Electricity will help create "green" fuel for satellites

Scientists at the Zelinsky Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ZIOC RAS) have developed new approaches to the electrochemical synthesis of special substances from which it is possible to create environmentally friendly fuels for spacecraft and the mining industry, as well as to obtain various photoactive materials. We are talking about polyazotic heterocycles, compounds whose molecules contain a closed cycle with two or more nitrogen atoms.

For the first time, experts used electric current as an environmentally friendly oxidizer. And we have obtained unique compounds — mesoionic molecules, which themselves are electroneutral, but they contain positive and negative charges.

"Before our research, there were literally three such compounds known in old works. And it was unclear whether these substances really existed, how to obtain them, and so on. And we have created such a general method. We have received a series of 25 such structures. And we found that they are still quite heat-resistant. The temperature of the beginning of decomposition is above +270 degrees," Leonid Fershtat, head of the Laboratory of Nitrogen—containing Compounds at the Institute of Chemical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, winner of the Challenge Award, told Izvestia.

Due to the fact that the new compounds turned out to be so heat-resistant, they will find application as fuel components for the aerospace industry, the scientist said. They are primarily suitable for launching small spacecraft, such as satellites, research probes, and navigation systems, into low-Earth orbit. The resulting compounds will also be useful in mining.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

Nitrogen of civilization: electricity will help create "green" fuel for satellites