Energy transition

Shifting away from nuclear energy, expanding solar and wind power, generating energy from biomass, reducing energy consumption. Switzerland is committed to becoming climate-neutral by 2050. An ambitious goal, which has become more urgent than ever due to the increasingly challenging geopolitical situation. How can a sustainable and resilient energy supply for Switzerland be established over the coming years? What's the optimal way to use renewable energy sources? What new technologies are especially promising? At PSI, researchers are seeking answers to these crucial questions.

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TFI goes TecDays

In July 2022, two PhDs of our Thin Films and Interfaces (TFI) Group offered a practical teaching module to pupils at the Kantonsschule Stadelhofen as part of the Swiss TecDays. These are one-day events at Swiss grammar schools, organized by the Schweizerische Akademie der Technischen Wissenschaften (SATW), to support and strengthen technology education at schools. By bringing together pupils and experts from industry, universities, or research institutions, TecDays aims to raise an early awareness for technology and science.

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Li-rich nanoparticles
•Energy and Climate

High performance doped Li-rich Li1+xMn2-xO4 cathodes nanoparticles synthesized by facile, fast and efficient microwave-assisted hydrothermal route

Li-rich nanoparticles of Li1+xMn2-xO4 doped with Al, Co or Ni are successfully synthesized using a facile, fast and efficient microwave-assisted hydrothermal route. In this study, we demonstrate that nanocrystallinity and cationic doping play an important role in improving the electrochemical performance with respect to LiMn2O4 microparticles. They significantly reduce the charge-transfer resistance, lower the 1st cycle irreversible capacity to 6%, and achieve a capacity retention between 85 and 90% after 380 cycles, with excellent columbic efficiency close to 99%.

 

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Swiss Nano Convention 2022
•1 min

PSI at the this year’s Swiss Nano Convention!

From 5 July to 6 July 2022, the Swiss NanoConvention will take place in Fribourg. The platform offers the opportunity to exchange, discuss and network with key players from science and industry.

PSI will be there - visit us at our joint stand with the Hightech Zentrum Aargau! In combination with the possibilities of state-of-the-art material analytics, we can help you to improve both your products and your manufacturing processes.

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Cover of nature nanotechnology March 2018

MARVEL team wins inaugural PRACE HPC Excellence award

The first ever PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) HPC Excellence Award has been awarded to a team led by Professor Nicola Marzari, head of Theory and Simulation of Materials at EPFL's School of Engineering and Materials Simulations at PSI, and director of NCCR MARVEL. The € 20,000 award is given to “an outstanding individual or team for ground-breaking research that leads to significant advances in any research field through the usage of high-performance computing”, and recognizes the team’s effort in the discovery and characterization of novel two-dimensional materials.

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jisoo kim

Jisoo Kim bags the 2022 Werner Meyer-Ilse Award

Jisoo Kim was awarded the 2022 Werner Meyer-Ilse Memorial Award. The WMI Award is given to young scientists for exceptional contributions to the advancement of X-ray microscopy through either outstanding technical developments or applications, as evidenced by their presentation at the International Conference on X-ray Microscopy and supporting publications.  Jisoo was awarded for his development of the method "Time-resolved x-ray scattering tomography for rheological studies", and is co-recipient of the award with Yanqi Luo from the Advanced Photons Source for her work on applications. The award was presented during the 15th International Conference on X-ray Microscopy XRM2022 hosted by the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (NSRRC) in Hsinchu, Taiwan on 19 - 24 June, 2022.

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Figure 3

Synthesis of Metallic Lanthanide Thin Samples

This work aimed to produce intermetallic samples of platinoid metals (active metal matrix) and lanthanides (co-metal) and via the method of Coupled Reduction, i.e. a thermal treatment of the combination of the lanthanide oxide and noble metal at high temperature, as high as 1100 °C, under a constant flow of H2. We have demonstrated by means of several techniques, such as Scanning Electron Microscope, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, Alpha Spectrometry and Radiographic Imaging, that this method, at defined experimental conditions (temperature, pressure and concentration) yields a metallic lanthanide thin film when using platinum as active metal matrix. Conversely, the formation of a bulk intermetallic compound was obtained when using Pd as matrix. Those systems will have applications in different nuclear physic and radiochemistry studies, such as irradiation targets for production of superheavy elements and for nuclear data determination.

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soft matter workshop CH-FR

SANS-LLB at PSI: keeping up with the soft matter community needs

The shutdown of the Orphée reactor at LLB (Saclay, France) and the upgrade of the SINQ neutron guide system at PSI (Villigen, Switzerland) in 2019 were the beginning of a long-term collaboration between PSI and LLB. The SANS-LLB instrument, formerly known as PA20, has travelled more than 500 km, and since 2020 is being installed at SINQ/PSI as a collaborative effort between PSI and LLB. The aim is to make a modern SANS instrument available to the soft matter neutron scattering community at the SINQ spallation source.

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Chiara

NMB/Eckelman Young Investigator Award 2022

Chiara Favaretto, PhD student in the “Radionuclide Development” group at the Center for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, received the NMB/Eckelman Young Investigator Award for the abstract entitled: “Production and radiochemical separation of terbium-155 from enriched gadolinium target material and its preliminary application in SPECT imaging”, presented at the International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (iSRS 2022).

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Proposed mechanism for structure and gas evolution and cathode-electrolyte interfacial reactions
•Energy and Climate

Stable Performance of High Capacity Cobalt-Free Li-ion Battery

Lithium-rich layered oxides, containing cobalt, despite being promising high-capacity cathode materials, need alternatives to eliminate toxic and geopolitically restricted cobalt. An ongoing search for low-cost, Co-free Li-rich cathode materials with a better structural stability lead to investigation of Li1.16Ni0.19Fe0.18Mn0.46O2 (LNFM), where cobalt is replaced by abundant iron. Our LNFM not only delivered a high capacity of 229 mAh/g but also has a stable average discharge voltage when cycled to upper cutoff potential of 4.8 V in additive-free electrolyte.

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Eingebautes elliptisches Neutronenleiter-Element basierend auf dem Selene-Prinzip beim Instrument AMOR am PSI.
•3 min

Success through collaboration: PSI and SwissNeutronics AG

Technology transfer - meaning the transfer of research results to industry - can take place in various ways. Founding a spin-off is a very efficient way of transferring or commercialising a technology developed at PSI to industry. In recent years, PSI has founded a number of such spin-offs from various research areas. Even years later, PSI is still in close contact with most of its spin-offs, from which both sides can benefit. The company "SwissNeutronics AG", based in Klingnau, is the oldest PSI spin-off and was spun off as early as 1999. For more than 20 years, SwissNeutronics and the PSI have repeatedly worked together successfully on various projects and can mutually benefit from synergy effects.

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Noemi_Mario

Congratulation Noemi and Mario !

PSI: Doktorandentag des Departements Nukleare Energie und Sicherheit 2022.

The Department of Nuclear Energy and Safety (NES) of the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI) held its annual PhD Day. The PhD students presented their research work to a jury, which awarded the best presentations in each of the various categories with a prize donated by the Nuklearforum Schweiz.

This year Noemi Cerboni and Mario Veicht, first and fourth year PhD students, respectively, of LRC won this prestigious award. 

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