Bringing hands-on fun to classrooms

The problem

Crystals are an indispensable part of the modern life – electronic chips, solar cells, lasers and many other technologies rely on crystalline materials. Despite the importance and broad applications of crystals in the modern world, knowledge about the production of crystalline materials is mostly limited to specialist research and industry communities. In schools, exposure to the topics of crystal growth and modern materials science is limited to the occasional lab visit. At the university level, crystal growth labs are mostly used in specialized courses for a limited audience. Consequently, not only the general public but also a large part of the scientific community is unaware of important challenges in crystal growth. While the general need for teaching the basics of the production of crystalline materials has been recognized in the literature, practical solutions are so far lacking.

Our solution

EduCrys is a desktop setup for hands-on demonstration of the Czochralski growth process, one of the best established and most widely used crystal growth methods. The demo setup is modular, allowing a wide range of experiments and observatios — from very simple experiments (suitable for schools) to complex scientific setups (for higher education at universities).

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News

8/3/2024: Best poster award at the DKT2024

19/11/2023: Berlin Science Week

24/05/2023: HANDSOME receives funding from ERC

Contact

Kaspars Dadzis at the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth

Related project: NEMOCRYS

Acknowledgements

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 101122970).