Energy and Climate

The energy research performed at PSI focuses on processes that can be used in sustainable and safer technologies, ideally with minimal CO2 emissions. The main emphasis is on renewable energy sources. The ESI (Energy System Integration) platform enables research and industry to test solutions for integrating renewables into the existing energy supply. Another focus in this area is the safer use of nuclear energy. These activities are supplemented by analyses giving a comprehensive assessment of energy systems. PSI scientists in the Energy and Environment division study the chemical processes that take place in the atmosphere.

Find out more at: Overview Energy and Climate

Lead (Pb) concentrations in Russia during the period 1680-1995 were reconstructed using an ice core from Belukha glacier in the Siberian Altai. Until the 1930s Pb originated mainly from ore mining for the production of Russian coins, whereas enhanced Pb concentrations in the period 1935-1995 can be related to Pb emissions from Russian leaded gasoline.
•Energy and Climate

Three centuries of eastern european and Altai lead emissions recorded in a belukha ice core

Human activities have significantly altered atmospheric Pb concentrations and thus, its geochemical cycle, for thousands of years. Whereas historical Pb emissions from Western Europe, North America, and Asia are well documented, there is no equivalent data for Eastern Europe. Here, we present ice-core Pb concentrations for the period 1680à1995 from Belukha glacier in the Siberian Altai, assumed to be representative of emissions in Eastern Europe and the Altai.

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•Energy and Climate
•10 min

Energiewende: Das Ganze sehen, die Details bedenken

Die Energiewende als politischer Wille ist Realität, aber wie wird die Schweiz ihre Energieversorgung aus dem heutigen Stand in diejenige überführen, die die für das Jahr 2050 formulierten Ziele erfüllt? Mit Fragen der Umsetzung, mit den Optionen und den Herausforderungen des beschlossenen Umbaus der schweizerischen Energielandschaft befasste sich am 14. Mai 2012 die Energietagung des Paul Scherrer Institut. Im Mittelpunkt stand der bei einer zunehmend dezentralen Energieversorgung notwendige Umbau der Stromnetze.This news release is only available in German.

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Summary of the LIFT process for tri-color OLED pixels. The 1-D substrate architecture is shown for the LIFT donor substrate (a) and the receiver substrate (b). The transfer of the first OLED color, blue, is shown in detail with the laser beam approaching (c) and the TP ablation and pixel deposition (d). LIFT of the green (e) and red (f) OLEDs is shown in sequence, and EL operation of the final three colors, side-by-side is also shown (g).

Red-green-blue polymer light-emitting diode pixels printed by optimized laser-induced forward transfer

An optimized laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) technique has been used to fabricate tri-color organic light-emitting diode (OLED) pixels. At reduced pressures, and with a defined donor-receiver gap, patterned depositions of polyfluorene-based OLED pixels have been achieved. OLED pixel functionality has been demonstrated and compared with devices made using conventional deposition techniques. In addition, improved functionality has been obtained by coating the cathode with an electron-injecting layer, a process not possible using conventional OLED fabrication techniques. The OLED pixels fabricated by LIFT reach efficiencies on the range of conventionally fabricated devices and even surpass them in the case of blue pixels.

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Direct observation of the quantum critical point in heavy fermion CeRhSi3

In many heavy fermion materials the quantum critical point is masked by superconductivity and it can only be detected by use of a local probe. In the noncentrosymmetric heavy fermion CeRhSi3 the ground state at ambient pressure is antiferromagnetically ordered and superconductivity sets in above 12 kbar coexisting with antiferromagnetism. We have unraveled a magnetic quantum critical point hidden deep inside the superconducting state of CeRhSi3.

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3D view of the spin-vector orientation as determined by SARPES

Three-Dimensional Spin Rotations in a Monolayer Electron System

In the emerging field of spintronics, the generation, injection, and in particular the control of highly spin polarized currents are main issues to be solved. Lifting of spin degeneracy by the spin-orbit interaction at surfaces, known as Rashba effect, represents a promising approach, since it generates two spin-polarized bands without the necessity of an external field. In our recent study, we realize such a system for a metallic surface layer on a semiconductor: Au/Ge(111).

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•Energy and Climate
•7 min

Retention of radioactive iodine in serious NPP accidents

Nuclear energy

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute [PSI] have developed a highly efficient technique for filtering radioactive iodine. It removes virtually all of the iodine from radioactively contaminated exhaust air before its release into the environment after a meltdown at a damaged nuclear power plant. The process has recently become ready for worldwide use at nuclear power installations, after PSI and the industrial company CCI AG (Balterswil/TG) have signed a licensing agreement for the PSI patented process.

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Das Schülerlabor iLab an der muba 2012

Erneut war das Schülerlabor iLab an einer der grossen Schweizer Publikumsmessen, der muba in Basel, vertreten. Rund 150 Schulklassen haben die interaktive Erlebnisschau tunBasel besucht. Am iLab-Stand konnten die Schülerinnen und Schüler selber experimentieren und Interessantes über die Welt der Naturwissenschaften und Technik erfahren. Zudem hatten sie die Möglichkeit, an einem Wettbewerb teilzunehmen und mit etwas Glück einen von vier iPod nano Multi-Touch 8GB gewinnen.

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PSI scientist Thorsten Schmitt (left) and post-doc Kejin Zhou (right) at the RIXS measuring station of the ADRESS beamline at SLS, where they are inserting a sample into the measuring apparatus. Here, X-rays are used for investigating materials with very high precision. (Photo: Scanderbeg Sauer Photography)

Physicists observe the splitting of an electron inside a solid

An electron has been observed to decay into two separate parts, each carrying a particular property of the electron: a spinon carrying its spin – the property making the electron behave as a tiny compass needle – and an orbiton carrying its orbital moment – which arises from the electron’s motion around the nucleus. These newly created particles, however, cannot leave the material in which they have been produced.

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•Future Technologies
•6 min

Physicists observe the splitting of an electron inside a solid

Materials research
SLS

An electron has been observed to decay into two separate parts, each carrying a particular property of the electron: a spinon carrying its spin à the property making the electron behave as a tiny compass needle à and an orbiton carrying its orbital moment à which arises from the electron’s motion around the nucleus. These newly created particles, however, cannot leave the material in which they have been produced.

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Ellipsoidal hybrid magnetic microgel particles with thermally tunable aspect ratios

We report on the synthesis and characterization of multiresponsive hybrid microgel particles. The particles consist of ellipsoidal silica-coated maghemite cores subsequently coated with thermoresponsive poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) shells. The PNIPAM shell enables the hybrid particle to alter its size and ratio of long to small axis with increasing temperature while the core morphology remains unchanged.

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•Large research facilities
•7 min

Grosspumpversuch auf geplantem SwissFEL-Gelände

SwissFEL

Zur Kühlung des SwissFEL soll Grundwasser genutzt werden. Ein Grosspumpversuch soll nachweisen, dass durch die Wasserentnahme der Grundwasserspiegel nicht übermässig abgesenkt wird und dass insbesondere die Trinkwasserversorgung von Würenlingen, Döttingen und Klein-Döttingen nicht beeinträchtigt wird. Während des Versuchs werden im Juli 2012 zwei Wochen lang 50 Liter Grundwasser pro Sekunde abgepumpt und in die Aare geleitet. Gleichzeitig wird der Grundwasserspiegel an den verschiedenen Entnahmestellen beobachtet. Die Vorbereitungen für den Versuch beginnen im März 2012.This news release is only available in German.

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•Future Technologies
•8 min

Creating magnetism takes much longer than destroying it

Materials research
SLS

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute are finding out how long it takes to establish magnetism and how this happens. Establishing a magnetically ordered phase in the metallic alloy iron-rhodium takes much longer than the reverse process of demagnetization. The result comes from basic research, but has relevance for the computer industry, as it shows which processes limit the speed of magnetic data storage and where improvements might be made.

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•8 min

How the body distinguishes between self and non-self – important structures explained

Biology
SLS

Like a shredder, the immunoproteasome cuts down proteins into peptides that are subsequently presented on the cellular surface. The immune system can distinguish between self and non-self peptides and selectively kills cells that present non-self peptides at their surface. In autoimmune diseases, this mechanism is deregulated. However, inhibition of the immunoproteasome may alleviate disease symptoms and progression. With the help of measurements taken at the Paul Scherer Institute, scientists have now succeeded in determining the first structure of an immunoproteasome.

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•7 min

Kooperation für perfekte Beschleunigung

SwissFEL
Industry Relations

Mehr als 10'000 Einzelteile à alle auf den Tausendstelmillimeter exakt à sollen bei der Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem Paul Scherrer Institut PSI und Oerlikon Mechatronics AG, Trübbach gebaut werden und am Ende für perfekte Beschleunigung im SwissFEL, dem geplanten Röntgenlaser des PSI sorgen. Für den SwissFEL-Linearbeschleuniger wird Oerlikon Mechatronics die sogenannten Kupfertassen herstellen (komplex geformte und hochpräzise Scheiben) und diese zu Hohlräumen (Kavitäten) zusammenfügen, in denen sich die nötigen beschleunigenden Kräfte erzeugen lassen.This news release is only available in German.

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•Future Technologies
•7 min

Using heat for storing data

Materials research
SLS

An international research team has demonstrated a new way to record information on a magnetic medium without the use of a magnetic field. Instead, they found that they could record information using only a heat pulse. This method of recording might allow one to record Terabytes (1000s of Gigabytes) of information per second being 100s of times faster than present hard drive technology, and consumes much less energy by using heat without the need for a magnetic field. Using modern lithographic methods and x-ray microscopy, researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute contributed considerably to this work.

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Das Schülerlabor iLab auf der Plattform educa.MINT

Gelungener Technik- und Naturwissenschaftsunterricht kann Schülerinnen und Schüler in den Bann ziehen. Denn in der Welt von Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaft und Technik (MINT) finden sich nicht nur knappe Formeln und Zahlen, sondern es warten vielfältige Erlebniswelten, die Raum zum Entdecken und Experimentieren offen lassen. Zahlreiche Institutionen in der Schweiz halten Angebote und Initiativen bereit, die in den Unterricht einfliessen können. Die Datenbank von educa.MINT ist behilflich, passende Angebote zu finden und vermittelt auf schnelle und einfache Weise die nötigen Informationen und Kontakte.

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•Energy and Climate
•5 min

Kein Blick in die Kristallkugel

Das Paul Scherrer Institut wird in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Weltenergierat nachvollziehbare Modelle für zukünftige globale Energiesysteme entwickeln. In einem auf drei Jahre ausgelegten Projekt wollen PSI-Forscher um Stefan Hirschberg ein Modell entwickeln mit dem man Aussagen über zukünftige Energiesysteme machen kann. Das besondere daran ist, dass es sich um ein sogenanntes Open-Source-Modell handeln wird. D. h. Experten und andere Interessenten können einen Zugang zum Programm erhalten, sowie Informationen darüber, von genau welchen Annahmen die Forscher bei der Ausarbeitung ihres Modells ausgegangen sind. Das ist bei kommerziellen Anbietern von Prognosewerkzeugen nicht üblich.This news release is only available in German.

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(a) Spins align antiparallel to each other, resulting in a large lattice strain and large electric polarization. (b) Spins align helically along the b-axis, resulting in small electric polarization.

Origin of the Large Polarization in Multiferroic YMnO3 Thin Films

Multiferroic materials have attracted much interest because of their ability to control magnetism by the application of an electric field. This ability is expected to reduce the power required by electronic devices and to increase their speed. However, the number of multiferroic materials discovered so far has been small, and ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in the known materials are often much weaker than required for practical applications.

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•Future Technologies
•7 min

It works: Ultrafast magnetic processes observed live using an X-ray laser

SwissFEL
Materials research

In first-of-their-kind experiments performed at the American X-ray laser LCLS, a collaboration led by researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute has been able to precisely follow how the magnetic structure of a material changes. The change of structure was initiated by a laser pulse, and investigated with the help of short X-ray pulses. It appears as if the structure begins to change 400 femtoseconds after the laser pulse strikes. Such investigations will be a major focus of research at the planned Swiss X-ray Laser, SwissFEL, at PSI.

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Topic Overview