Experiencing Zero To Everything: Life At HZB

Behind The Camera

Berlin!!!

I haven’t ever thought of coming to Berlin. It is actually like a dream for every people in our country. I live in a country named Bangladesh where people struggle every day to meet their fundamental rights such as food, education, health, etc. Our country has a lot of people compare to the area of her. So it is natural that she doesn’t have that much quality educational institution for pursuing higher education. Every year a lot of people compete to get into the public university but only a few can make it. Considering all these struggles and scenarios, it is actually a dream for any student of our country to get selected for this kind of summer student program and come to Europe.

 

In my country, there is not that much scope to do research. We don’t have well-equipped laboratory also. If you want to pursue your career in any research field, you can’t do it due to the constraints of the facility. When I have seen the program outlet of the summer program, I felt that it would be a life-changing event for me if I got selected. Also, the experience of the previous summer students published in the HZB blog made me enthusiastic for the program. But the truth is that I actually didn’t expect to be selected while applying. But when I got the final selection email, it felt like is it real or am I dreaming. I made a pinch in my hand so that I could make myself believe that it was real. The preparation time was so exciting. I was counting the days of my flight.

The Project I Belong To

When I came here finally, it was like my dream had come true. The first time I stepped on the HZB premises, I felt something special in myself. I felt like I have come here to make my country proud. My project name is ‘Highly Stable Perovskite Solar Cells Based on Inorganic Perovskite Compound’. As I have predilection for material science and renewable energy, my project comprises of both of my favorite fields. Nowadays, halide perovskites have received great interest for application in optoelectronics and particular for photovoltaics. Due to the over 20% Power conversion efficiency (PCE) of halide perovskite-based solar cell (PSC), it has become the competitor of silicon and thin-film technologies whose are the main entity in the photovoltaic market. But the main disadvantage of the halide perovskite is their poor operational stability. Silicon solar cells have operational stability for 25 years while PSCs degrade in a few months under working condition. Therefore, the main challenge is identifying and solving the stability issue with halide perovskite in solar cells in order to deliver the next generation of photovoltaics. Our main focus is to increase the operating lifetime of PSC from a few months to over significant hours constant illumination under the full solar spectrum which should be compatible with the silicon photovoltaic. To reach this goal, we will focus on three objectives. 1. Preparing stable inorganic perovskites. 2. Identifying the perovskite compositions matching the energy levels of the contacts. 3. Engineering soft deposition of charge selective contacts on perovskites.

 

In the first week, I went to the Hysprint Pero Lab with my supervisor and observed how to use the instruments there. It actually took some time for me to get accustomed to all the things because I haven’t been in such a lab before. I found all the people in the group very friendly to me, especially my supervisor. She demonstrated the using procedure of each and every instrument very patiently. I become frustrated due to the pressure of working in a highly equipped lab. But all the people here gave me the courage to overcome the situation. It seems very outstanding for me to have a bunch of cooperative colleagues here.

 

Last But Not The Least

The whole experience itself is also an amazing one. If you want to know the outstanding experience of berlin, I will certainly tell about the high-class lifestyle here. The well-organized day to day lives, health service, social security service, transportation, execution of laws make everyone’s life so comfortable. The most fascinating thing here is the jam-free roads, which is an unbelievable concept in my country. Before getting out of my dorm, I check on google maps that how much time will it take to reach my destination and it takes exactly the same. But, in my country, it takes twice or thrice the estimated time to reach my destination. So, I can get my daily work done and also get time to explore the places around me.