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IMS Award Winner 2021

December 2021 brought us news from the International Magnesium Society. Two of our colleagues
(Dr. Maria Serdechnova & Dr. Min Deng) have received the International Science & Technology awards.

M.Serdechnova mit IMS Award

M.Serdechnova mit IMS Award Foto:A.Franke/Hereon

The IMS Award 2021 in the category “Youth of the Year” went to Dr. Maria Serdechnova, scientist in the department of Functional Surfaces, Institute of Surface Science. Her work focusses on the development of “smart” coatings for light metals (incl. magnesium) based on functionalized nanocontainers (layered double hydroxides - LDHs).

These coatings are considered as an environmentally friendly solution to replace toxic Cr(VI) conversion treatments. Whereas such LDH coatings on aluminium are already in industrial validation, significantly less research has been done on LDH on magnesium. Filling this gap is the aim of Maria Serdechnova and her colleagues.

Promising results have already been achieved: the industrial relevant conditions for LDH formation on magnesium in the presence of chelating agents are demonstrated.

M.Deng mit IMS Award

M.Deng mit IMS Award Foto:A.Franke/Hereon

Finally, the International Mg Society awarded Dr. Min Deng in the category “Excellent Thesis of the Year”. Min Deng has been working on his PhD studies in the department Interface Modeling of the Institute of Surface Science.

Within his thesis “Novel Mg-Ca-based alloys as anode materials for primary aqueous Mg-air-battery”, he explored the self-discharge and chunk effect at Magnesium anodes.

On grounds of long-term research that has been done in the field of high efficiency/capacity anodes for aqueous batteries and using micro-alloying as strategy, Min Deng achieved in designing Mg-Ca-X anodes with superior voltage/capacity, excellent environmental benignity and low cost.

Congratulations to both award winners!