Girl’s Day took place, giving pupils an insight into various career paths in the fields of science and technology. 83 pupils visited the Adlershof and Wannsee sites and enjoyed a day full of exciting experiments.

Christiane Becker ist Physikerin am Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin und Professorin. Sie forscht daran, wie Solarzellen noch besser werden können. Im Gespräch mit Schülerpraktikantin Livia gibt sie einen Einblick in ihren Arbeitsalltag und ihre Erfahrungen in der Forschung und hat einen Tipp für alle Mädchen, die sich für Wissenschaft begeistern.

Dr Hebatalla Elnaggar is setting up a new Helmholtz Investigator Group at HZB. At BESSY II, the materials scientist will investigate so-called magnons in magnetic perovskite thin films. The aim is to lay the foundations for future terahertz magnon technology: magnonic devices operating in the terahertz range could process data using a fraction of the energy required by the most advanced semiconductor devices, and at speeds up to a thousand times faster.

The Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HZB) is breaking new ground in attracting talented young people to IT training. HZB was presented with this year's HR Energy Award for its "Go for IT! Recruitainment for IT training" campaign. Gamification elements make the application process more attractive and fairer for young people.

Two former apprentices from the HZB workshop have achieved something remarkable: Fiete Buchin and Edgar Lunk completed their training as precision mechanics, taking first and second place in all of Berlin. In this interview, they share what it took to reach the top, what makes their training special, and the advice they would give to future apprentices.

On 1 September, 16 young people began their apprenticeship, dual study programme or voluntary year at HZB. A welcome event, initial insights into the world of research and a communication seminar marked the start of this new phase in their lives.

During her doctoral studies at the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, Hanna Trzesniowski conducted research on nickel-based electrocatalysts for water splitting. Her work contributes to a deeper understanding of alkaline water electrolysis and paves the way for the development of more efficient and stable catalysts. On 8 July 2025, she received the Helmholtz Doctoral Prize, which honours the best and most original doctoral theses in the Helmholtz Association.

Silvia Mariotti starts building up the new Helmholtz Young Investigator Group ‘Perovskite-based multi-junction solar cells’. The perovskite expert, who was previously based at Okinawa University in Japan, aims to advance the development of multi-junction solar cells made from different perovskite layers.

Dirk Lohmann has been head of the school laboratory at HZB's Wannsee site since summer 2024. In this interview, he explains what matters most to him: encouraging young people to explore natural phenomena with their own hands.

MXenes are adept at hosting catalytically active particles. This property can be exploited to create more potent catalyst materials that significantly accelerate and enhance the oxygen evolution reaction, which is one of the bottlenecks in the production of green hydrogen via electrolysis using solar or wind power. A detailed study by an international team led by HZB chemist Michelle Browne shows the potential of these new materials for future large-scale applications. The study is published in Advanced Functional Materials.

On April 3, 2025, the annual Girls' Day took place, giving schoolgirls an insight into various careers in science and technology. We welcomed a total of 103 schoolgirls at our Adlershof and Wannsee sites and offered them a day full of exciting experiments - more participants than ever before!

Dr. Moses Alfred Oladele is working on photocatalysis for CO₂ conversion in a joint project with the group of Dr. Matt Mayer, HZB, and Prof. Andreas Taubert at the University of Potsdam. The chemist from Redeemer's University in Ede, Nigeria, came to Berlin in the summer of 2024 with a Georg Forster Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and will work at HZB for two years.

In the COMET-PV project, Dr Artem Musiienko aims to significantly accelerate the development of perovskite solar cells. He is using robotics and AI to analyse the many variations in the material composition of tin-based perovskites. The physicist will set up a Young Investigator Group at HZB. He will also have an affiliation with Humboldt University in Berlin, where he will gain teaching experience in preparation for a future professorship.

Michelle Browne heads a Helmholtz Young Investigators Group on electrocatalysis at HZB. She has now been selected as a fellow of the Daimler and Benz Foundation. She will receive 40,000 euros over the next two years and, in addition, access to an excellent research network.

Dr. Feng Liang has joined the HZB Institute Solar Fuels in 2021. Now, he has secured an associate professorship at the Green Hydrogen Innovation Center in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. He will start to build up his research team in June 2025.

38,000 visitors in 20 years: high demand shows need for science education

Twenty years ago, on 29 November 2004, Klaus Böger, then Senator for Education in Berlin, opened one of the capital's first school laboratories. Since then, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), in cooperation with the Berlin Senate, has successfully promoted science education through project days and further training in the school lab.

At HZB, 117 postdocs from 29 countries are employed. They play a crucial role in driving the main research activities, fostering creativity and innovation. To honor them, the Postdoc Appreciation Week was first organised in the USA in 2009 and has in the meantime become a regular event in Germany as well in the third week of September every year.

A new phase of life began for 13 young people on 2 September: HZB welcomed five new trainees, six students on dual study programmes and two participants in a Voluntary Year of Science. They all are starting their careers with great anticipation.

The first sign of spoilage in many food products is the formation of free radicals, which reduces the shelf-life and the overall quality of the food. Until now, the detection of these molecules has been very costly for the food companies. Researchers at HZB and the University of Stuttgart have developed a portable, small and inexpensive 'EPR on a chip' sensor that can detect free radicals even at very low concentrations. They are now working to set up a spin-off company, supported by the EXIST research transfer programme of the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection. The EPRoC sensor will initially be used in the production of olive oil and beer to ensure the quality of these products.

Some students overcame big obstacles to join the International Summer Students Programme at HZB: Traveling 12 hours by bus across the Andes to obtain a visa in Bogotá, borrowing money from here and there to pay the fees for formalities, and maintaining hope when the visa was delayed. One student visited the embassy every day for two weeks, leaving a yellow envelope with a polite reminder each time. And even with a visa, problems could arise last minute. Another student was already at the airport when he was denied boarding because he did not have a return ticket yet. He called our HZB colleagues who answered the phone at 10pm and found a quick solution.

In his search for the perfect catalyst, HZB researcher Robert Seidel is now getting a tailwind – thanks to a ERC Consolidator Grant. In the cover story, we explain why the X-ray source BESSY II plays an important role for his research.

On 1 July 2024, 18 summer students from 15 nations started their work at HZB. Until 23 August, they will be supervised in various research teams and take on their own small project. For many students, this is their first contact with research.

Dr. Artem Musiienko has been awarded a special prize for his groundbreaking new method for characterising semiconductors. At the recent annual conference of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA) in Milan, Italy, he received the MCAA Award for the best innovation. Since 2023, Musiienko has been carrying out his research project with a postdoctoral fellowship from the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions in Antonio Abate's department, Novel Materials and Interfaces for Photovoltaic Solar Cells (SE-AMIP).

The BESSY@HZB User Meeting welcomes 17 scientists from Kenya. They come from six different universities. One of them is Robert Ngure; he is a Master’s student in material science at Egerton university. He tells us more about his fascination for science and what he expects from his visit to Adlershof.

Dr. Tabitha A. Amollo is a researcher and lecturer at Egerton University in Njoro in Kenya. She holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research interests focus on developing cutting-edge nanomaterials for energy conversion devices including graphene nanomaterials. She published a number of articles in reputable journals. At Egerton University, she is the head of a young team to explore dye-sensitive solar cells, she is a chairperson of the Physics Department, and she coordinates the undergraduate program and gives lectures to undergraduates and postgraduate physics students.

In April, Nancy Ochiba was a guest at HZB in Berlin doing research on nanoparticles. “I made good use of the time,” says the young chemist from Nairobi, Kenya. First she took part in the Photon School for young scientists, then she joined the lab at the Institute for Solar Fuels as a guest researcher. “Here I can benefit from technology that is not available to me at the Kenya University of Technology. For example, I have now examined my samples under a scanning electron microscope.”

The 2023 User Meeting BESSY@HZB end of June welcomes Kenya as country of honour. Dr Lucy Ombaka from Technical University of Kenya in Nairobi tells us how she got to know about BESSY II light source and how she motivates women in science. 

The BESSY@HZB user meeting will take place at the end of June 2023. For the first time, there will be a country of honour, Kenya. Antje Vollmer, BESSY II spokesperson, tells us how this came about and why it is important to work at eye level with researchers from other countries.

End of March, a delegation from the Czech Republic visited HZB at the Wannsee campus. The programme included a visit to the apprentices’ workshop and exchanges regarding opportunities for apprenticeships and upskilling at HZB.

Dr. Artem Musiienko has earned a prestigious Maria Skłodowska Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship for his research project HyPerGreen. In the group of Prof. Antonio Abate, HZB, Musiienko will explore and improve lead-free perovskite solar cells with the goal to increase their efficiency to more than 20 %.  

Manfred Weiss, Sebastian Fiechter, Annette Pietzsch and Michael Tovar have been available to you as ombudspersons since 1 January 2023. They will be happy to advise you on all questions regarding good scientific practice at the HZB.

We are looking for young excellent scientists with leadership skills. Do you want to perform an innovative research project in one of HZB's research fields? Then apply by 20.02.2023!

On Tuesday, 6 December 2022, Dr. Eike Köhnen received the Tiburtius Prize (First Place) for outstanding dissertations. Eike Köhnen has contributed to significantly increasing the efficiency of tandem solar cells made of perovskite and silicon, to the point of setting world records.

Felix Büttner has led a junior research group at HZB. Now he has accepted a call to the University of Augsburg. As head of a joint research group, he will continue his studies of magnetic skyrmions at BESSY II.

People from many different countries work at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and enrich our atmosphere. For our cookbook, employees and guest researchers from six continents have contributed their favorite recipes.

Was machen eigentlich Feinwerkmechaniker? Und was lernt man in der Ausbildung? Um das herauszufinden, sind wir mit zwei Azubis aus dem HZB verabredet. Durch einige Flure gelangen wir in eine große Werkstatt, voll mit schweren Maschinen, Werkzeugen und Geräten. Mitten im Raum stehen drei Personen und hantieren an einer Drehbank, die laut vor sich hin schnurrt.

To support the development of young scientists at HZB in the best possible way - this has been a long-standing goal of the HZB. Now this task will be pursued even more strategically. To this end, the new board “HZB Succeed” has been founded in January 2022.

We are looking for young excellent scientists looking for leadership! Do you want to perform an innovative research project in one of HZB's research fields? Then apply by 28.02.2022!

Alles begann mit einer einfachen Frage. “Wann wurde denn hier eigentlich das letzte Mal gemäht?“, fragte ein Mitarbeiter beim Anblick einer wilden Wiese auf dem HZB-Campus. Tatsächlich schon seit Wochen nicht mehr. Denn Wiesen sind wichtige Nahrungsquellen für Bienen, Hummeln und andere Insekten. „Warum schreibt ihr das denn nicht? Dann weiß jeder, dass es nicht darum geht, Kosten zu sparen.“ So ungefähr lautet die Antwort des Mitarbeiters – und die Idee, Schilder für Blühwiesen aufzustellen, war geboren. Das Anliegen landete bei der Abteilung Kommunikation – und zwar in den Händen von Jennifer Bierbaum, die die Azubis für Büromanagement in dieser Ausbildungsstation betreut. Und sie entwickelte aus dieser Idee ein Azubi-Projekt.