Kickoff for Joint Lab with IFW Dresden
Kickoff with a meeting on 19 June 2017: Prof. Borisenko, Dr. Rienks, Prof. Büchner (all IFW), the leader of the Young Investigator Group Dr. Fedorov; Dr. Varykhalov and apl. Prof. Rader (both HZB) (from left to right). © HZB
The Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (IFW) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have created a Joint Lab for “functional quantum materials” and under its umbrella a Young Investigator Group.
The Joint Lab "Functional Quantum Materials" will take advantage of the long-standing expertise of both institutes in energy and materials research and the growth of epitaxial films.
The new lab is dedicated to explore new materials with promising quantum properties for future applications, for instance in information technologies. The scientists will further develop the common instrumentation at BESSY II with its unique properties - part of them without rival in the world.
With the joint lab, IFW Dresden and HZB intensify their collaboration in research and the promotion of young scientists. Dr. Alexander Fedorov, aged 29, is an internationally renowned young scientist who will move from Cologne to Berlin to head the Young Investigator Group.
- BESSY II: How intrinsic oxygen shortens the lifespan of solid-state batteriesAlthough solid-state batteries (SSBs) demonstrate high performance and are intrinsically safe, their capacity currently declines rapidly. A team from the TU Wien, Humboldt-University Berlin and HZB has now analysed a TiS₂|Li₃YCl₆ solid-state half-cell in operando at BESSY II using a special sample environment that allows for non-destructive investigation under real operating conditions. Data obtained by combination of soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS and HAXPES) revealed a new degradation mechanism that had not previously been identified in solid-state batteries. They have gained some surprising insights, particularly regarding the harmful role played by intrinsic oxygen. This study provides valuable information for improving design and handling of such batteries.
- Spintronics at BESSY II: Real-time analysis of magnetic bilayer systemsSpintronic devices enable data processing with significantly lower energy consumption. They are based on the interaction between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers. Now, a team from Freie Universität Berlin, HZB and Uppsala University has succeeded in tracking, for each layer separately, how the magnetic order changes after a short laser pulse has excited the system. They were also able to identify the main cause of the loss of antiferromagnetic order in the oxide layer: the excitation is transported from the hot electrons in the ferromagnetic metal to the spins in the antiferromagnet.
- Electrocatalysts: New model for charge separation at the solid-liquid interfaceHydrogen is at the heart of the transition to carbon neutrality, as both an energy carrier and a reagent for green chemistry. However, large-scale production of hydrogen via electrolysis, as well as the production of many other chemical products, requires significantly cheaper and more efficient catalysts. A precise understanding of the electrochemical processes that take place at the interface between the solid catalyst and the liquid medium is highly useful for developing better electrocatalysts. In the journal Nature Communications, an European team has now presented a powerful model that determines charge separation at the interface, the formation of the electric double layer and local electric potential variations, and the resulting influence on the catalytic activity.