Fritz Haber Institute

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Science News

When machines just get it right:
Atomic-scale insights into defect-free growth of graphene

December 07, 2022

High-level synchrotron experiments confirm the sub-atomic precision of a machine-learning based prediction for the adsorption height of graphene at liquid metal catalysts. With such reliability, the AI-approach constitutes a powerful new tool to study the growth process of this much aspired material even under most extreme conditions.

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Imaging coherent lattice vibrations on the nanoscale

October 26, 2022

Coherent phonons - collective, in-phase vibrational excitations in a crystal lattice – can provide detailed insight into microscopic interactions in solids under nonequilibrium conditions, e.g. after ultrafast photoexcitation. A new approach based on femtosecond laser-excited scanning tunneling microscopy enables now to measure coherent phonon spectroscopy with few nanometer spatial resolution. This allows to better understand the influence of single defects and local lattice distortions on microscopic processes, e.g., in low-dimensional quantum materials and nanostructures.

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New Understanding of Water Electrolysis

August 08, 2022

Water electrolysis is a key technology to establish CO₂-neutral hydrogen production. One of the key technological hurdles is the design of stable, active and affordable catalysts for the anodic oxygen evolution reaction (OER), which is one bottleneck of the hydrogen production process. Researchers from the Interface Science Department have now provided quantitative near-surface structural insights into oxygen-evolving CoO_x(OH)_y nanoparticles which are published in Nature Energy today.

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Institute News

Two Bessel Awardees as Guests at the Institute

November 28, 2022

With Prof. Franklin Goldsmith (Brown University) and Prof. Michail Stamatakis (University College London) the Theory Department is happy to host two Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Awardees. Together with the local colleagues, the distinguished experts will conduct research on kinetic modeling of climate-relevant catalytic reactions.

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European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant of 1.75 million Euros to Dr. Sebastian Öner

November 25, 2022

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a Starting Grant of 1.75 million Euros to Dr. Sebastian Öner, group leader at the Interface Science Department of the Fritz Haber Institute. Dr. Öner’s research aims at sensing and controlling ions at liquid-solid and vapor-solid interfaces that are broadly relevant across many scientific domains, including electro-, thermal- and biochemistry. With the ERC grant ORION, Dr. Öner’s group will develop a new electrochemical scanning probe microscopy that enables spatial control over the free energy of interfacial ions, such as protons (H⁺) and hydroxide ions (OH^-) during interfacial water dissociation (H₂O-> H⁺+ OH^-).

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German Federal Minister of Education and Research in Berlin-Adlershof

November 14, 2022

The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, visited the Catalysis Laboratory (CatLab) in Berlin-Adlershof. CatLab is a research platform for catalysis research supported by the Fritz Haber Institute of the MPG, the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion and the Helmholtz Center Berlin. The aim of the joint project is to develop important innovations that will contribute to the realization of a green hydrogen economy. During her visit to the CatLab, the minister gained insight into the latest technological developments for the production and characterization of thin-film catalysts as well as special methods for operando analytics and digital catalysis.

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Royal interest in clean energy storage - King Felipe the VI of Spain visited the Fritz Haber Institute

October 17, 2022

On Monday, 17 October 2022, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain began their three-day visit to Germany with a reception hosted by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace. The Spanish royal couple last visited Germany together in 2014. In the evening, the Federal President will host a state banquet in honour of the royal couple. The afternoon, however, was all about science: King Felipe, who is interested in the subject of energy, paid a visit to Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, together with his wife Queen Letizia, to inform himself about the institute’s energy research.

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Current Information

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.

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Open Positions

Further job positions can be found also here.

Upcoming Seminars

In-situ transmission electron microscopy in heterogeneous catalysis

Dec 16, 2022 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM (Local Time Germany)

IRIS Adlershof, Zum Großen Windkanal 2, 12489 Berlin, Room: Seminarraum 3.176 Haus 3 / 1. Etage

Is science helpful in crisis?

A public discussion event at the Science and Technology Park Berlin Adlershof on 6 October, 4 pm, will take a self-critical look at the contribution of the sciences to the challenges of our time. Among those discussing on the panel with moderator Thomas Prinzler are: Jule Specht, Professor of Personality Psychology, Humboldt University, Roland Sillmann, Managing Director of WISTA Management GmbH and Jutta Allmendinger, President of the Social Science Research Center Berlin.

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