At the start of September, when many meetings and conferences traditionally take place, about 100 young scientists met at the Central German Young Inorganic Scientists Symposium, MANS 2023, at TU Bergakademie Freiberg.
The 16 oral presentations and further poster presentations covered a wide spectrum from academic basic research to application-related topics: In addition to innovative materials for ion beam engines and the improvement of zinc-ion batteries through alternative electrolytes, as a potentially low-cost storage technology of the future, results from the Freiberg High Pressure Research Center (FHP) at the Center for High Temperature Material Conversion (ZeHS) were also presented.
For example, PhD student Felix Sieg from the FHP demonstrated novel semiconductor materials based on germanium nitride (γ-Ge3N4), which exhibit mixed crystals with a spinel structure through targeted modification with gallium and chromium. These spinels, which were successfully generated in the high-pressure, high-temperature press, show special magnetic properties (magnetic frustration), through which an application in spintronics to increase the capacity of storage media is possible. Furthermore, due to suitable electrical properties, an application as a photocatalyst for the splitting of water and the associated production of green hydrogen by means of sunlight seems possible.
About the MANS 2023
The Central German Symposium for Young Inorganic Chemists was launched in 2005 and has since been held annually inat alternating Central German universities. After Chemnitz, Leipzig, Halle, Jena, Bayreuth and Dresden, the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry led by Professors Edwin Kroke and Gero Frisch organized MANS 2023. At the symposium, which was hosted in Freiberg for the third time after 2008 and 2014, PhD students and researchers from universities in the German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Bavaria present their results.
The MANS 2023 was the last conference, which was held in the Great Lecture Hall in the Clemens-Winkler-Bau of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg before its restoration in the coming winter semester. Also in the winter semester 2023/24, the occupation of the two new and state-of-the-art equipped laboratory wings will take place and the reconstruction of the main building of the Clemens-Winkler-Bau on Leipziger Straße will start.
The organizing team would like to thank the numerous participants, the sponsors from the chemistry-related industry, the project partners of the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and the Association of Friends and Sponsors of TU Bergakademie Freiberg for their support.