HZB Newsroom

Dr. Feng Liang has joined the HZB Institute Solar Fuels in 2021. Now, he has secured an associate professorship at the Green Hydrogen Innovation Center in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. He will start to build up his research team in June 2025.

Within the CARE-O-SENE project, HZB is cooperating with the South African company Sasol on innovative catalysts for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Now, the collaboration is intensifying: Dr. Denzil Moodley, a leading scientist in the field of Fischer-Tropsch at Sasol Research and Technology, is being appointed as Industrial Research Fellow at HZB. Moodley will contribute his expertise at HZB with the aim of accelerating the innovation cycle for sustainable fuel technologies.

Hydrogen can be produced via the electrolytic splitting of water. One option here is the use of photoelectrodes that convert sunlight into voltage for electrolysis in so called photoelectrochemical cells (PEC cells). A research team at HZB has now shown that the efficiency of PEC cells can be significantly increased under pressure.

At first glance, the plan sounds compelling: invent and develop future electrolysers capable of producing hydrogen directly from unpurified seawater. But a closer look reveals that such direct seawater electrolysers would require years of high-end research. And what is more: DSE electrolyzers are not even necessary - a simple desalination process is sufficient to prepare seawater for conventional electrolyzers. In a commentary in Joule, international experts compare the costs and benefits of the different approaches and come to a clear recommendation.

When biomass is converted into biodiesel, huge amounts of glycerol are produced as a by-product. So far, however, this by-product has been little utilised, even though it could be processed into more valuable chemicals through oxidation in photoelectrochemical reactors. The reason for this: low efficiency and selectivity. A team led by Dr Marco Favaro from the Institute for Solar Fuels at HZB has now investigated the influence of electrolytes on the efficiency of the glycerol oxidation reaction. The results can help to develop more efficient and environmentally friendly production processes.

Indium phosphide is a versatile semiconductor. The material can be used for solar cells, for hydrogen production and even for quantum computers – and with record-breaking efficiency. However, little research has been conducted into what happens on its surface. Researchers have now closed this gap and used ultra-fast lasers to scrutinise the dynamics of the electrons in the material.