news – Page 3 – Chemistry department

Chemistry students visited leading instrumental laboratories

In January 2024, the students of the fourth year of the Chemistry Department visited three leading instrumental laboratories in the Republic of Srpska. They visited the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Srpska, the Clinical Institute for Nuclear Medicine and Thyroid Diseases of the University Clinical Center (Hot lab) and the Forensic Laboratory of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Banja Luka.

During the visits, the students were able to get acquainted with the application of instrumental chemical methods for the analysis of items of general use, radiopharmaceuticals and psychoactive substances. For this purpose, the contemporary instrumental methods are used, such as liquid and gas chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and other methods that the students could see on the spot. Such events are really important for the professional development of chemistry students, because they have the opportunity to see the theoretical knowledge in action.

Chemistry student won first place at the 16th international scientific conference “students encountering science”

Chemistry student Aleksej Vučić won first place at the 16^th International Scientific Conference “StES-Students Encountering Science”. His paper titled “Identification and monitoring of the migration of oil polluting substance on the example of sediments from the city zone of Banja Luka ” was one of the 21 papers in the field of natural sciences.

The 16^th StES jubilee, held from November 23 to 25, 2023, was organized by the Student Parliament of the University of Banja Luka, attracting students from all three study cycles across the entire region. The award-winning research was conducted under the mentorship of Professor Ivan Samelak.

PROFESSORS AND ASSOCIATES FROM THE CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT AWARDED FOR SCIENTIFIC RESULTS IN 2022

Professors and associates from the Chemistry Department achieved notable scientific results in 2022 and therefore were awarded by the University of Banja Luka at the Science Conference held on November 10, 2023.

In the category of awards related to the publishing in an indexed scientific journals, prof. dr Saša Zeljković and prof. dr. Dijana Jelić were awarded. Prof. Saša Zeljković, published a paper in Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews journal with an impact factor of 6.60.

For the participation in international scientific research projects, prof. dr Suzana Gotovac Atlagić, prof. Milica Balaban, Sanja Pržulj, M.Sc., and Dejana Savić, ma were awarded for the RIS-RESTORE project: Evaluation of Red Mud Tailings in the ESEE region.

More information about this event can be found at https://www.unibl.org/sr/vesti/2023/11/odrzana-konferencija-nauke-univerziteta-u-banjoj-luci.

Prof. Dr. Dijana Jelić Elected to the Position of Full Professor

The Senate of the University of Banja Luka (UNIBL), at its 97^th session on September 21, 2023, has made the decision to appoint Prof. Dr. Dijana Jelić to the position of full professor.

Professor Dijana Jelić has gained a reputation as a leading expert in the field of Physical Chemistry. Her scientific portfolio includes numerous research papers, publications, and projects. During her tenure as an associate professor, she published 28 scientific papers, of which 17 were indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS citation databases. Fourteen papers were published in high-impact international scientific journals (WoS), and three in international journals of significance (SCOPUS). The citation count of her papers according to Google Scholar citation database is 463, with an h-index of 10.

Dr. Dijana Jelić has received two postdoctoral research positions in the field of drug delivery systems. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Fellowship recipient at the University of Birmingham (Alabama, USA) during the 2018/2019 academic year, and currently, she is a Matsumae International Foundation fellow at the National Institute for Materials in Tsukuba, Japan.

Since her last appointment, Prof. Dr. Dijana Jelić has authored two university textbooks and has been involved in the implementation of four projects.

The appointment to the position of full professor is not only a recognition of outstanding academic abilities but also a responsibility towards the teaching staff, students, and the entire academic community.

The Chemistry study program congratulates Prof. Dr. Dijana Jelić on her appointment and looks forward to her future contributions to the academic world and our institution.

Professor Nuno Maulide elected as a visiting professor

Professor Nuno Maulide, a full professor in the field of organic chemistry at the University of Vienna, was elected as a visiting professor at the 95^th session of the Senate of the University of Banja Luka, upon the proposal of the Teaching-Scientific Council of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

Professor Maulide is a regular member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the leader of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Entropy-Oriented Drug Design. In addition, in 2018, he was named Austrian Scientist of the Year by the Austrian Club of Educational and Scientific Journalists. He is the recipient of the Ignaz L. Lieben and Tetrahedron Young Investigator awards. Professor Maulide has authored over 175 scientific publications and two books, with his works cited more than 8300 times in the Google Scholar citation database.

Professor Maulide is the first selected visiting professor in the Chemistry Study Program and a leading global scientist in the field of chemical sciences. His presence will inspire both professors and students in the Chemistry Study Program to strive for the highest standards in the study of chemistry. This collaboration will undoubtedly contribute to the quality of education and scientific work at our faculty and represents a continuation of the activities outlined in the Research Plan of the Chemistry Department

Chemistry of Volcanoes

In cooperation with prof. Dr. Elvir Babajić from the University of Tuzla, during the summer months we worked on the history of the formation of deposits and occurrences of clay in our country, which are related to volcanic activity.

This creative and scientific story begins in Bratunac, at the Zagoni kaolin deposite, where lithological varieties of kaolin and kaolinized dacites, as well as unusual samples reminiscent of bauxite, were sampled. The samples will be the subject of further research by the RIS BRIEFCASE consortium in which we are a partner. In the meantime, our team is working on an educational “briefcase” that contains more stories about volcanoes that, millions of years ago, defined the mineral wealth of Bosnia and Herzegovina with their eruptions.

By the way, the appearance of volcanoes was frequent during the formation of both oceanic and continental Earth’s crust. Volcanic activity has many aspects related to chemical sciences. The sensor-measured chemical composition of gases released by inactive volcanoes, especially the ratio of the amount of CO₂/SO₂, helps in predicting future eruptions. Today, these analyzes are even done using light drones (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-21935-5). On the other hand, the collision of lava with sea water can also lead to the creation of clouds of hydrochloric acid vapor, which carries a great risk for human, animal and plant life. There is also a positive influence of volcanoes on the appearance of life on Earth. Thanks to volcanic activity, a large amount of water was released from the interior of the planet, and water is the basis of life processes. Also, one of the results of eruptions is the scattering of pyroclastic material (Greek: pyros-fire, clastos-grain) in a wide area around the center of the eruption, and depending on the chemical composition of the lava itself, the ash can be very rich in minerals that nourish the soil.

In addition to the examination of specific minerals, the focus of our research is also the geopolymerization reaction of kaolin. Mineral substances such as kaolin were formed as a result of volcanic eruptions. Volcanic deposits are abundant near active and inactive volcanoes, and today large areas of the lithosphere are rich in minerals that were formed during this process. The deposits are formed by the cooling of magma during explosive volcanic eruptions. The interest in the use of minerals that were formed due to volcanic activity, in geopolymers, is due to their high content of silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide, which form the basis for the synthesis of geopolymers. Our goal is to examine the composition of kaolin originating from our country, as well as its potential in application, with a focus on “3D” printing of construction objects. This modern and innovative approach to the construction of buildings could greatly help reduce the negative impact of man on the planet in the decades to come. In the next few months, as part of the RIS BRIEFCASE project, Marija Stojaković, our young researcher, will work on this topic.

Chemistry Department research topics presented at the FEMS EUROMAT 2023 congress

The researchers of our department, Sunčica Sukur, MSc and Marija Stojaković, BSc, participated in this year’s edition of FEMS EUROMAT, a well-known international congress that was held in the period September 3-7, 2023 at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.

FEMS EUROMAT is held every two years and is a unique opportunity for researchers, scientists, engineers and students to exchange ideas, share their research and learn about the latest developments in materials science and engineering. Our colleagues had the opportunity to present their research in the areas “Materials for Circularity and Sustainability” and “Material Processing”.

In general, the importance of the area “Materials for Circularity and Sustainability” is reflected in the challenges of materials science and solutions for sustainable development to end the dramatic increase in demand for material resources. One of the examples is the global exploitation of various raw materials, which in the last 40 years has increased about three times (to more than 90 billion tons). If the scenario of sustainable development in which the circulation of materials (reuse, re-production and recycling) is realized, the increase in exploitation can potentially be reduced by at least 25%. One of the possibilities for improving material circulation was also presented by our colleague Sukur on the example of red mud, from which high-quality magnetite could potentially be produced very efficiently. Her work, due to the importance of the topic itself, was marked as a phighlihgt lecture in this section.

Colleague Stojaković presented in the field of “Material Processing”, which includes the latest experimental and theoretical achievements in the processing and production of various materials. The impact of the production process on the properties of the final products was on special focus in all areas, together with aspects of the modern development of materials and processes, such as the sustainability of materials and processes, the circular economy and the possibility of recycling. Our topic was research on kaolinite and kaolinized granite from our country as a raw material for geopolymers and other potential applications in which we have new, so far unpublished results achieved together with an industrial partner.

Participation in the congress was supported through two research projects:: “RM@Schools 4.0” and “MNRVOID support to the RIS BRIEFCASE project“.

Links:
https://euromat2023.com/

“Materials without borders” conference at Chemistry Department

For the second year in a row, our Faculty was the host of “Materials without borders” conference designed by our young researchers in the frame of RM@Schools project.

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“No borders”, indeed, it was! 4 excellent pupils teams have get to know each other and compete in the subjects of applied material chemistry. First, they had an excellent exchange of knowledge.

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The Italian team, RM ambassadors of the Liceo Roiti from Ferrara, have shown how they teach metals chemistry to the younger pupils in their school and beyond.

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Grammar School Gradiška studied the thermal and mineral water in Bosnia and Herzegovina, relating contemporary tourism and healing potentials with ancient history of Romans who first brought the concept of spa to this region.

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School “Sveti Sava” from Foča, little, but yet so international city with great Faculty of Medicine, is thinking deeply about how it is important to stop using coal as the energy source to preserve the health of the population in their region. With their teachers they studied in the newest literature that natural coal exfoliation is a great way to produce graphene, which is an important material bringing the digitalization and sensors of new generations.

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Finally, the winner of the best presentation was the team from “Đura Jakšić”, a school holding the name of a famous poet. They studied the “wool wonder” of extracting lanolin. With their presentation they have raised awareness on the about 3 million wool fleeces wasted in our country yearly, while the domestic cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry is importing lanoline at €50 /kg from far countries. Lanoline could be so easily extracted from the Pramenka sheep wool and it would be an amazingly organic and pure product.

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Second day, pupils have got to visit the ArcelorMittal Prijedor iron mine, the Colorit factory and finished the conference by lunch in Ethno-village/museum Ljubačke doline, where they had the opportunity to enjoy the impressive mineral collection. Greatest achievement of this conference was young people from different countries bonding together without borders and we will search for a way to sustainably continue it in the future.

Links:

https://rmschools.isof.cnr.it/

A workshop on the development and application of advanced materials held at Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics

The workshop on the development and application of advanced materials and modern analytical techniques was held on July 7, 2023 in the amphitheater of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Banja Luka.

The participants had the opportunity to attend lectures from the most current fields of science held by chemists from well-known world universities. Professor Dušan Losić from the School of Chemical Engineering of the University of Adelaide and director of the ARC Graphene Research Hub spoke about the development and modification of graphene materials for use in environmental remediation and other applications.

The Losić group’s research interests are focused on graphene and other advanced materials and include fundamental and applied aspects in nanotechnology, chemistry, materials science, engineering, medicine and agriculture. The results of the research aim to deal with problems in health, environment, agriculture and energy.

Professor Losić is the head of the Losić research group and one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of graphene with over 24000 citations and numerous patents that led to the start of industrial production of this material.

The second lecture on the latest trends in the field of electroanalytical chemistry related to the examination of surface phenomena on electrodes was held by Milomir Šuvira, a doctoral student in the field of analytical chemistry at the University of Washington, and at the end, the lecture was also held by Prof. Dr. Altijana Hromić Jahjefendić from the International University of Sarajevo on the topic of application of mineral and nanomaterials in biomedical technologies.

The workshop is the final part of a three-day training as part of the DeepGreenInno coordination project at the Chemistry Department, where colleagues from the partner International University of Sarajevo had training in the field of preparing nanoporous, activated carbon, and determining the antioxidant capacity of plants exposed to stress due to toxic metal pollution.

Also, the partner team had training on project management from the program of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology, in which the University of Banja Luka is the leader in Bosnia and Herzegovina with seven implemented projects.

The workshop was also attended by Prof. Dr. Zoran Vujković, Assistant Minister for Scientific and Technological Development and Prof. Dr. Milica Balaban, Vice-rector for International and Inter-university Cooperation of the University of Banja Luka.

Study visit to the salt mine in Tuzla: New technologies based on sodium chloride

As part of the SeconChan project and with additional support from the DeepGreenInno project, a study visit to the salt mine in Tuzla was organized during June.

On this occasion, teachers, associates and students of the Chemistry Department had the opportunity to learn more about the technological process in the Tetima deposit, where sodium chloride is exploited by extraction from a depth of about 800 meters. The exploitation process is fully automated with the use of very sensitive sensors and a remote control system. After extraction, the salt concentrate is transported over 16 kilometers to two large industries, a table salt factory and a sodium bicarbonate factory. Our team’s special attention was drawn to the carefully designed solutions for preserving the natural habitat and preventing landslides in the mine area.

The visit was also a good opportunity to discuss other possible applications of sodium chloride, especially in technologies that enable the so-called green transition. Research into sodium-based battery technology has recently attracted the attention of the scientific community as a potentially viable replacement for lithium batteries and the risks associated with the production and use of lithium-based batteries. Although still in the research phase, sodium-based batteries could soon become competitive with lithium batteries in terms of charge density and reliability, and especially because of the low cost of the raw material. Through the discussion, which aimed to develop entrepreneurial spirit and critical thinking, the students had the opportunity to see the salt deposit in Tuzla as a potential raw material base for the production of batteries in the future.

Link:

https://rudniksoli.ba/