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Accelerator physics: Experiment reveals new options for synchrotron light...
Using this method, specialised synchrotron radiation sources would potentially be able to fill a gap in the arsenal of available light sources and offer a prototype for industrial applications. The work was published in Nature.
Perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells on the threshold of 30% efficiency
The tandem cell provided stable performance for 300 hours – even without encapsulation. To accomplish this, the group headed by Prof. Steve Albrecht investigated physical processes at the interfaces to improve the transport of the charge carriers.
Future Information Technologies: Germanium telluride's hidden properties at the...
Germanium Telluride is an interesting candidate material for spintronic devices. At BESSY II, a Helmholtz-RSF Joint Research Group has revealed how the spin texture switches by ferroelectric polarization within individual nanodomains.
Order in the disorder: density fluctuations in amorphous silicon discovered
Such a-Si:H thin films have been used for decades in solar cells, TFT displays, and detectors. The results show that three different phases form within the amorphous matrix, which influences the quality and lifetime of the semiconductor layer.
Hope for better batteries – researchers follow the charging and discharging of...
The use of silicon in batteries promises to increase their capacity. At the HZB, charging and discharging was observed live for the first time and insights were gained into how the material can be used even more advantageously.
Robust high-performance data storage through magnetic anisotropy
An international team led by Prof. Dr. Matias Bargheer has now observed experimentally for the first time how a special spin-lattice interaction in these iron-platinum thin films cancels out the thermal expansion of the crystal lattice.
User research at BESSY II: Formation of a 2D meta-stable oxide in reactive...
A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion has now described an important phenomenon that can occur when metal alloys are exposed to reactive environments at the synchrotron source BESSY II.
BESSY II: Experiment shows for the first time in detail how electrolytes become...
For the first time an experiment was developed at BESSY II that shows how electrolytes become metallic. The transition to the state is shown by a change of colour from blue to gold. The publication even appears on the front page of SCIENCE Magazine.
On the road to non-toxic and stable perovskite solar cells
To replace lead by less toxic elements is not easy since lead-free perovskites show lower stability and poor efficiencies. Now, an international collaboration has engineered a new hybrid perovskite material with promising efficiency and stability.
User research at BESSY II: How new materials increase the efficiency of direct...
A group from Brazil and an HZB team have investigated a novel composite membrane for ethanol fuel cells. It consists of the polymer Nafion, in which nanoparticles of a titanium compound are embedded by the rarely explored melt extrusion process.
Condensed Matter Physics: Long-standing prediction of quantum physics...
90 years ago, the physicist Hans Bethe postulated that unusual patterns, so-called Bethe strings, appear in certain magnetic solids. Now an international team has succeeded in experimentally detecting such Bethe strings for the first time.
Coronavirus SARS-CoV2: BESSY II data accelerate drug development
At the Berlin X-ray source BESSY II, researchers have decoded a protein involved in the replication of the corona virus. Analysing the 3D architecture allows the systematic development of drugs which inhibit the reproduction of the virus.
Battery research: Using neutrons and X-rays to analyse the ageing of lithium...
An international team has used neutron and X-ray tomography to investigate the dynamic processes that lead to capacity degradation at the electrodes in lithium batteries. Using a mathematical method, it was possible to virtually unwind electrodes.
World Record: Efficiency of perovskite silicon tandem solar cell jumps to 29.15...
In the race for ever higher efficiency levels, an HZB development team is once again ahead. The scientists have developed a tandem solar cell made of perovskite and silicon, which converts 29.15 per cent of the incident light into electrical energy.
X-ray microscopy at BESSY II reveals how antimalaria-drugs might work
An international team has now been able to investigate malaria pathogens in red blood cells under natural conditions using X-ray microscopy at BESSY II, ALBA and ESRF. They show which mechanisms are used by active substances to attack the pathogens.
Save time using maths: analytical tool designs corkscrew-shaped nano-antennae
For the first time, an HZB team has derived analytically how corkscrew-shaped nano-antennas interact with light. The mathematical tool can be used to calculate the geometry that a nano-antenna must have for specific applications in sensor technology or ...
World record in tomography: Watching how metal foam forms
Researchers from the HZB and the Paul Scherrer Institute have developed a more powerful imaging method with which more than 200 three-dimensional tomographic X-ray images can be taken every second during measurement intervals of just several minutes.
Oldest completely preserved lily discovered
Already 115 million years ago, tropical flowering plants were apparently very diverse and showed all typical characteristics. This is the conclusion of an international team of researchers led by Clément Coiffard, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The team ...
Charge transfer within transition-metal dyes analysed
Transition-metal complexes in dye-based solar cells are responsible for converting light into electrical energy. A model of spatial charge separation within the molecule has been used to describe this conversion. However, an analysis at BESSY II shows that ...
Utrafast magnetism: electron-phonon interactions examined at BESSY II
How fast can a magnet switch its orientation and what are the microscopic mechanisms at play ? These questions are of first importance for the development of data storage and computer chips. Now, an HZB team at BESSY II has for the first time been able to ...
Laser-driven Spin Dynamics in Ferrimagnets: How does the Angular Momentum flow?
A team of researchers led by scientists from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) has now been able to follow the flow of angular momentum during ultrafast optical demagnetization in a ferrimagnetic iron-gadolinium ...
Copper oxide photocathodes: laser experiment reveals location of efficiency loss
Solar cells and photocathodes made of copper oxide might in theory attain high efficiencies for solar energy conversion. In practice, however, large losses occur. Now a team at the HZB has been able to use a sophisticated femtosecond laser experiment to ...
3D tomographic imagery reveals how lithium batteries age
Lithium batteries lose amp-hour capacity over time. Microstructures can form on the electrodes with each new charge cycle, which further reduces battery capacity. Now an HZB team together with battery researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, the University ...
Inorganic perovskite absorbers for use in thin-film solar cells
A team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has succeeded in producing inorganic perovskite thin films at moderate temperatures using co-evaporation – making post-tempering at high temperatures unnecessary. The process makes it much easier to produce thin-film ...
High-efficiency thermoelectric materials: new insights into tin selenide
Tin selenide might considerably exceed the efficiency of current record holding thermoelectric materials made of bismuth telluride. However, it was thought its efficiency became enormous only at temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius. Now measurements at the ...
Catalyst research for solar fuels: Amorphous molybdenum sulphide works best
Efficient and inexpensive catalysts will be required for production of hydrogen from sunlight. Molybdenum sulphides are considered good candidates. A team at HZB has now explained what processes take place in molybdenum sulphides during catalysis and why ...
HZB contributions to special edition on Ultrafast Dynamics with X-ray Methods
In the new special issue of the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London", internationally renowned experts report on new developments in X-ray sources and ultrafast time-resolved experiments. HZB physicists have also been invited to ...
Water is more homogeneous than expected
In order to explain the known anomalies in water, some researchers assume that water consists of a mixture of two phases even under ambient conditions. However, new X-ray spectroscopic analyses at BESSY II, ESRF and Swiss Light Source show that this is not ...
Transition metal complexes: mixed works better
A team at BESSY II has investigated how various iron-complex compounds process energy from incident light. They were able to show why certain compounds have the potential to convert light into electrical energy. The results are important for the development ...
New records in perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells through improved light...
Using microstructured layers, an HZB team has been able to increase the efficiency of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells, achieving 25.5 %, which is the highest published value to date. At the same time, computational simulations were utilized to ...
Graphene on the way to superconductivity
Scientists at HZB have found evidence that double layers of graphene have a property that may let them conduct current completely without resistance. They probed the bandstructure at BESSY II with extremely high resolution ARPES and could identify a flat area ...
Blue phosphorus - mapped and measured for the first time
Until recently, the existence of "blue" phosphorus was pure theory: Now an HZB team was able to examine samples of blue phosphorus at BESSY II for the first time and confirm via mapping of their electronic band structure that this is actually this exotic ...
Neutrons scan magnetic fields inside samples
With a newly developed neutron tomography technique, an HZB team has been able to map for the first time magnetic field lines inside materials at the BER II research reactor. Tensorial neutron tomography promises new insights into superconductors, battery ...
HZB researchers boost the efficiency of silicon solar cells
The efficiency of a solar cell is one of its most important parameters. It indicates what percentage of the solar energy radiated into the cell is converted into electrical energy. The theoretical limit for silicon solar cells is 29.3 percent due to physical ...
Machine learning helps improving photonic applications
Photonic nanostructures can be used for many applications, not just in solar cells, but also in optical sensors for cancer markers or other biomolecules, for example. A team at HZB using computer simulations and machine learning has now shown how the design ...
Patented nanostructure for solar cells: Rough optics, smooth surface
Thin-film solar cells made of crystalline silicon are inexpensive and achieve efficiencies of a good 14 percent. However, they could do even better if their shiny surfaces reflected less light. A team led by Prof. Christiane Becker from the Helmholtz-Zentrum ...
Future information technologies: nanoscale heat transport under the microscope
A team of researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the University of Potsdam has investigated heat transport in a model system comprising nanometre-thin metallic and magnetic layers. Similar systems are candidates for future high-efficiency ...
World record: Fastest 3D tomographic images at BESSY II
An HZB team has developed an ingenious precision rotary table at the EDDI beamline at BESSY II and combined it with particularly fast optics. This enabled them to document the formation of pores in grains of metal during foaming processes at 25 tomographic ...
Insight into loss processes in perovskite solar cells enables efficiency...
In perovskite solar cells, charge carriers are mainly lost through recombination occurring at interface defect sites. In contrast, recombination at defect sites within the perovskite layer does not limit the performance of the solar cells at present. Teams ...
Insight into catalysis through novel study of X-ray absorption spectroscopy
An international team has made a breakthrough at BESSY II. For the first time, they succeeded in investigating electronic states of a transition metal in detail and drawing reliable conclusions on their catalytic effect from the data. These results are ...
Wissenstransfer: Neues Standardwerk zu Energietechnologien in Deutschland
Vertreter des Wuppertal Instituts haben dem Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie (BMWi) einen mehrbändigen Bericht zu Energietechnologien übergeben. Dabei haben Experten aus dem HZB-Institut PVcomB am Themenfeld Photovoltaik mitgewirkt. Im Herbst ...
Future information technology: Microscopic insight into processes when magnets...
Magnetic solids can demagnetize upon heating. Despite decades of research, it has so far been unclear how this process works in detail. Now, for the first time, an international group has observed in a step-by-step manner how sudden heating affects the ...
New world record for direct solar water-splitting efficiency
Hydrogen will play a central role as a storage medium in sustainable energy systems. An international team of researchers has now succeeded in raising the efficiency of producing hydrogen from direct solar water-splitting to a record 19 per cent. They did so ...
Silicon heterojunction solar cell with a certified 23.1 % energy conversion...
After further optimization of the baseline process for industrial silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells, the accredited metrology lab ISFH CalTeC now certified an efficiency of 23.1 % for a 4 cm² solar cell. This performance is among the best in the ...
Perovskite-silicon solar cell research collaboration hits 25.2% efficiency
A 1 cm2 perovskite silicon tandem solar cell achieves an independently certified efficiency of 25.2 %. This was presented this week at an international conference in Hawaii, USA. The cell was developed jointly by HZB, Oxford University and Oxford PV - The ...
Neutron tomography: Insights into the interior of teeth, root balls, batteries,...
A team of researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and European Spallation Source (ESS) has now published a comprehensive overview of neutron-based imaging processes in the renowned journal Materials Today (impact factor 21.6). The authors report on the ...
Helmholtz Virtual Institute MiCo: Article selected as journal highlight for 2017
The Helmholtz Virtual Institute MiCo offers a platform through which the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin conducts joint research with universities and other partners on the topic of microstructures for thin-film solar cells. The journal Modelling and Simulation in ...
Writing and deleting magnets with lasers
Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) together with colleagues from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, USA have found a way to write and delete magnets in an alloy using a laser beam ...
Kesterite solar cells: germanium promises better opto-electronic properties...
Specific changes in the composition of kesterite-type semiconductors make it possible to improve their suitability as absorber layers in solar cells. As a team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin showed, this is particularly true for kesterites in which tin was ...
Twin Orbit operation successfully tested at BESSY II
The first "Twin Orbit User Test week” at BESSY II in February 2018 was a big success and can be considered as an important step towards real user operation. Physicists at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have been able to store two separate electron beams in ...
Solar–to-hydrogen conversion: nanostructuring increases efficiency of...
Polymeric carbon nitrides exhibit a catalytic effect in sunlight that can be used for the production of hydrogen from solar energy. However, the efficiency of these metal-free catalysts is extremely low. A team at the Tianjin University in China, in ...
Hidden talents: Converting heat into electricity with pencil and paper
Thermoelectric materials can use thermal differences to generate electricity. Now there is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly way of producing them with the simplest of components: a normal pencil, photocopy paper, and conductive paint are sufficient ...
User research at BER II: New insights into high-temperature superconductors
After 30 years of research, there are still many unsolved puzzles about high-temperature superconductors - among them is the magnetic "stripe order” found in some cuprate superconductors. A Danish research team has taken a closer look at these stripes, ...
40-year controversy in solid-state physics resolved
An international team at BESSY II headed by Prof. Oliver Rader has shown that the puzzling properties of samarium hexaboride do not stem from the material being a topological insulator, as it had been proposed to be. Theoretical and initial experimental work ...
Perovskite solar cells: mesoporous interface mitigates the impact of defects
The nominal cell operating life of perovskite solar cells is strongly influenced by their inner architecture.This was shown by two scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and the Technical University of Munich. They combined experiments with numerical ...
Solar energy: Defects in Kesterite semiconductors studied using neutrons
A research team at the HZB has precisely characterised for the first time the various types of defects in kesterite semiconductors. They achieved this with the help of neutron scattering at the BER II research reactor and at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in ...
Neutron spectroscopy: new detector module MultiFLEXX increases count rate...
The triple axis spectrometer FLEXX at BER II provides a new detector module for user service. It measures many angles and multiple energy transfers simultaneously and thus increases the amount of data measured per hour by about a factor of ten. This enables ...
Future IT: Antiferromagnetic dysprosium reveals magnetic switching with less...
HZB scientists have identified a mechanism with which it may be possible to develop a form of magnetic storage that is faster and more energy-efficient. They compared how different forms of magnetic ordering in the rare-earth metal named dysprosium react to a ...
High Field Magnet at BER II: Insight into a hidden order
A specific uranium compound has puzzled researchers for thirty years. Although the crystal structure is simple, no one understands exactly what is happening once it is cooled below a certain temperature. Apparently, a "hidden order” emerges, whose ...
Missing link between new topological phases of matter discovered
HZB-Physicists at BESSY II have investigated a class of materials that exhibit characteristics of topological insulators. During these studies they discovered a transition between two different topological phases, one of which is ferroelectric, meaning a ...
Novel soft X-ray spectrometer enables individual steps of photosynthetic water...
HZB scientists have developed a novel spectrometer at BESSY II that enables researchers to obtain detailed insights about catalytic processes in metalloenzymes. Their international collaboration was successful in delineating individual steps in the catalytic ...
The miracle material graphene: convex as a chesterfield
Graphene possesses extreme properties and can be utilised in many ways. Even the spins of graphene can be controlled through use of a trick. This had already been demonstrated by a HZB team some time ago: the physicists applied a layer of graphene onto a ...
Optical control of magnetic memory – new insights into fundamental mechanisms
A research team at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has shown for the first time how laser modulation of magnetic properties in materials is influenced by thermal effects and how the process occurs under moderate experimental parameters. At the same time, the ...
New model for bimolecular reactions in nanoreactors
Theoretical physicists have devised a mathematical model of two different molecules reacting within so called nanoreactors that act as catalysts. They gained surprising new insights as to what factors promote reactions and how to control and select them. The ...
User research at BER II: Lupin roots observed in the act of catching water from...
Lupins not only produce colourful blossoms but also nutritious beans rich in proteins. Just how these plants draw water approaching their roots in soil has now for the first time been observed in three dimensions by a University of Potsdam team at the HZB-BER ...
Writing with the electron beam: now in silver
For the first time an international team realized direct writing of silver nanostructures using an electron beam applied to a substrate. Silver nanostructures have the potential to concentrate visible light at the nanoscale. Potential applications include ...
Modern, concise and informative: HZB presents itself
A information brochure, illustrated throughout with a fusion of photos and sketches, serves as the new business card of HZB. In concise and understandable language, it describes the centre’s most important research focuses, introduces the large-scale ...
HZB researcher receives university-level teaching credential (Habilitation)
Dr. Klaus Habicht has successfully completed the university-level teaching accreditation process in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Potsdam and received his official university-level teaching qualification for the physics ...
HZB paper appears in special anniversary edition of the Journal of Physics D:...
A paper on X-ray tomography of various types of batteries has been published as a highlight in the exclusive special edition of the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. Two groups at the HZB along with a team from Justus Liebig University in Giessen, ...
Trends and pathways to high-efficiency perovskite solar cells
Perovskite solar cells have been the big surprise over the last while: inside of only a few years, their efficiency level has been increased from just under 10 % to fully 22 %. There has never been such rapid progress in a new material for solar cells. ...
Better cathode materials for Lithium-Sulphur-Batteries
A team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) has for the first time fabricated a nanomaterial made from nanoparticles of a titanium oxide compound (Ti4O7) that is characterised by an extremely large surface area, and tested it as a cathode material in ...
Nanodiamonds as energy materials: tuning the functionalities
An international team has shed light onto interactions between nanodiamonds and water molecules. Experiments at synchrotron sources showed how hydrogenated groups on nanodiamond surfaces change the network of hydrogen bonds in the aqueous environment and may ...
Proton transfer: Researcher find mecanism to protect biomolecules against light...
A team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) together with researchers in Sweden and the USA has analysed a mecanism which protects biomolecules such as the DNA against damage by light. They observed how the energy of incoming photons can be absorbed by the ...
Finding and understanding low cost catalysts: it all comes down to the iron
A team has investigated more than one hundred iron-nickel catalysts containing various admixtures of chromium. At BESSY II, they also analysed the configurations of the electrons in the individual elements. The team showed that an increasing proportion of ...
Highly sensitive method for detecting ion pairs in aqueous solution developed
Scientists of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin, Universität Heidelberg, and the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague have empirically detected a very specialised type of electron transfer in an aqueous salt solution, one which ...
Methods at BESSY II: Versatile cross-correlator for ultrafast X-ray experiments
Particularly in the soft X-ray range experimentalists are lacking a broadband method to correlate ultrashort X-ray and laser pulses in space and time. Only recently, a team from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and the University of Potsdam was able to achieve this ...
Methodology advance at HZB: ionic liquids simplify laser experiments on liquid...
An HZB team has developed a new approach to conduct photoemission spectroscopy of molecules in solution. This has been difficult up to now because the sample needed to be situated in vacuum – but liquids evaporate. The work has now demonstrated it is ...
Future Information Technologies: New combinations of materials for producing...
An international collaboration at BESSY II has discovered a new method to inscribe exotic magnetic patterns such as magnetic monopoles into thin ferromagnetic films. Such unconventional orientation of magnetic domains might open a new path for the design of ...
Nanotechnology for energy materials: Electrodes like leaf veins
Nano-sized metallic wires are attracting increasing attention as conductive elements for manufacturing transparent electrodes, which are employed in solar cells and touch screen panels. In addition to high electric conductivity, excellent optical ...
Advancing methodology at BESSY II: Automated evaluation speeds up the search...
The macromolecular crystallography (MX) beamlines at the BESSY II X-ray source are specially designed to highly automated structural analyses of protein crystals. With up to now more than 2000 solved structures of protein molecules, these beamlines are by far ...
Manual of characterisation techniques for thin-film solar cells published with...
In August 2016, the second, enlarged edition of the reference book "Advanced Characterization Techniques for Thin-Film Solar Cells" appeared from renowned publisher WILEY-VCH. Co-editor is HZB researcher Dr. Daniel Abou-Ras. A total of eleven authors from HZB ...
Novel state of matter: Observation of a quantum spin liquid
A novel and rare state of matter known as a quantum spin liquid has been empirically demonstrated in a monocrystal of the compound calcium-chromium oxide by team at HZB. What is remarkable about this discovery is that according to conventional understanding, ...
New effect on laser induced switching for higher data densities
An international collaboration has now demonstrated a completely new approach to increase data density in storage media. They used ultra-short laser pulses to trigger a phase transition in the ferromagnetic material BaFeO3 (BFO). Experiments at the Femtospex ...
User Community Science: Soft decoupling of organic molecules on metal
An international team has discovered an elegant way to decouple organic nanosheets grown on metal surfaces. After iodine intercalation, measurements at the synchrotron source BESSY II of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) showed that a network of organic ...
Progress in the application of spin effects in graphene: from the metal to the...
Graphene on silicon carbide could be an interesting candidate for future spintronik components. Squeezing gold atoms between the semiconducting substrate and graphene does enhance spin-orbit interaction at hot spots and shows ways to controll the spins. First ...
Spintronics: Resetting the future of Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording
A HZB team has examined thin films of Dysprosium-Cobalt sputtered onto a nanostructured membrane at BESSY II. They showed that new patterns of magnetization could be written in a quick and easy manner after warming the sample to only 80 °Celsius, which is a ...
User research at BESSY II: nanostructures in human teeth
Dentin is one of the most durable biological materials in the human body. Researchers from Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to show that the reason for this can be traced to its nanostructures and specifically to the interactions between the ...
Ferrous chemistry in aqueous solution unravelled
An HZB team has combined two different analytical methods at the BESSY II synchrotron source in order to extract more information about the chemistry of transition-metal compounds in solution. These kinds of compounds can act as catalysts to promote desirable ...
Spintronics for future information technologies: spin currents in topological...
An international team headed by HZB researcher Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has shown how spin-polarised currents can be initiated in a controlled manner within samples of topological insulator material. In addition, they were able to manipulate the ...
Thin-film solar cells: how defects appear and disappear in CIGSe-cells
Concentration of copper plays a crucial role An international collaboration of German, Israeli, and British teams has investigated the deposition of thin chalcopyrite layers. They were able to observe specific defects as these formed during deposition and ...
Riddle of missing efficiency in zinc oxide-based dye-sensitised solar cells...
To convert solar energy into electricity or solar fuels, you need specialised systems of materials such as those consisting of organic and inorganic thin films. Processes at the junction of these films play a decisive role in converting the solar energy. Now ...
Solar fuels:a refined protective layer for the “artificial leaf”
A team at the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels has developed a process for providing sensitive semiconductors for solar water splitting ("artificial leaves”) with an organic, transparent protective layer. The extremely thin protective layer made of carbon ...
Measuring chemistry: local fingerprint of hydrogen bonding captured in...
A team from Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin has been able for the first time to measure how new bonds influence molecules: they have reconstructed the "energy landscape” of acetone molecules using measurement data from the Swiss Light Source (SLS) of the Paul ...
Topological insulators: Magnetism is not causing loss of conductivity
If topological insulators are doped with impurities that possess magnetic properties, they lose their conductivity. Yet contrary to what has been assumed thus far, it is not the magnetism that leads to this. This has been shown by recent experiments with ...
Metal Oxide Sandwiches: New option to manipulate properties of interfaces
A Franco-German cooperation has investigated a sandwich system of transition metal oxides at BESSY II. The scientists discovered a new option to control properties of the interface between the two layers, for instance the amount of charge transferred from one ...
An alternative to platinum: iron-nitrogen compounds as catalysts in graphene
Teams at HZB and TU Darmstadt have produced a cost-effective catalyst material for fuel cells using a new preparation process which they analysed in detail. It consists of iron-nitrogen complexes embedded in tiny islands of graphene only a few nanometres in ...
A Fast Way of Electron Orbit Simulation in Complex Magnetic Fields
The design of advanced synchrotron radiation sources requires precise algorithms for the simulation of electron trajectories in complex magnetic fields. However, multi-parameter studies can be very time consuming. Now, a team of the HZB has developed a ...
Optimum band gap for hybrid silicon/perovskite tandem solar cell
Tandem solar cells based on silicon and perovskites have raised high hopes for future high efficiency solar modules. A team led by perovskite solar cell pioneer Henry Snaith at the University of Oxford has now shown, with contributions by Bernd Rech and Lars ...
Alternative method for the representation of microstructures in polycrystalline...
Also Raman microspectroscopy in an optical microscope provides the means to determine local crystal orientations of polycrystalline materials over large sample areas. This method can be used alternatively to electron backscatter diffraction in a scanning ...
Doped organic semiconductors explored
Organic semiconductor materials are already being employed today in solar cells and organic LEDs (OLEDs) amongst others. Until now, however, little was known about how the doping molecules are integrated into the chemical structure of organic semiconductors. ...
Whispering gallery modes in Silicon nanocones intensify luminescence
Silicon, a semiconducting material, reveals new talents when reduced to nanoscopic dimensions. A joint team at the HZB Institute of Nanoarchitectures for Energy Conversion and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) has demonstrated this. ...
Monolithic perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell achieves record efficiency
Teams from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, have been the first to successfully combine a silicon heterojunction solar cell with a perovskite solar cell monolithically into a tandem device. The hybrid ...
Scientists demonstrate how to improve ultrathin CIGSe solar cells by...
CIGSe solar cells are made of a thin chalcopyrite layer consisting of Copper, Indium, Gallium and Selenium and can reach high efficiencies. Since Indium is becoming scarce and expensive, it is interesting to reduce the active CIGSe layer, which however ...
Hydrogen from sunlight: new efficiency record for artificial photosynthesis
An international team has now succeeded in considerably increasing the efficiency for direct solar water splitting. They are using a tandem solar cell whose surfaces have been selectively modified. The new record value is 14 % and thus considerably above the ...
Charge transport in hybrid silicon solar cells
An HZB team headed by Prof. Silke Christiansen has made a surprising discovery about hybrid organic/inorganic solar cells. Contrary to expectations, a diode composed of the conductive organic PEDOT:PSS and an n-type silicon absorber material behaves more like ...
Transparent, electrically conductive network of encapsulated silver nanowires –...
A team headed by Prof. Silke Christiansen has developed a transparent electrode with high electrical conductivity for solar cells and other optoelectronic components – that uses minimal amounts of material. It consists of a random network of silver ...
Depletion and enrichment of chlorine in perovskites observed
X-ray spectroscopy at BESSY II reveals inhomogenous distribution of chlorine in a special class of perovskite materials. The discovery could help to enhance efficiencies of perovskite thin film solar cells by controlled processing to optimize the chlorine ...
Strong teeth: Nanostructures under stress make teeth crack resistant
Human teeth have to serve for a lifetime, despite being subjected to huge forces. But the high failure resistance of dentin in teeth is not fully understood. An interdisciplinary team led by scientists of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin has now ...
Realistic computer model of battery electrodes
A research team has developed a new approach for more realistic computer models of battery electrodes. They combined images from synchrotron tomography that capture three-dimensional structure at micron resolution with those from an electron microscope that ...
New options for spintronic devices: Switching between 1 and 0 with low voltage
Scientists from Paris and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin have been able to switch ferromagnetic domains on and off with low voltage in a structure made of two different ferroic materials. The switching works slightly above room temperature. Their results, which are ...
Artificial photosynthesis: New, stable photocathode with great potential
A team at the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels has developed a new composite photocathode for generating hydrogen with high quantum efficiency using sunlight. This enables solar energy to be stored chemically.The photocathode consists of a thin film of ...
Inkjet printing process for Kesterite solar cells
A research team at HZB has developed an inkjet printing technology to produce kesterite thin film absorbers (CZTSSe). Based on the inkjet-printed absorbers, solar cells with total area conversion efficiency of up to 6.4 % have been achieved. Although this is ...
Neutrons and X-rays show how to prepare durable tooth cement
There are many ways to mix cements for tooth fillings, but it can be difficult to tell which way works best. Now, a team of scientists from Copenhagen, Denmark, has come up with an answer: They used neutron imaging and x-ray-microtomography at HZB to analyze ...
Learning by eye: silicon micro-funnels increase the efficiency of solar cells
A biological structure in mammalian eyes has inspired a team headed by Silke Christiansen to design an inorganic counterpart for use in solar cells. With the help of conventional semiconductor processes, they etched micron-sized vertical funnels ...
Stretch and relax! – Losing one electron switches magnetism on in dichromium
An international team of scientists from Berlin, Freiburg and Fukuoka has provided the first direct experimental insight into the secret quantum life of dichromium. Whereas in its normal state the 12 valence electrons form a strong multiple bond between the ...
Details of a crucial reaction: Physicists uncover oxidation process of carbon...
An international team has observed the elusive intermediates that form when carbon monoxide is oxidized on a hot ruthenium metal surface. They used ultrafast X-ray and optical laser pulses at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California. ...
Forschungsmagazin „Sichtbar“: Große Forschung, interessante Leute, neue...
Auf dem Titelbild prangt ein echter Star: Der neue Hochfeldmagnet, umgeben und beklettert von den Physikerinnen und Experten, die in den letzten sieben Jahren am Aufbau dieses weltweit einzigartigen Großgeräts mitgearbeitet haben. Auch im Heft finden Sie ...
Just published: New book on CZTS-based thin film solar cells published
In time at the start of the new year the book "Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide-based Thin Film Solar Cells" was published (Wiley, 2015, ed. by K. Ito), in which also scientists from the HZB are involved. Thomas Unold, Justus Just and Hans-Werner Schock provided the ...
Batman lights the way to compact data storage
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) have succeeded in switching tiny, magnetic structures using laser light and tracking the change over time. In the process, a nanometre-sized area bizarrely reminiscent of the Batman logo appeared. The research ...
German Society for Materials Science awards publication with HZB scientist as co-author
At its annual conference on September 22, 2014, the German Society for Materials Science (DGM), presented the Werner Köster Award for best publication. The work, whose authors include HZB scientist Dr. Michael Tovar and which has been published in the ...
Sichtbar: Das Forschungsmagazin aus dem HZB
Die neue Sichtbar ist erschienen. Mit Interviews, Hintergrundberichten und Meldungen zeigt das Magazin, an welchen Fragen HZB-Forscherinnen und -Forscher arbeiten: Von neuen Solarzellen bis hin zu Mikrogelen, aus denen sich komplexe funktionale Materialien ...
Self-assembly of gold nanoparticles into small clusters
Researchers at HZB in co-operation with Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU, Berlin) have made an astonishing observation: they were investigating the formation of gold nanoparticles in a solvent and observed that the nanoparticles had not distributed ...
Neutron Tomography technique reveals phase fractions of crystalline materials...
Researchers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and The University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) developed a novel method, based on energy-selective neutron imaging for visualization of crystalline phase distributions within the bulk of metallic samples.
#HZBzlog gewinnt Deutschen Preis für Onlinekommunikation als beste Microsite
Seit etwa vier Monaten ist das HZB-Zukunftslogbuch #HZBzlog mit seiner ungewöhnlichen Episodenstruktur online, und es findet immer mehr Fans. Die als Langzeitdokumentation angelegte Seite öffnet ein Fenster in die Forschung und gibt den Blick frei auf die ...
New holographic process uses image-stabilised X-ray camera
A team headed by Stefan Eisebitt has developed a new X-ray holography method that will enable snap-shots of dynamic processes at highest spatial resolution. The efficiency of the new method is based on a X-ray focussing optics being firmly fixed to the object ...
Better insight into molecular interactions
How exactly atoms and molecules in biochemical solutions or at solid-liquid interfaces do interact, is a question of great importance. Answers will provide insights at processes in catalysts, smart functional materials and even physiological processes in the ...
Ideal nanocrystal produced from bulk plastics
Polyethylene is an inexpensive commodity plastic found in many household objects. Now, a consortium of researchers from Constance, Bayreuth, and Berlin has successfully used this plastic to synthesize the ideal polymer nanocrystal. The prerequisite was a new ...
Picosecond accurate slow-motion confirms oxide materials exhibit considerably...
As part of an international team of researchers, scientists at the Helmholtz Center Berlin (HZB) have observed the switching mechanism from a non-conducting to a conducting state in iron oxide (specifically, magnetite) with previously unrealized precision. ...
Crystal-clear method for distinguishing between glass and fluids
Many solids are produced from melting. Depending on how quickly they cool off, invariably, internal tensile stresses begin to build up. One example are Prince Rupert's Drops, or Dutch tears: you can hit their thick end with a hammer without breaking them ...
Zwei Humboldt-Stipendiaten forschen am HZB: In der neuen Lichtblick stellen wir...
Die Qualität des Alexander-von-Humboldt-Stipendiums ist weltweit anerkannt. Die Nachwuchswissenschaftler Stefano Angioletti-Uberti und Jan Heyda haben sich für dieses Stipendium entschieden, obwohl sie gleich mehrere Angebote für einen Forschungsaufenthalt im ...
Magnetic fingerprints of interface defects in silicon solar cells detected
Using a highly sensitive method of measurement, HZB physicists have managed to localize defects in amorphous/crystalline silicon heterojunction solar cells. Now, for the first time ever, using computer simulations at Paderborn University, the scientists were ...
Schwache Dotierung verbessert polymerbasierte Feldeffekttransistoren
In der organischen Elektronik haben sich Mischsysteme, in denen halbleitende Makromoleküle in einer isolierenden Polymermatrix eingebettet sind, als besonders geeignet für die Herstellung von Transistoren erwiesen. Bislang waren die Gründe dafür nicht genau ...
Water fluctuations mediate lock-and-key fit
Without water, life as we know, it would not exist. Nearly every biological binding process that takes place within a cell requires the presence of an aqueous environment. Here, tiny molecules called ligands fit like "keys" into their matching "locks" - ...
Towards imaging ultrafast evolution in a single shot
Research carried out by BESSY scientists in collaboration with colleagues from SLAC and SOLEIL has been featured as Editors’ Choice in the Nov. 23 issue of the Science Magazine. In the Optics Letters article by W. F. Schlotter et al., multiplexed x-ray ...