The summer school "Methods for physicochemical characterization of energy storage materials"
The summer school "Methods for physicochemical characterization of energy storage materials" organized by the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology was held from September 19 - 25th, 2022. During the seven days of the school, the participants had the opportunity to hear a large number of lecturers from the region and also from world-renowned scientific research institutions. The school was attended by 18 students from the University of Montenegro, and the lectures were also attended by the teaching staff of the University. Interesting, interactive and very useful lectures made the students interested in thinking about further training in this field. The participants got acquainted with different physicochemical methods that are widely used for the characterization of energy storage materials, which significantly improved their knowledge acquired so far. In addition to numerous characterization methods such as vibrational spectroscopy methods, electrochemical methods, gas physisorption methods, methods for determining surface functional groups, methods for determining the crystal structure of materials, participants also heard interesting lectures on materials such as conductive polymers, graphene, polyanionic cathode materials and various composite nanomaterials used in energy storage devices. It was very interesting to learn about the theoretical approach in materials science, the possibilities offered by molecular simulations, as well as how to estimate the adsorption energy of different molecules on graphene. The participants also learned the principle of operation of energy storage devices connected to constant power systems and what the mathematical analysis of these systems looks like, especially in the context of the intensive development of the application of renewable energy sources in Montenegro.
In addition to the theoretical lectures, the special interest of the participants was attracted by the teaching in the laboratories of the Faculty, where they practically applied the acquired knowledge on the available devices with the support of visiting and local lecturers. A particularly important aspect of the summer school was networking and deepening cooperation with researchers from the region who expressed their willingness to host interested summer school participants in their institutions, but also to participate again in intensive courses for students at the University of Montenegro.
A knowledge quiz on physicochemical methods and electrode materials was held on the penultimate day of school. During the quiz, the participants demonstrated an extremely high level of acquired knowledge, which is the best indicator of the success of all previous activities. Prizes were awarded to the best participants:
Prizes for first place in the knowledge quiz: Janja Mirković and Danilo Marković
Prizes for second place in the knowledge quiz: Jovana Đurović and Marija Zorić
Prizes for the third place in the knowledge quiz: Sara Lukovac, Teodora Stojović and Kristina Lalatović.
The participants assessed that the school was very useful and interesting, and they expressed their desire to organize more similar activities in the future.
The organization of the summer school was financed by the Ministry of Science and Technological Development of Montenegro through the support program of co-financing the implementation of educational programs in the areas of smart specialization in Montenegro, and the activities were also supported by the companies: Hemomont, PDG, Labena, Taratrans.