From October 1 to 8, 2020 Yelizaveta Morkhova, junior researcher at SCTMS, carried out research and synthesis work at the Institute of Chemistry of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (in Syktyvkar) as part of a business trip.The central theme of Yelizaveta’s research is the combination of crystal-chemical and quantum-mechanical methods in order to search for new high-valence inorganic ionic conductors, and during her business trip she managed to get acquainted with the features of several types of synthesis. The work was carried out in the laboratory of ceramic materials science under the leadership of Dr. Maria Koroleva and Dr. Alexey Krasnov.
On the basis of the studied literature and at different stages of the combined analysis, it was revealed that a number of compounds with magnesium can be a safe, environmentally friendly ionic conductor with a large volumetric capacity and low manufacturing cost. The most promising compound Mg3Nb6O11 was selected for the study from the point of view of combined analysis. The synthesis was carried out by hot pressing, Pechini's method, solid-phase synthesis in air and in vacuum. With the help of additional equipment purchased by SCTMS, Yelizaveta, together with the staff of the Institute of Chemistry, managed to conduct the most accurate experiment on the synthesis of a magnesium compound, the properties of which are currently being studied.
