Translated material
Blagoride Belgorod
Why in Russian science centers of collective use? What are their successes and problems? The TRV-hobby decided to figure out the example of the Central Committee for the Belgorod State University, where they are engaged in nanotechnology-in particular, improve the properties of thermoelectric materials, modifying the structure of the TVismuth telluride. This project can be useful for the space industry, metallurgy, and aviation. Perhaps it will even be possible to create an alternative to the current refrigerators: they will weigh less, cool faster, work silently.
TsKP: Science or business?
The need for collective use centers (CCP) began to talk in Russia in the mid -nineties, in a wave of interest in the construction of an innovative system. The idea of the CCP is simple: it is more profitable to buy expensive scientific equipment once, to assemble under one roof and provide everyone with a moderate fee for use. A good ten years have passed from the idea to the implementation, so far in 2005, within the framework of the Federal Target Program “Research and Development in Priority areas of the development of science and technology”, the first Central Design Code financed. A little more than a third of them was created at universities to develop university science. A year later, the share of the university Central Committee was brought to half.
The Central Committee of BelSU was created on the wave of hobbies by nanotechnologies and is called “Diagnosis of the structure and properties of nanomaterials” (official website: [1] ). The director, young doctor of physical and mathematical sciences Oleg Ivanov, came to Belgorod from Voronezh, interested in large-scale tasks and the possibility of scientific growth.
The center has excellent projects. Together with the Belgorod company Vladmiva, there was developed a technology for obtaining ceramics based on zirconium dioxide for dental implants. Another development-the technology for applying vacuum-dug-resistant coatings-is used at the Belgorod Rhythm Plant, where the super-strength coating is applied to milling tools, which then fall into aircraft manufacturing plants [2] . Also in the center they were engaged in certification of nanomaterials under the RUSNANO program. Articles with scientific results obtained using the Device base of the CCP are published in foreign journals, are quoted. Famous scientists perform work on the equipment of the Central Committee of the CCP: professors Yuri Kolobov, Rustam Kaibyshev.
The Belgorod Central Design Bureau is not offended by money. Only in 2007-2012, under the Federal Target Program “Research and Development”, the Center completed five state contracts in the amount of 215.5 million rubles. There were other state contracts. This year, Belgorod and eight centers will receive from the Ministry of Education and Science to develop 163 million rubles. At the moment, the center is equipped with expensive equipment for the eyeballs, it is possible to perform a full cycle of scientific works - from the synthesis of substances, measuring their properties to experimental production.
Extra of papers
Work and rejoice, but there are too many problems.
- Previously, it was easier with the documentation. The reports, of course, are bulky, they were not able to read the monitors (organizations that verify the reporting. - etc. ). But now the reporting is even more complicated, ”Oleg Nikolaevich complained, meeting me in his office at the Central Committee.
The main problem is in the money that came according to the state contract at the end of the stage, and you already need to report it for it: what has done for this money. And this is not only the purchase and maintenance of equipment for which up to 80% of the money, but also the results. A few months after the start of work, you need to publish ten articles on the topic of the state contract in magazines indexed in Web of Science and Scopus. The list of the authors of the article must include an employee of the Central Committee of the CCP. And if users of the Central Committee of the CCP did their job differently state contract, but an employee of the Central Committee of the Central Committee for the article is not indicated as an author, then it is no longer possible to include these articles in the report. It turns out that in many articles, patents, diplomas and dissertations, the CCP actually participated, but this is not counted for the report on the state contract. And here is another nuance. Due to the fact that the Central Committee does not have his own legal entity, the customer and user of the equipment of the Central Committee of the CCP often turn out to be one person-BelSU. How to pay for your own?
But the main innovation - now the Central Committee of the CCP work only for third -party users, they are not obliged to conduct their scientific research anymore.
“Like equipment rental,” Ivanov joked, but somehow sad. After all, he is primarily a physicist, a specialist in the field of solid physics, is engaged in segnelastic, high -temperature superconductivity, thermoelectric materials, teaches the physics of the condensed state to students. And I have to run with papers like a manager. Although, in principle, the whole thing went to that. The idea to make the Central Committee of Service Centers was originally laid in them. The architects of the program, of course, understood that it would not be possible to recapture the money invested in the equipment, but the access to self -sufficiency seemed real. The CCP was constantly pushed to provide services, to earn. But there is little living money. In the year, the Belgorod Central Design Bureau earns 1.5–2.0 million rubles in the Belgorod Certificate. This amount is not enough to contain equipment. Only for post -warranty maintenance of the raster electron microscope Quanta 200 3D needs 500 thousand rubles per year.
- And what about orders from local enterprises? I asked.
“The orders are: check the brand of steel, check the metal of the banks of condensed milk, which could not withstand the shelf life, work for forensic examination,” Ivanov explained. - Enterprises do not need scientific work. And we have the latest scientific equipment for fundamental research.
Due to attempts to sit on two chairs, that is, to work both on science and on business, it is not completely clear how to evaluate the effectiveness of the CCP. What is most important: how many different organizations have used its services; How many articles have been published with the participation of employees of the Central Committee of the Central Committee; how many scientists have passed the internship on its equipment; How many conferences did you spend or how much money earned?
Another problem: the CCP is often used for educational purposes to the detriment of science and business. At a conference in Arkhangelsk a year ago, Oleg Ivanov fascinated this problem:
“If, on the defense of the diploma, the graduate says that he conducted research on a microscope worth € 1 million, then this immediately gives the commissions to believe that the work is good,” the Arctic Vector newspaper quotes his words [3] .
The clash of the interests of the Central Committee of the Central Committee and the University can be decided by the purchase of a much cheaper educational equipment that students would be engaged in.
But problems are problems, and work is going on.
Yes, and young people who spend time of expensive microscopes have successes. Many participate in the programs "Umnik" and "Start" of the Fund for the Promotion of the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises, open small innovative enterprises. Russian scientists returned from foreign laboratories: Andrei Belyakov - from Japan, Dmitry Kolesnikov - from Poland. Without a CCP, this would not be possible: it attracts scientists, there you can make a world level science.
- The reproduction of the personnel of the Central Committee of the CCP promotes, - Oleg Nikolaevich invited me to make sure of this and chat with his graduate student Maxim Yapropyntsev.
Nanotechnology in the refrigerator
Maxim grew up in the village of Velobykovo in the Belgorod region, in a family of teachers.
- The village is a typical echo of Soviet collective farms. We lived well. At school, we were taught to work on tractors, ”said Maxim.
And also chemistry was taught in a deep manner at school. Valentina Dmitrievna Liquid, Honored Teacher of Russia, was demanding on schoolchildren. They participated in the Olympiads, took prizes. Maxim liked the subject, was easily given. Parents saw him as a doctor, and he even tried to enter the medical, but filled up biology. As it turned out, for the better: in fact, he wanted to become a chemist. At the chemical faculty of BelSU, he joined science early - he participated in the development of sorbents for water purification. In graduate school, the Department of Solid Body Physics, Maxim joined the development of thermoelectric materials. This class of materials converts thermal energy into electric. They are used either as an alternative source of energy that works where there is, for example, broken heat, or in cooling devices. The direction is not new, but promising. In the Belgorod CCP, they are used by modifying the structure of the Twaluride Wismuth - well -established in the technique of material. The theory says: if you enter nan -sized inter -phase inclusions into the material, you can reduce electrical conductivity and thereby increase the efficiency of the material. The efficiency of thermoelectric materials is low - about 5%. They are used in those areas where you can’t do in a different way. For example, in spacecraft that fly to the distant planets of the solar system: when they cease to grab energy from solar panels, autonomous devices are connected - radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Or in sensors for the metallurgical industry: it is impossible to bring electricity to them, but there is a lot of heat nearby. In optical-emission spectrometers, where thermoelectric devices are used for rapid cooling of CCD matrix. Or in aviation, where, in order to save mass, instead of conventional air conditioners, coolants of thermoelectric devices are put. They are easier, there are no rubbing parts in them, so they are more reliable, but for mass use the effectiveness is still low.
In the Central Committee, they themselves synthesize the powder of the teveride of bismuth, press, anneal and explore the structure of the composite. If there are no extra phases, the type of charge is examined, electrical conductivity.
“ As a chemist, I was at first interested in the synthesis, but when I repeatedly passed all the stages of work, I went,” I got carried away, ”said Maxim. - I try to do everything myself. I am interested in extraneous tasks, expand knowledge. He helped to receive electrolytes and porous glass for neighboring laboratories.
Typically, in thermoelectric devices, the viscrude -colored monocrystalline telluride is used, and Belgorodians synthesize the powder and add a substance with low thermal conductivity there - this is silicon dioxide in the form of dielectric membranes of tutuluride gismate. During pressing throughout the composit, nanopharynas are evenly distributed. This should lead to the occurrence of a tunnel type of conductivity, slightly reduce electrical conductivity, but significantly reduce thermal conductivity.
- There is such an indicator as thermoelectric voluntary: ZT. The existing thermoelectric materials of the ZT order of the unit. And it is necessary to increase several times - this is the point, ”said Maxim.
Material with thermoelectric voluntariness is higher than the analogues, it will find a practical output - this is the cathode protection of gas pipelines, railways, the disposal of damn heat, and the refrigeration industry. Already now, thermoelectric refrigerators with a capacity of up to 100 watts are popular-cooler bags charged from the network. The home refrigerator consumes more than a hundred watts, but if you create a thermoelectric material with ZT about 2.5–3.0, it will allow you to displace ordinary refrigerators from the market. The thermoelectric refrigerator will weigh less, cool faster, and most importantly, work silently.
In Voronezh and Podolsk there are enterprises where thermoelectric materials are made from Twaluride Vismuth. And they are in demand even with an efficiency of 3-5%. But if it is slightly increased, then this will open even greater prospects. We are engaged in an improvement in Twaluride Bismuth both abroad, but few, because most scientific groups are focused on obtaining completely new materials.
Maxim shows me the samples of the teeride of Vismuth - tiny black columns in size of 5 mm. It is these for testing the material as a cooling device. And for testing as alternative energy sources - thermoelectric generators - it is necessary to measure electrophysical properties when heated up to 400 K, and there is no such equipment in the Central Committee of the CCP yet. We'll have to order.
- Are these real nanotechnologies? - I specified just in case, remembering the endless discussions of five years ago.
- Yes. Defects of a nanometer scale strongly affect electrophysical properties. This is a fact. But so far we cannot confidently say, in the positive or negative side, ”Maxim explained that their work is largely going on by trial and error. - The topic is completely new, unlucky. We get the material with a different method, and from this it has other properties. Of course, I want to see positive results so that the work has a practical output.
Tatyana Pichugina
The photo presented the press service
1. Bsu.edu.ru/bsu/structure/detail.php?id=65508&iblock_id=298