Date added: 2025-01-14
“Pearls of Science” for transition elements research
The Ministry of Science and Higher Education will provide PLN 239.8 thousand grant for the project conducted by Szymon Królak, MSc, titled “Layered transition metal oxypnictides: Kondo screening, magnetism and superconductivity”. The research will be carried out in the Division of Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems at the Faculty of Applied Physics and Mathematics under the supervision of Prof.Tomasz Klimczuk.
The aim of the project is to synthesize the family of R3T4Pn4O2-type compounds (R- rare earth; T = Cu, Ni; Pn = P, As) and to describe their physical properties: magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistance and specific heat.
- What is particularly interesting about them? First of all, they are layered, so in their structure you can distinguish “sandwiches” of atoms stacked on top of each other. A key role is played by phosphorus/arsenic atoms, which connect adjacent layers. It turns out that these “bonding” atoms can form bonds with each other, says Szymon Królak. - The formation of a bond between layers strongly affects the electron transfer in the layers, and thus the oxidation state of the transition metal, making it take intermediate values in these compounds. This gives us systems in which structural variables (phosphorus-phosphorus bond length) and electron variables (metal oxidation state) are strongly correlated. Thanks to this strong interdependence, these compounds are ideal candidates for studying the dependence of crystal structure effects on physical properties such as superconductivity, magnetism and the Kondo effect, explains the scientist.
The findings could contribute to the development of high-temperature superconductors.
Quantum materials research
Szymon Królak, MSc, focuses on quantum materials, in particular studies how the chemistry of interatomic interactions affects the occurrence of interesting ground states, such as magnetism and superconductivity. He participated in projects of the National Science Center (OPUS, SONATA) and IDUB (Radium and Technetium). He is the author of the following publications (first author of: „Ferromagnetism in Pr-rich binary Pr7Ru3 intermetallic compound”; second author of „Superconductivity of Ta-Hf and Ta-Zr alloys: Potential alloys for use in superconducting devices”. In 2023, he won the title of best Gdańsk Tech student, as well as a scientific scholarship from the then Minister of Science and Higher Education.
Under the guidance of the supervisor
The “Pearls of Science II” program aims to support the entities of the higher education and science system in creating conditions for the development of outstandingly talented second-degree students by enabling them to conduct research under the guidance of a research supervisor.
The program is the successor to the “Diamond Grant”, which was previously won by, among others, two other students of Prof. Tomasz Klimczuk (in 2017 - Karolina Górnicka, PhD, and in 2018 - Leszek Litzbarski, PhD). A total of 9 researchers from Gdańsk University of Technology received the “Diamond Grant” between 2013 and 2024.