News
New cluster of excellence with MBI participation approved
The aim of the “Center for Chiral Electronics” is to harness chiral properties in solids and molecules:
The Center for Chiral Electronics is one of the 25 new clusters of excellence approved in May 2025 as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. The successful initiative was…
TH Wildau and Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin signed comprehensive cooperation
The aim is to strengthen research and teaching in key technologies:
On 21 May 2025, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau (TH Wildau) and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB), signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement. The aim is to further…
MXenes boost the effectiveness of catalysts for the production of green hydrogen
HZB team shows a new way to highly efficient and inexpensive catalysts:
MXenes are adept at hosting catalytically active particles. This property can be exploited to create more potent catalyst materials that significantly accelerate and enhance the oxygen evolution reaction, which is one…
Joint Berlin Data & AI Center planned
Declaration of intent signed by Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Max Delbrück Center, Berlin University Alliance, and Zuse Institute Berlin:
Data-driven research is crucial for tackling societal challenges – whether in health, materials, or climate research. In a collaboration that is so far unique, Berlin University Alliance (BUA), the Max Delbrück…
Cluster of Excellence MATH+ to receive funding for another seven years
Berlin mathematics application successful in the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments:
A major success for Berlin’s mathematics community: The MATH+ Cluster of Excellence will continue to receive funding for another seven years as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state…
BAM develops powerful alternative to lithium-ion batteries
Innovative approach to make solid-state batteries more sustainable, cheaper, and more efficient:
Researchers at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) have developed an innovative approach to make solid-state batteries more powerful and suitable for everyday use. Their goal: batteries that…
New findings on the scattering of black holes
Calculations by Prof Jan Plefka's research team provide an important basis for understanding gravitational waves:
Black holes are unique objects in our universe. They curve space and time in a way that prevents light from escaping their immediate surroundings. When two black holes approach each other, they spiral around each…
HU junior researcher Alberto Pérez-Bitrián receives Emmy Noether grant
New Research Group OrgXeMet investigates the properties and reactivity of xenon compounds:
The new Emmy Noether research group OrgXeMet, led by Dr. Alberto Pérez-Bitrián has been launched at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU). The group will be funded with approximately 1.75 million euros over six…
BAM develops certified PFAS reference material made from used outdoor clothing
Important step on the road to a circular economy:
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) has developed a reference material for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in outdoor textiles. It serves to ensure the reliability of analytical…
Customised electrification: How the PeopleSuN project is advancing the energy supply in Nigeria
Findings from RLI research project published:
Four years of research, 4,700 households and businesses surveyed, two tools and a knowledge pool: the PeopleSuN project shows what it takes for off-grid solutions to advance sustainable power supply in Nigeria. The…
BAM, HZB, and HU Berlin plan joint Berlin Battery Lab
The joint research infrastructure will also be open to industry for battery research projects:
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), and Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the Berlin…
Adlershof Journal May/June 2025
Sharing differences: Why diversity is our superpower:
ESSAY by Elina Penner: How well do you know those around you? IN CONVERSATION WITH Ana Anselmo and Silvia Zerbe, who shape diversity at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin PORTRAIT The start-up manager: Maxine Silvestrov…
How well do you know those around you?
Essay by Elina Penner, author and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Hauptstadtmutti:
“How was your holiday?” my colleague asks cheerfully. We get along well, and I’m sure she genuinely hopes I had a relaxing break. Then she asks me: “Where did you fly off to?” First day back at school. The teacher…
The start-up manager
Maxine Silvestrov manages operations at Quantune Technologies:
Measuring biomarkers without having to insert a needle into a vein and without drawing even a millilitre of blood to send to a lab. Easy, clean, and painless—and useable at any given time. This is a scientific vision…
New violet laser developed at IKZ
Researchers at the Center for Laser Materials (ZLM) at the Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) have developed the most efficient direct violet-emitting solid-state laser:
Lasers with short-wave visible light in the blue or violet range have many practical applications. They are used in metalworking, for example, especially with metals such as copper, which strongly reflect infrared…
Space for the social question
Housing is many things at once: A basic need, a home for people, a means of investment, an asset—and a driver of generational (in)justice, says cultural and social geographer Ilse Helbrecht:
With the federal debt package being passed in the Bundestag, there is much public debate about its effects. “However, topics like refugee accommodation, homelessness, and the lack of social housing barely register,”…
New materials as highly sensitive X-ray detectors
Organic-inorganic hybrid materials are ideally suited and can be produced in a green way using ball milling:
New bismuth-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials show exceptional sensitivity and long-term stability as X-ray detectors, significantly more sensitive than commercial X-ray detectors. In addition, these materials…
Rootedness and diversity
Raúl Comesaña Macias heads the BBF Group, a family-run enterprise comprising medium-sized construction companies based in Adlershof:
Popular short videos on social media often link business success with strict morning routines. Benjamin Franklin, the man on the hundred-dollar bill, was famous for keeping meticulous records of his daily schedule and…
DLR pools expertise in space research
The new DLR Institute of Space Research is being formed from the internationally acclaimed Institutes of Optical Sensor Systems and Planetary Research:
Space is a key technology for the future, essential for exploring planets, Earth observation and security. Satellites and space probes equipped with highly specialised observation instruments are indispensable for all…
In conversation with Ana Anselmo and Silvia Zerbe
As diversity officers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, they shape diversity:
When 1,400 employees from 70 nations come together at a globally operating research institution like Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB), diversity may seem like a given. And yet, considerable…