Polina Martynova and Vladislav Largin successfully defended their joint Chinese-Russian-British student project as part of the International Innovation Competition among Chinese College Students. The defense took place in China at Zhengzhou University. The project received the competition's top award, a gold medal.Polina and Vladislav are undergraduate students in the Faculty of Chemical Engineering. Polina Martynova is a fourth-year student, and Vladislav Largin is a second-year student. The students conduct research in the Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry and at the SCTMS of Samara Polytechnic University.
The project submitted for the competition is dedicated to the development of new catalysts for the synthesis and decomposition of ammonia. Polina Martynova led the entire international research team on the project. Vladislav Largin is responsible for the theoretical modeling of the catalysts. Chinese students from Northwestern Polytechnic University (NWPU, Xi'an) will synthesize and experimentally test the catalytic properties of the new materials. Students from Queen Mary, University of London (QMUL) will be responsible for internal and external communications and marketing. Thus, the team was formed with a clear division of responsibilities and the complementary professional competencies of individual members, making the project even more competitive.
The project will be implemented as part of the scientific and technical collaboration between Samara State Polytechnic University and NWPU.
"We congratulate our young colleagues," comments Professor Vladislav Blatov. "They are successfully taking their first steps in science, and at the highest international level. Defending their project at one of China's most prestigious student scientific competitions speaks to the high level of our students' preparation. Now it's time to implement the project. Our work with colleagues from Northwestern Polytechnic University continues, and a large student team has now joined in. I'm sure this won't be our students' last visit to China; I hope other students will join this project."