In the world, there are many awards for scientific achievements to attract attention and spur people's interest in science, medicine, and technology, such as the Nobel Prize, the Albert Einstein Prize, the Wolf Prize, etc., including the Ig Nobel Prize for the most ridiculous, unusual and ingenious research.

Among the inventions, the most outstanding and promising ones are also annually singled out, and their authors-developers are honored and awarded at relevant events.

The award ceremony for the best inventors of the European Inventor Awards 2022 was held in Munich. The ceremony honored such inventions as "Liquid Metal Battery for Renewable Energy Storage", "New Generation Supercapacitors", and "Ecocatalyzer".

Liquid Metal Battery for Renewable Energy Storage

The inventor of the liquid metal battery, Canadian-American chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Donald Sadoway has been working for many years to create inexpensive and efficient batteries based on renewable natural resources.

It's no secret that lithium-ion batteries are dominating applications for portable electronic devices and electric vehicles. Due to their relatively high energy density, they have performed well in the market. However, factors such as cost and safety limit their long-term and large-scale application. As requirements for batteries rise, restrictions on the global supply of lithium portend a sharp rise in prices. Due to their reliance on flammable organic electrolytes, lithium-ion batteries pose a major safety concern as the market share of electric vehicles continues to increase.

Published in international application WO 2022225621 A1, the invention relates to rechargeable, self-heating aluminum chalcogen batteries with alkali metal halide molten salt electrolytes, equipped with an aluminum or aluminum alloy negative electrode, an elemental chalcogen positive electrode, and a mixture of chloride salts forming molten saline. electrolyte. The predominant chloride salt in the electrolyte is aluminum chloride. Additional chloride salts are selected from alkali metal chlorides. The cell operates at moderately elevated temperatures, ranging from 90°C to 250°C.

This fast rechargeable battery has a lifespan of over 20 years, can maintain 99% of its capacity through 5,000 charge cycles, and is free of combustible materials, meaning there is no risk of fire.

New Generation Supercapacitors

New generation supercapacitors were invented by Estonians Jaan Leis, Mati Arulepp, and Anti Perkson on the basis of Skeleton Technologies.

Scientists have unveiled a battery-like device that can deliver large, short bursts of energy quickly and does not contain toxic materials.

WO 2012032407 A2 discloses a method for manufacturing an electrochemical system for an electric two-layer prismatic capacitor from electrically connected semi-wound stacks of micro/mesoporous carbon composite electrode pairs separated by a porous cage in parallel. According to this method, a prefabricated carbon film will be coated with a layer of aluminum foil by vacuum deposition, forming a current collector of an electrochemical system. Then pairs of electrodes are formed from a carbon composite electrode, which are wound or turned over into flat packages so that the ends of the current collectors protruding from the folded packages are connected to each other in parallel, after which the ends of the current collectors are connected respectively with plus and minus, while the negative current terminal of the electric capacitor with a double layer.

To improve the power and energy density of supercapacitors, the properties of a material called bent graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms that take the shape of a crumpled sheet of paper, were further optimized. This allowed a higher surface area to be expanded on the electrode and gave a higher density for power transfer. The result is a so-called ultracapacitor that can charge in 15 seconds and withstand over a million charge cycles. With high chemical purity, it does not contain toxic materials commonly found in other capacitor technologies such as cobalt, and lithium. This technology provides reliability and limits the negative impact on the environment. According to the test results, it was revealed that ultracapacitors lead to energy savings of up to 30%.

The technology is of great interest to the transportation and power grid industries, as it will allow the industry to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and take a step forward in the fight against climate change.

Ecocatalyzer

The ecological catalyst was invented by the French Claude Grison. She is a university professor and director of research at the French National Center for Scientific Research.

Claude Grison proposed using plants to extract metallic elements from contaminated soil and then using these elements as "eco-catalysts" to create new molecules.

The invention according to US 11254597 B2 discloses a process for producing a plant material rich in phenolic acids, comprising at least one metal, comprising: obtaining a plant material selected from: aquatic plants; materials rich in tannins; materials rich in lignin; and providing a vegetable material rich in phenolic acids, in which the ratio of the intensity of the vibration band of the C═O bond of the COOH group and the intensity of each of the vibration bands of the aromatic ring determined in FT-IR is from 0.5 to 4. The vegetable material is given in contact with wastewater containing from 0.1 to 1000 mg/l of at least one metal, thus obtaining a vegetable material rich in phenolic acids, containing from 1 to 30 wt.% at least one metal relative to the total weight of the material.

This method adds value to contaminated land by decontaminating it by extracting toxic metals and provides a new source of catalysts that can be used to produce biodegradable plastics, antimitotics used in cancer treatment, closed DNA and RNA, cosmetics, and key intermediates for thin chemistry.

In essence, with her invention, Grison combined botany and chemistry, she found an original way to solve two problems at the same time. Firstly, the technology can help the chemical industry reduce its environmental impact, and secondly, it uses a new source of raw materials. To date, a mosquito repellant has been released with ingredients made by eco-catalysis according to this invention.

It is worth noting that 2022 has become quite productive for Russian inventors as well.

Every year, Rospatent selects the 100 best inventions of the year, informing about them through a relevant publication on the website, as well as by entering them into the "Promising Inventions" section of the database. As part of the International Day of Intellectual Property and the Day of the Inventor and Innovator, patent holders of the best inventions are awarded with Rospatent diplomas.

In order to be recognized as a promising invention, the nominated technical solution must correspond to the priority areas of technology development in the Russian Federation, comply with state programs, have a high technical level in comparison with world analogues, be original, solve actual problems, be ready for use in production, be in demand for patenting abroad, have an excellent economic effect.

Among the best inventions of 2022, the following can be noted.

In 2022, FSBI "SPb NIIF" of the Ministry of Health of Russia received a patent RU 2771843 C2 for a group of inventions related to phthisiology, namely, an autologous composition for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis with a drug-resistant pathogen and no effect on the background of polychemotherapy. An autologous composition for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis contains a mixture of mature dendritic cells and T-lymphocytes isolated from the patient's peripheral blood monocytes, activated by specific antigens ESAT-6 and SFP-10, at a certain ratio. A method for treating pulmonary tuberculosis with a drug-resistant pathogen and no effect on the background of polychemotherapy involves administering to the patient an autologous composition at a dose of 1 ml ten times once a week intradermally in the subscapular region against the background of anti-tuberculosis therapy. The use of an autologous composition in the method of treatment makes it possible to obtain a positive effect with the cessation of bacterial excretion and positive radiological dynamics, and further cessation of treatment.

Inventors Zolotarev V.A. and Kudryavtsev O.A. from the Concern "Constellation" defended a method of counteracting information extraction systems that recognize the individual structure of signals by distorting the waveform (patent RU 2774743 C1). This method increases the security of the transmitted information from unauthorized reception by information extraction systems using the individual structure of the emitted signals. This effect is achieved by the fact that several carrier frequencies are simultaneously transmitted in the method. To extract signals, a signal processing method with modulation by frequency or phase shift is used. Each of the carrier frequencies is further modulated with amplitude modulation during a clock period. The transmitted digital data is divided into fragments that contain a predetermined number of information symbols. The signal is modulated by a modulation method with a frequency or phase shift in accordance with the input binary data sequence. Symbols belonging to one fragment are modulated using one of N distortion functions used to distort the waveform. The number of the used distortion function is determined in accordance with the value of the random number, which is generated in the transmitting station synchronously with the receiving station by the pseudo-random code generator (PRC). At the receiving station, the received signal is demodulated in accordance with the used frequency or phase shift modulation method, demodulated in accordance with the number of the used distortion function, which is determined in accordance with a random number generated in the receiving station of the GPS codes, which is identical to the GPS codes of the transmitting station.

Thus, the proposed method, for example, solves the problem of increasing the security of transmitted information in systems implemented in the subway when identifying a person by scanning a passenger's face.

Limited Liability Company "S-Innovations" patent RU 2761855 C1 protected a solution in the field of electrical engineering, namely the technology for manufacturing flexible high-temperature superconductors (HTSC) with a high critical current density in an external magnetic field and a method for obtaining these superconductors. The invention can be used for the industrial production of HTSC wires with a very high critical current density in magnetic fields above 1 T at temperatures below 50 Kelvin, in particular for use in compact fusion reactors. The technical result of the invention is to improve the characteristics of a flexible high-temperature superconductor by increasing the critical current in high magnetic fields, as well as a simple and economical industrial-scale production of these HTSC wires.

So, now from 20 to 30% of all electricity generated in the world is lost in power lines. The use of such high-temperature superconductors for power transmission can completely eliminate these losses, and trains can move between cities at a speed of more than 500 km/h on a magnetic cushion created by superconducting magnets.

Thus, the main task for the selection and annual selection of promising inventions is the dissemination of inventions and the stimulation of authors-developers for the innovative development of technology and its introduction to the world market. And, as practice shows, this problem is perfectly solved.

Irina Kostromina