Workshop on “Microstructure Characterization and Modeling for Solar Cells”
© HZB
The winter workshop was held in a beautiful location at Spitzingsee (Bayern) from 22. to 26. february 2015 and organised by Helmholtz Virtual Institute "Microstructure Control for Thin-Film Solar Cells". The next winter workshop will be planned for 2017.
About the Helmholtz Virtual Institute „Microstructure control for thin film solar cells“
In this Virtual Institute (VI), the formation of structural defects and related strain during the growth of thin film solar cells will be investigated by combining various experimental as well as simulation approaches. The aim of this Virtual Institute is to understand and control the formation of structural defects and strain during the growth of polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) thin films by optimized growth parameters. Unique experimental in-situ techniques for monitoring the growth process of these thin films, such as X-ray diffraction and fluorescence analysis at a synchrotron beamline, are combined with phase field modeling as well as density-functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations.
- Funding: Helmholtz Association
- Leading Center: Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
- Partners involved: TU Berlin, FU Berlin, TU Darmstad, University of Oxford (UK), ETH Zürich (Schweiz), SuperStem (UK)
- Speakers: Prof. Dr. Susan Schorr, HZB
- Duration: Nov. 2012 till Oct. 2017
- Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena) InauguratedOn June 17, 2024, the Helmholtz Institute for Polymers in Energy Applications (HIPOLE Jena) was officially inaugurated in Jena in the presence of Wolfgang Tiefensee, Minister for Economy, Science, and Digital Society of the Free State of Thuringia. The institute was founded by the Helmholtz Center Berlin for Materials and Energy (HZB) in cooperation with the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. It is dedicated to developing sustainable polymer materials for energy technologies, which are expected to play a key role in the energy transition and support Germany’s goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045.
- “Research and development in times of war: not only possible, but crucial!”The Ukraine Recovery Conference took place in Berlin on 11 and 12 June. On a side-event representatives from Helmholtz, Fraunhofer and Leibniz discussed how research can contribute to the sustainable reconstruction of Ukraine.
In this interview, Bernd Rech, scientific director at HZB, talks about the importance of research during the war and projects such as Green Deal Ukraina. - MXenes for energy storage: Chemical imaging more than just surface deepA new method in spectromicroscopy significantly improves the study of chemical reactions at the nanoscale, both on surfaces and inside layered materials. Scanning X-ray microscopy (SXM) at MAXYMUS beamline of BESSY II enables the investigation of chemical species adsorbed on the top layer (surface) or intercalated within the MXene electrode (bulk) with high chemical sensitivity. The method was developed by a HZB team led by Dr. Tristan Petit. The scientists demonstrated among others first SXM on MXene flakes, a material used as electrode in lithium-ion batteries.