The Russian Science Foundation summed up the results of the competition for projects of basic scientific research and exploratory scientific research on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation (genetic research), research by world-class scientific laboratories within the framework of the priorities of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, research based on the existing world-class scientific infrastructure, as well as extension competitions for these events. According to the results of the six announced competitions, 194 scientific projects will receive support.

For example, 398 applications were received for the competition "Conducting research based on the existing world-class scientific infrastructure", which is planned to be implemented at 58 scientific infrastructure facilities. According to the results of the examination, 101 projects were supported. Among them is the project of Sergey Belenov, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, leading researcher at the SFedU Faculty of Chemistry.

Sergey's project, "Production of nanoparticles of high-entropy alloys on a carbon carrier as electrocatalysts for use in the field of hydrogen energy," aims to develop methods for the synthesis of complex and multicomponent nanostructured materials based on high-entropy alloys using platinum group metals. High-entropy alloys consist of five or more atomic components, forming a homogeneous solid solution with a highly disordered crystal structure and high entropy values. This area is currently attracting great interest from researchers.

"The aim of the project is to obtain multicomponent catalysts with increased activity and stability for use in low-temperature fuel cells and electrolyzers with a proton exchange membrane. It is important to note that this topic is new and has not yet been sufficiently developed due to the difficulties of obtaining multicomponent nanoparticles of high-entropy alloys and the need for their comprehensive research. The social significance of the project results is related to its contribution to the development of energy–efficient hydrogen energy and electric transport in terms of creating low-temperature fuel cells and electrolyzers with high specific characteristics and long service life," said Sergey Belenov.

The list of winners is available at the link: https://rscf.ru/upload/iblock/3e3/kfypc0mjnwj4g7oaig273r54bf5hp9ix.pdf

The results of the competition for the extension of project deadlines for the event "Conducting research based on the existing world-class scientific infrastructure" of the Russian Science Foundation were also summed up. According to the results of the examination, 40 projects were supported. The winner of this competition was the project "Assessment of the state of polluted soils and plants using synchrotron methods" by Victoria Shuvaeva, Candidate of Physico-Mathematical Sciences, leading researcher at the Department of Crystallophysics at the SFedU Research Institute of Physics.