News

The success of our researchers – interview in European media

The news portal of the European consortium Graphene Flagship published an interview with our colleague dr Marko Spasenović. In the „Spotlight“ section of the website, our colleague spoke about the development of graphene gas sensors and microphones in our Center for Microelectronic Technologies.

The Graphene Flagship is a project that the European Commission (EC) is funding with a billion euros over a period of ten years. The project was, together with the Human Brain Project, the first that the EC launched in 2013 as part of the FET Flagships program, with the aim to address big scientific and technological challenges of today through long-term multidisciplinary research and development. The consortium consists of over 150 academic and industrial partners in 23 countries. ICTM has been an Associated Member since 2018.

The success of our researchers - a paper published in Nature Materials

In cooperation with the group of Dr. Vojislav Stamenković, from the "Argonne National Laboratory - Material Science Division," our colleague Dr. Dušan Tripković published the paper "Eliminating Dissolution of Pt-based Electrocatalysts at the Atomic Scale" in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Materials (Nature Materials, 2020, 19, 1207-1214, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41563-020-0735-3, IF₂₀₁₉=38.663).

Solving the problem of stability of catalysts used in fuel cells is a long-standing challenge for many researchers in this field. The paper presents a new approach in solving the stability problem of Pt catalysts, i.e., how to prevent the dissolution of Pt at the atomic level leading to a decrease in catalyst activity. The problem is approached from two sides: protection of Pt catalysts by using thin gold films, which protects low-coordinated active sites on the platinum surface and second, deposition of platinum on the already existing gold film that leads to a significant increase in the ratio of 111 plane, which is the most stable orientation in the oxygen reduction reaction. As this reaction represents the largest energy loss in fuel cells, it is also the main obstacle to the full commercialization of this technology. Using both methods, a 3 nm Pt3Au / C catalyst was obtained in which platinum dissolution was almost eliminated, and thus the obtained catalyst was 30 times more stable compared to the commercial 3 nm Pt / C catalyst.

The paper can be read on the publisher's website. The article is also available in the ICTM's institutional repository (published version and peer-reviewed version).

Congratulations to our colleagues, and we wish them much success in their further research!

Research stay and cooperation with the National Institute of Chemistry in Ljubljana under the EIT Climate-KIC program "Pioneers into Practice"

Dr. Sanja Šešlija, a Research Associate at University of Belgrade - Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy, has spent five weeks at the National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia, as one of the representatives of Serbia in this year's edition of the EIT Climate-KIC program "Pioneers into Practice "implemented by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia. The visit's central goals were directed toward the promotion of the re-use practices of agricultural waste and the foundation of positive socioeconomic effects of the scientific concept in which novel value is created from waste and polluting materials. The conducted research activities included extraction of pectin from waste apple pomace using conventional solvents, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents (DES), and the physico-chemical characterization of isolated products. This collaboration has joined together expertise and knowledge from two renowned scientific institutions and set the ground for the future development of more sustainable production of chemicals and environmental protection.

The success of our researchers - Gold Medal for the best innovation in the field of new technologies

At the XVI International Salon of Inventions and New Technologies "New Time" in Sevastopol, the Russian Federation, in the competition of 27 registered countries, the team in which Milena Milošević and Jovanka Kovačina were engaged won the Gold Medal for the best innovation in the field of new technologies for the innovation "Eco-friendly technology for gel-coat and fireproofing material production using bio-renewable and waste materials."

The innovation is a joint work of the company Sinteza smola d.o.o., the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy and the Institute of Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy-National Institute of the Republic of Serbia. It represents the development of new ecologically and economically acceptable technologies to produce gel coatings and materials that reduce flammability based on unsaturated polyester resins from bio-renewable sources. The products can be applied in various industries (construction, mining, polymer processing, etc.). The authors of the innovation are Aleksandar Marinković, Milutin Milosavljević, Tihomir Kovačević, Jovanka Kovačina, Milena Milošević, Aleksandar Jovanović, Slobodan Petrović. The diploma is attached.

Congratulations to our colleagues, and we wish them a lot of success in their future work!

Gold Medal - SERBIA - Sevastopol 2020