Departments

Inorganic
Chemistry
Beatriz Roldan Cuenya
Interface
Science
Beatriz Roldan Cuenya
Molecular
Physics
Gerard Meijer
Physical
Chemistry
Martin Wolf
Theory
 
Karsten Reuter

Science News

Electrocatalysis under the atomic force microscope
A further development in atomic force microscopy now makes it possible to simultaneously image the height profile of nanometre-fine structures as well as the electric current and the frictional force at solid-liquid interfaces. A team from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the Fritz Haber Institute (FHI) of the Max Planck Society has succeeded in analysing electrocatalytically active materials and gaining insights that will help optimise catalysts. The method is also potentially suitable for studying processes on battery electrodes, in photocatalysis or on active biomaterials.

The Positive Outlooks of Studying Negatively-Charged Chiral Molecules
The ability to distinguish two chiral enantiomers is an essential analytical capability for chemical industries including pharmaceutical companies, flavor/odor engineering and forensic science. A new wave of chiral optical methods have shown significant improvements in chiral sensitivity, compared to their predecessors, leading to potential analytical advantages for chiral discrimination. Researchers at the Fritz Haber Institute have integrated one of these modern methods with the study of gas-phase anions, which enable mass-selection and the use of a simple table-top laser for observation of the chiral effect. Thus, taking another step closer to realizing a robust analytical tool capable of chiral discrimination of dilute and complex, chiral mixtures.

Discovery to lower CO2 Emissions in the Industrial Sector by using Green Synthesis 
Achieving a net zero greenhouse gas balance is a major challenge facing the chemical industry. The goal can be met by reducing the energy demand of chemical processes and the sustainable use of raw materials. Researchers of the Fritz-Haber-Institute have shown that the valuable intermediates propylene and propylene oxide can be formed directly by oxidation of propane in the gas phase over nonspecific interfaces, such as sea sand, without producing significant amounts of CO2.
 

Institute News

Thank you for the last 29 years 
Robert Schlögl enters his well-deserved retirement

A worthy inauguration

A worthy inauguration

March 16, 2023
On 14 March 2023, Robert Schlögl, Director of the Department of Inorganic Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute, was officially inaugurated as the new President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
 

Dr. Mariana Monteiro receives a Minerva Fast-Track Fellowship
Dr. Mariana Monteiro was awarded a Minerva Fast Track position by the Max Planck Society to establish her first research group “Electrode-electrolyte interfaces” at the Interface Science Department of the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. This electrochemist was selected for her excellent research in electrocatalysis, and her new group will focus on fundamentally understanding the electrochemical interface of earth-abundant electrocatalysts.
 

Two honorary doctorates for exceptional research
In recollection of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Gerhard Ertl, which he received in 2007, the Chemistry community in Berlin celebrates this event with a special prize, the “Gerhard Ertl lecture”. Since 2008 numerous excellent and well-known awardees from all over the world delivered a lecture on their work in Physical Chemistry.

On the 12th of December 2022 Prof. Dr. Alec Wodtke gave his award lecture entitled “Progress toward building the world’s greatest microscope: Making ultrafast atomic scale movies of chemical reactions at surfaces” at the 15th instalment of the Ertl Lecture

Current Information

Open Positions

Further job positions can be found also here.

Lighthouse Project CatLab on an international stage
The CatLab project now presented itself very successfully at the international conference on "Challenges on Renewable Energy Storage" in Liblice near Prague. In addition to the FHI, the Helmholtz Centre Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion are also involved in the joint catalysis research for better use of green hydrogen.

Upcoming Seminars

Fully Quantum (Bio)Molecular Simulations: Dream or Reality?

TH Department Seminar
Apr 6, 2023 02:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
https://zoom.us/j/98527481389?pwd=Y0JlNXA5TklLM0RMVjhYTmhYK2l5dz09, Room: Meeting ID: 985 2748 1389 | Passcode: 693538

Tailoring Opto-electronic Properties of 2D Semiconductors in van der Waals Heterostructures

PC Department Seminar
Apr 24, 2023 11:00 AM (Local Time Germany)
Building G, Room: Seminar Room 2.06

TH-Seminar: Professor Andrew Peterson

TH Department Seminar
May 25, 2023 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
Building M, Richard-Willstätter-Haus, Faradayweg 10, 14195 Berlin, Room: Seminar Room

Single photon hot electron ionization of fullerenes

MP Department Seminar
May 26, 2023 09:30 AM c.t. - 10:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
Haber Villa, Room: Seminar Room
THz Young Scientists Meeting 2023
The application process for the 13th THz Young Scientists Meeting is open. The event will take place from 14th - 15th September in Berlin.

Go to Editor View