Institute of High Pressure Physics

On June 26-28, 2023, The International Seminar "Young4Soft Matter"_2^nd Polish-Slovenian Edition, will be held online.

Directors: dr. hab. Aleksandra Drozd-Rzoska (IWC PAN, Poland) and prof. Samo Kralj (Univ. Maribor & Inst. Josef Stefan, Slovenia).

The International Seminar "Young4Softmatter" is intended for students, Ph.D. students, and young scientists to enable them presenting research results in area of Soft Matter physics, chemistry, material engineering, biology, food science and socio-economic issues.

Each participant of The International Seminar „Young4SoftMatter” will give 15-20 minutes lecture or present a poster.

"Jaszowiec 2023" conference gathers the semiconductor physics community in Poland since more than 50 years. "Jaszowiec 2023" is a short name for the „51st International School & Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors”. This year it is organized in Szczyrk from 17 to 23 June, 2023 and our Institute is one of co-organizers.

The Conference is preceded by a 2-days tutorial session (School), addressed mainly to graduate students and young scientists. This year prof. Michał Boćkowski will give one of the lectures in this tutorial session entitled „Bulk GaN growth”. Other physicists from our Institute will also present their research results.

More about the Jaszowiec conference at www.jaszowiec.edu.pl

In the NL-1 Laboratory of Plastic Deformation under High Pressure, we plastically deform polymer materials. We demonstrated a significant increase in mechanical properties of polyamide 6 (PA6) after hydrostatic extrusion.

In our recently published paper we explain the phenomena and propose strengthening mechanisms occurring in polymeric materials during high pressure plastic deformation. Read more in „Structural Hierarchy of PA6 Macromolecules after Hydrostatic Extrusion” Materials 16, 3435 (2023).

Figure. Schematic of changes in the fracture structure of PA6 samples before and after the hydrostatic extrusion (HE process). After the HE process, the spherulites have the shape of bars arranged in a regular manner parallel to each other.

Currently, about 80% of the energy consumed in the world comes from fossil fuels: gas, oil and coal. Both climate issues and limited natural resources motivate the effort toward the development of alternative and green energy sources. The disadvantage of most renewable energy sources is uneven operation, causing a need to store increasing amounts of energy.  Hydrogen has the potential to account for more than 10% of total energy by 2050, both as a store of renewable energy and as a source of energy, if hydrogen can be extracted from underground sources. The product of burning hydrogen is only water, unlike fossil fuels, which generate carbon dioxide and other harmful gases when burned.

Undoubtedly, a major challenge on the road to efficient use of hydrogen is its storage. In gaseous form, hydrogen has an extremely low density. Its cubic meter weighs a mere 84 grams, which naturally means that its transportation and storage would be inefficient and thus far more costly than the liquid fuels currently in use. Therefore, various methods of storing hydrogen are being worked on.  Depending on the application, these will include technologies using high-pressure hydrogen tanks, storage in liquefied form (which unfortunately requires cooling to extremely low temperatures of -253°C), as well as storage by absorption in metal hydrides or materials with developed surfaces, which are being worked on by a number of research groups around the world.

In response to this problem, a team of scientists and engineers from the Institute of High Pressure Polish Academy of Sciences (IHPP PAS) has developed a high-pressure double-walled hydrogen storage tank, which parameters exceed the currently used designs.

The solution was recognized by the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development (PARP) and the National Research and Development Center (NCBiR) in the XXV edition of the "Polish Product of the Future" competition. IHPP PAS received the main prize in the category of Polish Product of the Future of the Institutions of Higher Education and Science for the project "Safe hybrid (double-walled) hydrogen storage tank of high density stored energy with continuous pressure monitoring". The tanks developed at IHPP PAS can be successfully installed in cars or mobile hydrogen storage units, as well as prove themselves in stationary applications, i.e., for example, as storage tanks for solar energy produced by photovoltaic installations, where it is obtained by electrolysis of water.

(Fot. Karol Stanczak)