Skoltech is an international graduate research-focused university that was founded by the group of world-renowned scientists in 2011. Skoltech's curriculum focuses on technology and innovation, offering Master's programs in 11 technological disciplines. Students receive rigorous theoretical and practical training, design their own research projects, participate in internships and gain entrepreneurial skills in English. The faculty is comprised of current researchers with international accreditation and achievements.

Scientists find nanoparticles with peculiar chemical composition

Scientists from Russia and China have discovered a host of new and unexpected nanoparticles and found a way to control their composition and properties; these findings break fresh ground in the use of nanoparticles. The results of their study were published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics journal.

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Micro objects, such as nanoparticles, can differ a lot from macro objects (crystals, glasses) in terms of chemical composition and properties. The variety of properties seem to be one and the same material (for example, silicon oxide), but made up of nanoparticles of varying sizes, and the ability to control these properties is the core of nanotechnology. However, both experimental and theoretical research into the structure and composition of nanoparticles is encountering major difficulties.

Using the USPEX evolutionary algorithm developed by Artem R. Oganov, a professor at Skoltech and MIPT, scientists from China and Russia studied a wide range of nanoparticle compositions and in particular examined two classes of nanoparticles essential for catalysis: iron-oxygen and cerium-oxygen. They discovered that the so-called “magic nanoparticles” that display enhanced stability can have unexpected chemical compositions; for example: Fe6O4, Fe2O6, Fe4O14, Ce5O6, and Ce3O12. Oxygen-rich nanoparticles, such as Fe4O14, which are stable at normal conditions, may explain the carcinogenicity of oxide nanoparticles. Scientists have quantitatively explored how the compositions vary by changing the temperature or partial pressure of oxygen.

“Stable nanoclusters can possess strange and unexpected chemical compositions (for example, Si4O18 or Ce3O12) at normal conditions, while for crystals this is usually found at extreme conditions, such as high pressures,” – says Xiaohu Yu, the first author of this work, Associate Professor of Shaanxi University of Technology and former member of the Oganov lab at MIPT.

 

“The fact that nanoparticles have virtually the same ridges, islands of stability and seas of instability as atomic nuclei came as a surprise in this study,” said Oganov. “The atomic nucleus and the nanoparticle alike can be described as a cluster of two types of particles; for example, iron and oxygen in our case, or protons and neutrons in the case of atomic nuclei. If you draw a map and plot the numbers of each kind of atom in the cluster along its axes, you will see that the majority of stable clusters form narrow ridges of stability. You will also discover islands of stability that are quite curious from the chemical point of view. It is quite conceivable that stable nanoparticles serve as elementary building blocks in crystal growth, a topic that has fascinated me since my school years. As for the islands of stability, the great contributors to their study were our renowned academicians Flerov and Oganesyan that I dreamt of working with when I was a kid.”

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The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is a private graduate research university. Established in 2011 in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Skoltech is cultivating a new generation of researchers and entrepreneurs, promotes advanced scientific knowledge and fosters innovative technology to address critical issues facing Russia and the world in the third millennium. Skoltech applies the best Russian and international research and educational practices, with particular emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation.
Web: https://www.skoltech.ru/

 

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