About department

Field of Scientific Interest

The Department of Molten Systems is engaged in research related to all physical and chemical aspects of molten inorganic salts. These systems can be characterized by the existence of Coulombic interactions at high temperatures. The main subject of the research is the investigation of the physicochemical properties which include phase equilibria, density, electrical conductivity, viscosity, interfacial and surface tension. The ultimate goal is to find out the relationship between the physicochemical behavior of the molten systems and their composition and structure. The research focuses mainly on fluoride systems based on aluminum, magnesium, zirconium, scandium, tantalum, niobium, and systems based on lanthanides. The ambition of the department is to use a wide range of modern techniques, such as high temperature NMR and MAS NMR spectroscopy, high temperature neutron and synchrotron diffraction, etc. An essential part of the research of inorganic melts is their electrochemical characterization using several electrochemical techniques (various types of voltammetry, chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy). The applied research of the department is mainly connected with the optimization of conditions of the electrolytic production of primary aluminum and other electrolytically deposited metals, but the subject of applied research is not only limited to electrometallurgy. An important part of the research is the research of corrosion of construction materials in melts, the investigation of molten systems suitable for energy storage, and the synthesis of interesting compounds from inorganic melts, e.g. ternary fluorides or (oxo) – (fluoro) – aluminates based on perovskites for photonic and electronic applications. The department is involved in several national and international projects in academia as well as in applied research for foreign and domestic industrial partners.

  • Head of department: Ing. František Šimko, PhD.

 

International and National Projects

INVESTIGATION OF THE TERNARY PHASES IN THE SYSTEMS M-R-F (where M – Li-Cs, (NH4); R – Sc, Y, Ln) FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW MULTIFUNCTIONAL MATERIALS ( Výskum ternárnych fáz v systémoch M-R-F (kde M – Li-Cs, (NH4); R – Sc, Y, Ln) pre vývoj nových multifunkčných materiálov )
Program: SASPRO
Coordinator: MSc. Oxana Matselko
Duration: 09/2022 – 08/2025

1. Investigation of the inorganic fluorides of different complexity (8th European Crystallography School, 18-23.06.2023, Berlin, Germany). ❶ More information

2. Formation of the ternary fluorides from the molten salts and by means of the mild hydrothermal synthesis (29th EUCHEMS Conference on Molten Salts and Ionic Liquids, 22-26.04.2024, Santiago de Compostela, Spain). ❷ More information

——————————————–

Desirable and undesirable interactions between molten fluorides and materials of critical elements
(Žiadúce a nežiadúce interakcie roztavených fluoridov s materiálmi na báze kritických prvkov)
Programme: VEGA 2/0083/24
Project coordinator IIC: Ing. Blanka Kubíková, PhD.
Duration: 01/2024 – 12/2027
Molten fluoride systems for green production of aluminium without CO2 emissions
(Fluoridové taveninové systémy pre zelenú výrobu hliníka bez produkcie CO2)
Programme: VEGA 2/0046/22
Project coordinator IIC: Ing. František Šimko, PhD.
Duration: 01/2022 – 12/2025

Selected Publications

DULANSKÁ, Silvia** – DEMOVICS-SILLIKOVÁ, Veronika – GONEKOVÁ, Zuzana – TICHÁKOVÁ, Michaela – GEBEOVÁ, Klára – TRNKA, Michal – KOSNÁČ, Daniel – PÁNIK, Ján. Determination of activities of 210Pb in Slovak tobacco and cigarettes. In Radiation and Environmental Biophysics, 2025, vol. 64, no. 1, p. 191–200. (2024: 2.3 – IF, Q2 – JCR, 0.472 – SJR, Q2 – SJR). ISSN 0301-634X. Dostupné na: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00411-024-01098-9

KING, Graham** – RAKHMATULLIN, Aydar – ŠIMKO, František. The Role of Dynamic Polyhedral Rotations in the Phase Transitions of Rb3AlF6 and Cs3AlF6. In Inorganic Chemistry, 2025, vol. 64, no. 28, pp. 14661-14669. (2024: 4.7 – IF, Q1 – JCR, 0.958 – SJR, Q1 – SJR).  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5c02352

KUBÍKOVÁ, Blanka** – MLYNÁRIKOVÁ, Jarmila – MATSELKO, Oksana – NETRIOVÁ, Zuzana – VASKOVÁ, Zuzana – SHI, Zhongning – BOČA, Miroslav. Thermal and phase analysis in the (LiF‑NaF)eut‑LnF3 (Ln = Sm, Gd, and Nd) molten systems. In Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 2025, vol. 150, p. 14761–14769. (2024: 3.1 – IF, Q2 – JCR, 0.551 – SJR, Q2 – SJR).  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-025-14639-1

RAKHMATULLIN, Aydar** – KING, Graham – MOLOKEEV, Maxim S. – POLOVOV, Ilya B. – MAKSIMTSEV, Konstantin V. – SUARD, Emmanuelle – BAKIROV, Rinat – ŠIMKO, František – BESSADA, Catherine – ALLIX, Mathieu. Crystal Structures of Three Polymorphs of Cs3ScF6 by Means of Solid-State NMR, X‑Ray, and Neutron Diffraction. In Crystal Growth & Design, 2025, vol 25, no. 4, p. 1217–1223. (2024: 3.4 – IF, Q1 – JCR, 0.633 – SJR, Q2 – SJR).  https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.4c01598

HANZEL, Ondrej** – TATARKOVÁ, Monika – NETRIOVÁ, Zuzana – ŠAJGALÍK, Pavol. Effect of phase composition on thermal and electrical conductivity of additive-free silicon carbide ceramics. In Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2025, vol. 42, no. 4, art no. 117077. (2024: 6.2 – IF, Q1 – JCR, 1.3 – SJR, Q1 – SJR). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2024.117077

 

 

Foreign Cooperating Institutions

  • Conditions Extrêmes et Matériaux: Haute Température et Irradiation, CEMHTI, CNRS, Université Orléans, Orléans, France
  • Canadian Light Source, Saskatoon, Canada
  • Hydro Aluminium AS (HAL) (Company), Sunndalsøra, Norway
  • Rio Tinto Alcan International Ltd. (RTA) (Company), Voreppe, France
  • Key Laboratory for Ecological Metallurgy of Multimetallic Mineral, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
  • Nuclear Research Institute Řež, a.s., Řež, Husinec, Czech Republic