Nitrogen atoms, standing at the top of the periodic table, have small weight and form a triple covalent bond, which is one of the strongest chemical bonds. Due to this metastable nitrogen containing compounds with the same mass can provide 2-5 times more energy than traditional fuel. In addition, the product of their decay is an environmentally friendly compound – molecular nitrogen N2, which is 80% of the earth's atmosphere.
Structure of “nitrogen square" N4, stabled by specially selected radicals. Nitrogen atoms highlighted in blue.
Associate Professor of Condensed matter physics Department Konstantin Katin won a scholarship of the Russian President for young scientists for the years 2016-2018. His research focuses on the search for a new nitrogen-based fuel. “For three years I will have to optimize the structure of energy-intensive nitrogen compounds and to propose methods for their synthesis, and to calculate the amount of energy that they can allocate”, said Konstantin Petrovich.
According to the head of the Center “Nanostructured electronics” N.I. Kargin, the chosen direction for the development of a new fuel has great relevance for the environment. “It would seem, it’s a work for chemists. However, Konstantin understands not only the chemical bond between the nitrogen atoms, but also knows how this is implemented physically. Mainly he will deal with the theoretical calculations. I hope our Center will carry out experimental work as well. The young scientist has got to the environment where chemistry, physics, mathematics and biology are closely interwoven. It is here where this project can be realized”, said Nikolai Kargin.
Win of the project in the competition, which was about 7 applicants per place, became possible thanks to the relevance of the topic and huge amount of scientific research on modeling of materials with high energy density. All these works were conducted in MEPhI in the period from 2011 to 2015, in collaboration with Associate Professor M.M. Maslov and published in prestigious national and international journals.
Department №67 congratulates Konstantin Katin and wishes him further success.
