Science News

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

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. more

The way how molecules involved in chemical reactions bind to the surface of a catalyst is key to understand and improve the catalyst’s performance. Researchers from the Fritz Haber Institute and the Danish Aarhus University have now developed a machine learning algorithm that can predict this important property for complex molecules that can bind to the surface in multiple motives.
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Researchers at the NOMAD Laboratory at the Fritz Haber Institute have been engaged in describing how surfaces change in contact with reactive gas phases under different temperature and pressure conditions. For this purpose, they have developed the so-called replica exchange grand canonical method (REGC). The results were published in the journal Physical Review Letters on 17 June. more

Sugars, amino acids, drugs - chiral molecules are everywhere. Researchers in the AQUACHIRAL project at the Fritz-Haber-Institut have used X-rays to study hair-thin liquid jets of these molecules. Using a new method, they can now for the first time distinguish their components in liquid form – and more effectively than ever before. more

Using a new experimental method, a team led by physicist Sandra Eibenberger-Arias of the Fritz-Haber-Institut has transferred the mirror-image forms of chiral molecules into different rotational states more efficiently than ever before. This opens doors to a deeper understanding and manipulability of this common type of molecule for future applications. more