On October 14, 2021, the rector of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, prof. RNDr. Pavol Sovák, CSc., together with the Vice-Rector for International Relations and Mobility, Assoc. Prof. Ing. Silvia Ručinská, Ph.D. and Assoc. Prof. RNDr. Andrea Straková Fedorková, PhD. from the Institute of Chemistry, Faculty of Science UPJŠ, welcomed Richard Brewin, the Programme Manager for Energy & Environmental Security and Science for Peace & Security at NATO. Mr Brewin is responsible for the NATO SPS projects and he introduced the possibilities of obtaining grants from the structures of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to the university management. One of the successfully completed UPJŠ projects, which was supported through the NATO SPS, is the Development of New Cathodes for Stable and Safer Lithium-Sulphur Batteries (NATO SPS No. 985148), in which Assoc. Prof. RNDr. Andrea Straková Fedorková, PhD. participated as one of the main researchers. The main requirements of SPS project calls are security, environmental compatibility, low price, stability or application for peaceful and military purposes.
The subject of the project was the research of new materials that will enable the production of components for lithium-ion batteries with significantly improved reliability, including higher stability, power density and efficiency. These materials answer the questions about safety, environmental compatibility, cost and effectiveness. The project focused on the development of new sulphur-based composite cathode materials suitable for high-energy lithium-ion batteries.
“Personally, I am very pleased that Richard Brewin as the main administrator of NATO SPS projects visited UPJŠ in Košice and also participated in the NFA international scientific conference (Nanomaterials: Fundamentals and Applications) in the High Tatras. He expressed his appreciation for the results of our project, and presented to the university management the possibility of using SPS projects for further cooperation not only with universities and research institutes (bottom-up projects), but also with ministries and state administration (top-down projects),” said Assoc. Prof. Straková Fedorková after the meeting with Mr. Richard Brewin. Mr. Brewin’s visit pointed out the importance of the results of the project of the Faculty of Science UPJŠ, which are demonstrated via the real prototypes of Li-S batteries.
