Controversial year 2020 brought nice gifts at the end. Evgenia Ilyina, a researcher at the Laboratory of Electrochemical Power Sources, PhD, received a grant from the President of the Russian Federation for the state support of young Russian scientists – PhDs and DScs. Three young IHTE employees received scholarships from the President of the Russian Federation: Svetlana Pershina, PhD (lab of Elecrochemical Power Sources), Anna Tolkacheva, PhD (lab of Electrochemical Power Sources), and graduate student Varvara Elshina (InEnergy lab). This year a record number of applications was accepted for the competition, and only 587 young scientists became winners.
Evgeniya Ilyina investigates a lithium-indium alloy as an anode in a full solid-phase current source. The purpose of this work is to find the best way to obtain a lithium-indium alloy, as well as to determine its composition, which contributes to the appropriate “behavior” of electrochemical cells due to close contact and reduction of degradation processes between the anode and solid electrolyte based on Li lanthanum zirconate. The data obtained in the course of the study will serve as the basis for the creation of high-energy-consuming completely solid-phase current sources.
The scientific study of Svetlana Pershina is dedicated to the study of the interface between a solid electrolyte based on lithium aluminum-germanophosphate and an anode (lithium titanate) with the introduction of low-melting additive.The obtained results will increase the stability of the electrode/electrolyte interface, as well as significantly improve the functional characteristics of high-energy fully solid phased lithium-ion batteries.
Anna Tolkacheva’s research is devoted to the search of novel electrode materials for medium-temperature current sources, in particular, for fully solid-phase batteries.Using calcium aluminate as an example, the concept of nonstoichiometric garnets as a new class of materials with unique properties that can also be predicted were formulated.The purpose of the project is to test these concepts and search for materials with mixed ionic and electronic conductivity, which may lead to the creation of new electrode materials.
Varvara Elshina studies the design of new carbon-oxide composite cathode nanomaterials for the current sources, which is very important for the development of electrochemical power engineering. The most well-known high-capacity cathode materials include graphene and other allotropic modifications of carbon. Moreover, the oxides, including transition metals with a perovskite or spinel structure are often used in the cathodes. However, the possibilities of these cathode materials are currently practically exhausted. That is why Varvara Elshina set the task of creating new cathode material for a sodium ion current source based on a hierarchically structured graphene-nanodiamond composite and sodium-manganese spinel.
We congratulate our young scientists and wish them a successful solution of their scientific issues!
