A research team from the Department of Physical Chemistry was able to observe for the first time the ultrafast hydration dynamics of electrons under real electrochemical conditions using a newly developed optoelectronic sampling scheme. The information gained from their study is essential for understanding the charge transfer at the metal/solution interface, which is at the heart of most electrochemical reactions.

Transitioning to a sustainable energy economy requires electrocatalytic methods to convert electrical energy to chemical energy and feedstocks. A team of researchers from TU Berlin, ETH Zurich, the National Research Council – Institute of Materials of Trieste, and led by the FHI has now uncovered the reaction mechanism of a major bottleneck in these processes, the oxygen evolution reaction. Results are published in Nature.

It would be a triple win – for the climate, raw material resources, and the chemical industry. With their work, scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin hope to create the basis for extracting useful chemical products such as plastics from the methane that is usually flared off during oil production. They are looking into how to design a catalyst that converts methane into ethene more efficiently than is currently possible. They have now found a ground-breaking clue.

OCTOBER 24. Prof. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya, Director of the Interface Science Department, was interviewed by German daily DIE WELT. She talks about electrocatalysis, the transition to sustainable energies and what it means to be a woman in science nowadays. (In German)