Projects

Members of our group have participated and are currently involved in a number of research projects. Currently, the following projects are being solved at our department:

National projects:

The aim of this project is an ad hoc synthesis of boron/hydrocarbon plasma polymer nanomaterials with tailored structure, porosity and elemental content, their study as targets for laser-driven p-B fusion with the final goal to experimentally demonstrate the generation of intense multi-MeV alpha-particles.

The aims are to develop and investigate novel concepts allowing for the vacuum-based production of nanostructured conductive polymers (CPs) and hybrid CPs/plasmonic metal nanocomposites and investigate the mechanism of their SERS-activity on model substances.

Our project aims to synthesize and characterize advanced nanofluids with resistive switching properties to mimic neural networks. The attempt to realize 3D memristive switching in a nanofluid will be performed.

The aim of this project is to develope new approaches for the synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles and hybrid metal/metal oxide nanomaterials based on gas aggregation sources. The impact of process parameters on properties of produced nanomaterials and their applicability for surfaceenhanced Raman spectroscopy is investigated.

The project aims to improve the stability of the deposition of thin films by PAVTD method and its use especially for the study of basic processes in plasma polymerization and for the preparation of materials with otherwise uncommon structure on the border between classical and plasma polymers.

Project is focused on the study of dual-responsive polymer hydrogels with double network structure based on poly(N,N-diethylacrylamide) prepared with various formation parameters. Relationship between formation conditions and hydrogels physical properties will be elucidated in order to tune phase transition parameters. Optimal conditions for preparation hydrogels with enhanced mechanical properties and temperature responsiveness will be found. With respect to possible applications, the swelling and release behaviour of proposed DN hydrogels will be investigated. To correlate macroscopic behaviour with microscopic structural parameters, NMR and UV-Vis spectroscopy with DSC, mechanical and SANS experiments will be combined.

The aim of this project is the development of a new type of solvent-, residual- and linker-free nanofluids based on plasmonic
NPs and liquid polymer as well as a detailed investigation of phase separation and nanoconfinement effects induced by NPs onto segmental dynamics of polymer, and chemical transformations at the NP/polymer interface.

International projects:

The aim of this joint project with Osnabrück University is to develop a theory and simulation methods for cluster and soliton dynamics in highly populated periodic potentials: To explain how they form, move, and how they yield measurable particle currents, as well as to study the dynamics under time-dependent driving, and in imperfectly periodic structures.

This project, which takes place in cooperation with CAU Kiel, supports the mobility of students and researchers is supported with the aim of gaining new insights into the field of resistive switching in nanofluids.

The goal of this international action is to bridge the gap between fundamental developments and practical applications of technologies based on porous semiconductors and oxides.

The main goal of this project is to explore the potential of low-temperature plasma as a green alternative to conventional fertilizers in agriculture and to reduce the need for pesticides. The project also focuses on research into the use of plasma for the treatment of food and food packaging. The project takes place in cooperation with 27 member countries.

This project aims to bridge advanced plasma-based deposition techniques with anodized TiO2:X (X = Ag, Co, Cu, C) nanotube arrays onto surfaces with complex 3D geometry for smart light management and label-free detection, based on fundamental material research.

This project is being carried out in cooperation with JČU (České Budějovice), Warsaw University of Technology (Poland) and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Bilateral Czech-German projects:

Active self-propulsion is one of the important traits giving living organisms an evolutionary edge. Already the self-propulsion techniques harnessed by primitive forms of unicellular life, such as bacteria and sperm cells, are quite complicated, calling for simplified models to grasp the physical principles of their swimming motion. Recent experimental and technological progress has supplied a large arsenal of artificial microswimmers that can be activated and even steered in a well-understood and well-controlled way. We can now endow them with increasingly sophisticated physical and virtual mutual interactions that enable us to mimic the emerging complexity observed in the living world, within a bottom-up approach. In particular, we can deliberately design experimental systems that are theoretically tractable and idealized theoretical predictions promising interesting collective behavior can guide the experimental design. This strategy is at the heart of the present proposal, which aims to foster close collaboration between experiment, analytical theory, and computer simulations.

This project is being carried out in cooperation with Universität Leipzig.

Single-file transport is ubiquitously occurring in nature and nanodevices whenever particles are forced to move through narrow channels comparable to their size. Prominent examples are diffusion in zeolites, membrane channels and pores, nanotubes and nanofluidic devices, as well as colloid motions in experiments with advanced optical and magnetic manipulation techniques. While these examples typically involve periodic structures, theoretical work has mainly focused so far on spatially homogeneous systems with respect to subdiffusive tracer dynamics and on oversimplified discrete systems with respect to collective dynamics. An understanding of tracer and collective dynamics in single-file transport through periodic structures is still missing. In this joint project, we aim to fill this gap by developing paradigmatic models and methods for their analysis. This includes both analytical approaches and efficient simulation techniques. Particular emphasis will be put on the possibility to probe collective behavior by the transition kinetics of tracer particles in the periodic structures.

This project is being carried out in cooperation with Universität Osnabrück.

Junior grant:

This project is focused on a comprehensive experimental study of the interaction of nanoparticles with the substrate in the sense of their implantation/deposition/reflection depending on the properties and energy of the incident nanoparticles and the properties of the substrate.

 

Previous projects:

GAČR:

COST:

KAN:

Others: