Young investigator group at HZB: Scaling perovskite cells
Dr. Eva Unger leads the Young Investigator Group Hy-Per-FORME. © privat
The new Young Investigator Group Hy-Per-FORME led by Dr. Eva Unger is working on scaling all processing steps to enable manufacturing of perovskite solar cells on larger areas, thus brigding he gap between lab and industry.
Dr. Eva Unger is starting a Young Investigator Group (YIG) at HZB, co-financed by the Federal Ministry for Education and Science (BMBF). The activities of the Unger group will be an important contribution within the newly-founded HySPRINT Innovation lab aiming at the realization of large-area, stable and efficient hybrid tandem device technology based on a combination of established silicon photovoltaic technology and emerging perovskite semiconductor devices.
To achieve this goal, developing and optimizing scalable deposition methods for the recently evolved hybrid perovskite semiconductors is one of the key aspects. The YIG of Unger therefore focusses on the formation and scaling the deposition of hybrid perovskite semiconductors using slot-die coating and ink-jet printing as a solution-based processing technology.
Originally from Germany, Eva Unger did her PhD at Uppsala University, Sweden and carried out postdoctoral work at Stanford University and Lund University through a stipend from the swedish Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation. Prior to starting the YIG, she has been working as a visiting researcher at Helmholtz Center Berlin funded by an International Career Grant co-funded by the Swedish Research Council and Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions. She will be co-affiliated with Lund University, Sweden and aims to strengthen cooperations with Lund University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Universities in Berlin and Brandenburg.
- Key technology for a future without fossil fuelsIn June and July 2025, catalyst researcher Nico Fischer spent some time at HZB. It was his sabbatical, he was relieved of his duties as Director of the Catalysis Institute in Cape Town for several months and was able to focus on research only. His institute is collaborating with HZB on two projects that aim to develop environmentally friendly alternatives using innovative catalyst technologies. The questions were asked by Antonia Rötger, HZB.
- 5000th patient treated with protons for eye tumoursFor more than 20 years, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have been jointly offering proton radiation therapy for eye tumours. The HZB operates a proton accelerator in Berlin-Wannsee for this purpose, while Charité provides medical care for the patients. The 5000th patient was treated at the beginning of August.
- Lithium-sulphur batteries with lean electrolyte: problem areas clarifiedUsing a non-destructive method, a team at HZB investigated practical lithium-sulphur pouch cells with lean electrolyte for the first time. With operando neutron tomography, they could visualise in real-time how the liquid electrolyte distributes and wets the electrodes across multilayers during charging and discharging. These findings offer valuable insights into the cell failure mechanisms and are helpful to design compact Li-S batteries with a high energy density in formats relevant to industrial applications.