Implementing the priority directions of the development of science and innovation technologies in light of the country’s preparation for EXPO 2017, the Parasat company is conducting scientific and technical programmes with the active participation of the Physico-Technical Institute.
Our scientific programme in the field of energy efficiency and solar photovoltaics is aimed at developing solar energy in the country and creating new technologies for all stages of deep processing, from the processing of raw materials to the manufacturing of finished solar modules. To meet the demand of industrial enterprises in rare earth and rare metal products, the institute is implementing a project to develop nanosized, thin-film YSZ-electrolytes, based on yttria oxide stabilised by zirconia, for use in high-performance fuel cells.
At the end of last year, the institute was involved in the state programme, Scientific and Technological Support for the Development of the Energy Sector for 2011-2014. Two projects in this innovative direction are devoted to creating semiconductor solar cells for transforming sunlight to electricity.
Other projects implemented by the institute address problems of improving fuel cell efficiency. One of the projects provides new developments in nanoscale, thin-film electrolytes for fuel cells; the other involves the creation of a pilot battery of low temperature, solid-oxide fuel cells. In general, the results of these projects will allow for the design of nanoscale, low-temperature, solid-oxide fuel cells of rare metals.
Energy conservation problems are considered in two innovative projects: the creation of pilot plants for producing light-emitting diode (LED) chips and manufacturing lighting devices based on semiconductor LEDs. They are carried out under the guidance of senior staff of the institute: winners of the Kazakhstan State Prize and Doctors of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Serekbol Tokmoldin, Marat Tamendarov, Igor Lebedev and Kanat Chokin, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Aynura Isova and leading specialists Marat Omarov and Gennady Chumikov.
Improving the efficiency of renewable energy is a difficult task. Practical solutions to these problems require new steps in the study of fundamental physical and chemical processes in the development of appropriate technologies and industries and in overcoming the risk of new high-technology directions. These issues conditioned new and serious requirements in the training of specialists, covering all participants in the innovation process, from developers and theorists to the organisers of production and financiers. The work conducted by Parasat and its affiliated institutions is an important step in the preparation for EXPO 2017 and its theme, Future Energy.
The author is Director of the Physico-Technical Institute, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Academician of Kazakhstan National Academy of Natural Sciences.
