The latest advancements in hydrogen peroxide research were the central theme of a one-day workshop held at KIT Campus North on March 3, 2026. The event was jointly organized by the DFG-funded Research Unit FOR5715 HyPerCat (Bridging Concepts in Thermo- and Electro-Hydrogen Peroxide Catalysis) and the European Green SWaP (Green Solar-to-Propellant Water Propulsion) Project. Chaired by Prof. Dr. Silke Behrens (IKFT) and Dr. Alexander Navarrete Muñoz (IMVT), the Hydrogen Peroxide Day attracted more than 40 KIT-internal and external participants.
In recent years, hydrogen peroxide has attracted significant interest as a green oxidant, and its market share has steadily increased. Therefore, understanding and optimizing production pathways is of great interest, as reflected by multiple initiatives worldwide dedicated to this field, including HyPerCat and Green SwaP. 
By bringing together two hydrogen peroxide centered research projects with different aims and focuses, the Hydrogen Peroxide Day served as a platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration among the involved researchers. Additionally, four international speakers from academia and industry also shared their experience in invited lectures.
Clearly, there is significant interest in hydrogen peroxide. This was also evident during the expert panel discussion at the end of the event. Several new production technologies are currently being developed in addition to established industrial processes. Each technology has its own advantages, however, there are also unresolved challenges. Further research on catalyst systems and process parameters is clearly needed to promote direct hydrogen peroxide synthesis. HyPerCat and Green SWaP are prepared to contribute to these efforts.
Photos from the event can be found here.

On 2 March 2026, the third HyPerCat project meeting took place at IKFT, KIT. The individual projects reported on their results since July 2025. A bit more than one year into the project, experiments are already running, there have been several beamtimes and most set-up construction will be finished within 2026. 
The HyPerCat PhD students also met for a PhD meeting on 4 March 2026 to discuss their research a bit further. They also evaluated which soft skill courses or measures would be most interesting for them. Furthermore, the lab tours of TP 4 & 5 also took place during the meeting, which was concluded with a joint lunch. 

The first HyPerCat seminar in 2026 will take place on January 26. Prof. Georg Kastlunger from the Technical University of Denmark will present his research on “Non-Nernstian effects and kinetics-informed descriptors in electrocatalysis”. You are cordially invited to attend either on-site or online.

On 17 November 2025, the HyPerCat PhD students meet for a PhD meeting & the lab tour of subproject 8. They discussed how they employ Python and Matlab in their research and what next workshops could be of interest. The meeting was concluded with a joint dinner and Christmas market visit in Karlsruhe one week later.

From July 21-23, 2025, most of the HyPerCat project team travelled to Berlin for our bi-annual project meeting – this time hosted by TP7. Besides the status update of all the sub projects, we also discussed different methods for H2O2 quantification and other aspects affecting most TPs. Clearly, a lot of work has already been conducted since the start of the project in fall 2024, and we even had to cut short the engaging discussions after the talks for the sake of time repeatedly.
The main project meeting was then followed by a PhD meeting, which was this time mainly dedicated to making all students familiar with the basic concepts of electrochemistry. While Philipp Röse (PI TP5) provided the necessary theoretical background, Jessica Hübner (TP7) showed the HyPerCat PhD students some of the most often used measurement cells and gave a lab tour. The PhD students also had time to discuss organizational topics (e.g. next lab tour & courses), but also general challenges during their PhD work.
The whole HyPerCat wants to thank the team members of TP 7 – Jonas Grings, Jessica Hübner and Peter Strasser – as well as all other helpers – for the great organization of this meeting!  

In May, Assistant Professor Jessi van der Hoeven from Utrecht University (The Netherlands) was visiting IKFT. Among other things, she introduced her latest research on strain effect in nanoparticles during a HyPerCat seminar talk. She also shared her experience in working as a woman in academia with the female early career researchers from the HyPerCat team during a networking lunch. The HyPerCat team thanks Jessi van der Hoeven for this interesting visit!

Matthias Franzreb (IFG, KIT) will give a seminar on 'Electrobiocatalysis for Sustainable Bioprocessing: 'From Gaseous Feedstocks to Autonomous Process Optimization'.

You are cordially invited to attend the first HyPerCat seminar!

The German research foundation will be financing the research group HyPerCat, which will focus on the thermo- and electrocatalytic direct synthesis of H2O2, for the next four years. More information can be found here