Developing the building blocks of the future for photovoltaics

An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has, for the first time, observed the build-up of a physical phenomenon that plays a role in the conversion of sunlight into electrical energy in 2D materials. The scientists succeeded in making quasiparticles—known as dark Moiré interlayer excitons—visible and explaining their formation using quantum mechanics. The researchers show how an experimental technique newly developed in Göttingen, femtosecond photoemission momentum microscopy, provides profound insights at a microscopic level, which will be relevant to the development of future technology. The results were published in Nature.