[institut] Seminar - Prof. Dr. Michael Pravica, 20 July at 11:00

[Marko Nikolic]

Dear colleagues,

You are cordially invited to the seminar, which will be held on Friday, 
20 July 2018 at 11:00 in the library reading room “Dr. Dragan Popović" 
of the Institute of Physics Belgrade. The talk entitled

                     X-ray induced synthesis of a novel material:  Doped 
Polymeric Carbon Monoxide.

will be given by Michael Pravica, Ph.D. Professor of Physics University 
of Nevada Las Vegas, USA

Abstract of the talk:

Polymeric carbon monoxide (poly-CO) can be produced by pressurizing CO 
at pressures above 5 GPa.  The reddish-yellow waxy material is very 
unstable and decomposes into graphite and CO2 in a matter of days and is 
of interest as a potentially powerful energetic material (e.g. rocket 
fuel).  It is also highly photosensitive.  We have succeeded in 
producing a variant of poly-CO which we call “doped poly-CO” by 
irradiating a relatively stable material (strontium oxalate powder) with 
synchrotron-produced hard x-rays (>7 keV) at ambient and high pressures. 
  We suspect that the sequence of x-ray induced reactions:
                                                          SrC2O4 + hυ → 
SrCO3 + CO
                                                              n(CO) → 
poly-CO

Here, we consider SrCO3 as the dopant.  This novel material appears to 
be very stable and does not decompose over periods of at least one year. 
  It also traps CO2 inside it for extremely long periods of time (> 1 
year).  We have produced doped poly-CO using different cations (Mg, Ca, 
etc) and using varying pressures.  The synthesized products are somewhat 
varied (see figure below). It is our hope that this stable material may 
have some industrial importance as a possible wide band gap 
semiconductor or as a nonlinear optical material.  Beyond this, certain 
critical questions are addressed in this research pertaining to x-ray 
induced polymerization, the surface composition of Mars, and the 
possible interstellar origins of life which will be discussed.



Best regards,
Marko Nikolic



-- 
Marko G. Nikolic PhD
Research Associate
Photonics center
Institute of Physics Belgrade
Pregrevica 118, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia
http://www.ipb.ac.rs/
Phone: +381641446152