This year the Nanotechnology Centre is celebrating its 15-year anniversary

“The main research areas of the Nanotechnology Centre include synthesis and characterisation of nanomaterials and nanocomposites, applications of nanotechnology and advanced materials and their environmental safety, nanophysics magneto-optics, plasmonics and spintronics, and molecular modelling and simulation. We have state-of-the-art equipment, we cooperate with industry, domestic and foreign universities and institutes. We also offer the services of an accredited laboratory,” states Daniela Plachá, the director of the centre which has about forty employees.

Although the Nanotechnology Centre was founded at the University in 2007, its history is much older. It began in 1992 with the establishment of the Central Analytical Laboratory at VSB-TUO. Thanks to the European PHARE project, the original workplace, led by Zdeněk Weiss, was equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, and the laboratory was designed especially for the analysis of environmental samples. A greater shift from service to research activities meant the transformation of the laboratory into a University institute. It was established in 2003 under the name of the University Institute of Chemistry of Materials (VÚCHEM) and its domain was mainly the study of clay minerals with nanometric structure. 

“In this area, we were among the domestic leaders. Clay minerals can be easily mined in nature and by modifying their structure very interesting materials can be obtained. Whether it is sorbents, catalysts, interlayer reactors or medicine carriers,” Plachá recalled.

This research was also developed by Pavla Čapková, the director of the institute from 2005. It was under her leadership that the University institute was renamed the Nanotechnology Centre and a Nanotechnology study programme was accredited as the first in the country. First for bachelor's and master's and then also for doctoral studies. Jaromír Pištora, who was the head of the Nanotechnology Centre from 2010, built new opportunities for young scientists and researchers, by supporting the PhD programme in Nanotechnology under dual supervision, as a "double degree", in cooperation with universities in France, the USA and Canada. In March last year, Daniela Plachá became a new director and she is planning further development of research activities. In addition, in January last year, the Nanotechnology Centre, together with three other institutes, was integrated into the new University institute - CEET.

“Compared to other nanotechnology-focused science centres, in the past we have had a very strong focus on students and their education. This has put a bit of a damper on our scientific performance, but conversely, we can boast a number of high-quality graduates. Teaching has now been transferred to the faculty, and while we are still involved in it, there is now a greater scope for scientific work. Although our publication performance was rated as one of the best per employee within the University, there is certainly room for improvement.  We expect that thanks to our involvement in CEET, we will develop more, and as a larger department we will be more successful in grant competitions, etc.” concluded Plachá, who intends to motivate researchers to conduct high-quality basic and applied research in the field of nanomaterials, nanotechnology and materials research. In view of this, teams are also being strengthened, including for example, the group led by Radek Zbořil, who, among other things, repeatedly appears on the list of the world’s most highly cited researchers published annually by the American company Clarivate Analytics.