"BESSY is of immense importance for Berlin"
During her summer tour, the Senator also visited BESSY II light source. From left to right: A,.Vollmer (spokeswoman for the BESSY II), I. Czyborra (Senator for Science), B. Rech (Scientific Director) and H. Marx (State Secretary for Science). © HZB / Bettina Ausserhofer
At the end of August, the Senator for Research, Health, and Long-Term Care, Dr Ina Czyborra, together with the State Secretary for Science, Dr Henry Marx, ended her summer tour with a visit to HZB in Adlershof. She publicly declared her political support for the new construction of BESSY III.
Ina Czyborra took an afternoon for intensive discussions with scientists and BESSY II light source. The focus was on the versatility of this large and powerful research infrastructure: from the decoding of protein structures to groundbreaking innovations in the field of renewable energies.
Political support for BESSY III
A central topic was the successor source BESSY III (More information). HZB is planning a 4th generation light source with integrated laboratories, which is to be embedded in the Berlin-Adlershof research campus. The Senator expressly supports this project:
"Once again, I have seen cutting-edge research that is attracting worldwide attention. Adlershof has everything that makes Berlin a unique location - science, research and business in proximity, cooperating and benefiting from each other. [...] This makes it even more important to set the course in the Senate's budget deliberations, which begin in September, to ensure that Berlin remains a centre of cutting-edge research with international appeal in the future. Incidentally, we also need BESSY III for this. The continuation of BESSY is of immense importance for Berlin as a research location. That is why I will do everything I can to ensure that this project is continued."
"We are extremely pleased about such a clear commitment to our plans to build BESSY III in Berlin-Adlershof," says Prof. Bernd Rech, Scientific Director of HZB. "The exchange with the Senator for Science underlines how important the dialogue between science and politics is. Especially when it comes to further advancing cutting-edge research in Berlin!"
- Green hydrogen: MXenes shows talent as catalyst for oxygen evolutionThe MXene class of materials has many talents. An international team led by HZB chemist Michelle Browne has now demonstrated that MXenes, properly functionalised, are excellent catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction in electrolytic water splitting. They are more stable and efficient than the best metal oxide catalysts currently available. The team is now extensively characterising these MXene catalysts for water splitting at the Berlin X-ray source BESSY II and Soleil Synchrotron in France.
- A new way to control the magnetic properties of rare earth elementsThe special properties of rare earth magnetic materials are due to the electrons in the 4f shell. Until now, the magnetic properties of 4f electrons were considered almost impossible to control. Now, a team from HZB, Freie Universität Berlin and other institutions has shown for the first time that laser pulses can influence 4f electrons- and thus change their magnetic properties. The discovery, which was made through experiments at EuXFEL and FLASH, opens up a new way to data storage with rare earth elements.
- BESSY II shows how solid-state batteries degradeSolid-state batteries have several advantages: they can store more energy and are safer than batteries with liquid electrolytes. However, they do not last as long and their capacity decreases with each charge cycle. But it doesn't have to stay that way: Researchers are already on the trail of the causes. In the journal ACS Energy Letters, a team from HZB and Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, presents a new method for precisely monitoring electrochemical reactions during the operation of a solid-state battery using photoelectron spectroscopy at BESSY II. The results help to improve battery materials and design.