Insight into catalysis through novel study of X-ray absorption spectroscopy

02-Aug-2018 - 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 helpful for the development of future ...

New world record for direct solar water-splitting efficiency

06-Jul-2018 - 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 by combining a tandem solar cell of ...

Better kesterite solar cells with germanium

03-Apr-2018 - 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 replaced by germanium. The scientists ...

Nanostructuring increases efficiency of metal-free photocatalysts by factor eleven

Solar–to-hydrogen conversion

02-Mar-2018 - 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 collaboration with a group at the ...

Luminescent nano-architectures of gallium arsenide

23-Feb-2018 - A team at the HZB has succeeded in growing nanocrystals of gallium arsenide on tiny columns of silicon and germanium. This enables extremely efficient optoelectronic components for important frequency ranges to be realised on silicon chips. Gallium arsenide semiconductors have better ...

Hidden talents: Converting heat into electricity with pencil and paper

21-Feb-2018 - 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 to convert a temperature difference ...

Antiferromagnetic dysprosium reveals magnetic switching with less energy

07-Nov-2017 - 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 short laser pulse. They discovered ...

Insight into a hidden order

23-Oct-2017 - 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 nature is completely unknown.Now physicists have ...

Solar hydrogen production by artificial leafs

Special treatment improves cheap metal oxide photoelectrodes

29-Aug-2017 - Metal oxides are promising candidates for cheap and stable photoelectrodes for solar water splitting, producing hydrogen with sunlight. Unfortunately, metal oxides are not highly efficient in this job. A known remedy is a treatment with heat and hydrogen. An international collaboration has now ...

Optical control of magnetic memory

New insights into fundamental mechanisms

29-Aug-2017 - 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 scientists discovered a previously ...