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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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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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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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. more

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. more

FHI Director Prof. Dr Beatriz Roldán Cuenya received the Röntgen Medal 2022 in recognition of her research on catalysis, especially electrocatalysis, and the associated possibilities for the use of new sustainable energy sources of the future. The prize was awarded on 10 September by Remscheid's Lord Mayor Burkhard Mast-Weisz in the Klosterkirche in Remscheid-Lennep.
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The international conference "Challenges on renewable energy storage" at Liblice Castle near Prague started today with strong FHI participation. The conference from 29 to 31 August is being held jointly with the Czech J. Heyrovský Institute for Physical Chemistry and with the support of the CatLab project. more