Scientists of Russia and Belarus are working on the creation of new materials

Scientists of Ural Federal University and the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, received additional funding to conduct research on the creation of new materials. The project is a continuation of the cooperation of the researchers of the Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Ural Federal University, and a research team from the Laboratory of High-Pressure Physics and Synthesis of Superhard Materials, Scientific and Practical Center for Materials Science of Belarus National Academy of Sciences.

‘Scientific research is aimed at creating new materials based on classical ceramics of bismuth ferrite and barium titanate,’ says the project leader Denis Alikin, senior researcher of the Department of Optoelectronics and Semiconductor Technology Division, UrFU Institute of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. ‘The key task is to achieve improved piezoelectric properties of materials for their subsequent use in various electromechanical devices. The Belarusian side will be engaged in the synthesis, and the Russian in the study of functional properties’.

Denis Alikin also notes that the relevance of such work is due to the need of creating lead-free multifunctional materials with high values of the piezoelectric coefficient, optimal dielectric and magnetic properties. The use of complementary macroscopic and local research methods will allow to form complementary data for analyzing the structure and properties of the compositions.

‘Understanding the relationship of the evolution of the structural state of the compositions in the field of phase transitions and improving the electromechanical, dielectric and magnetic properties of such compositions will allow synthesizing materials with optimal and controlled functional parameters – residual polarization, coercive field, dielectric constant and loss, conductivity, residual magnetization. Materials with improved functional properties will find application in the creation of a wide range of electrotechnical devices,’ explains Denis Alikin.

From the Russian side, the research will be supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). Financing a two-year grant will be 700 thousand rubles annually. The support of scientists will be held within the framework of the RFBR contest for the best scientific projects carried out jointly by teams of young scientists from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.

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