Traditional HZB Neutron School will be continued at ANSTO in Australia
The neutron school at ANSTO in cooperation with HZB experts could transfer knowledge and skills in neutron research. © ANSTO
This summer, researchers at the Australian neutron source ACNS organised a joint neutron school at Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation ANSTO. The HZB-ANSTO neutron school will take place every two years.
The first joint HZB-ANSTO neutron school took place from 23 to 28 June 2019 at ANSTO. HZB experts Prof. Dr. Bella Lake and Prof. Dr. Susan Schorr held several lectures. The interest in the neutron school was high, 24 participants were selected from 60 applications. In addition to lectures, hands on trainings on three instruments of the neutron source ACNS at ANSTO have been offered.
“Certainly we were inspired by the all-encompassing nature of the Berlin school - I believe that our plan going forward would be to run a 'general' neutron school every two years and a more specific school in between," said Dr. Helen Maynard-Casely, one of the organisers at ANSTO.
Shortly before the start of the neutron school, the SPATZ neutron reflectometer at ACNS was inaugurated. SPATZ, formerly known as BioRef at the BER II at HZB, is ideally suited for studies of soft matter in biomedicine, energy and materials. It was donated by HZB to ANSTO since the BER II neutron source will be shut down end of 2019.
In a short video, ANSTO presents SPATZ and its virtues.
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- Hydrogen: Breakthrough in alkaline membrane electrolysersA team from the Technical University of Berlin, HZB, IMTEK (University of Freiburg) and Siemens Energy has developed a highly efficient alkaline membrane electrolyser that approaches the performance of established PEM electrolysers. What makes this achievement remarkable is the use of inexpensive nickel compounds for the anode catalyst, replacing costly and rare iridium. At BESSY II, the team was able to elucidate the catalytic processes in detail using operando measurements, and a theory team (USA, Singapore) provided a consistent molecular description. In Freiburg, prototype cells were built using a new coating process and tested in operation. The results have been published in the prestigious journal Nature Catalysis.
- Perovskite solar cells: TEAM PV develops reproducibility and comparabilityTen teams at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin are building a long-term international alliance to converge practices and develop reproducibility and comparability in perovskite materials. The TEAM PV project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany.