Centre of Instrumental Techniques (CIT)
| Department head: Ecorchard Petra, Ing. Ph.D. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
AreaGiven the excellent instrumental equipment, the Center of Instrumental Techniques (CIT) primarily provides instrumental services to other departments at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry (IIC), but also to external partners. Both internal and external collaborations are either handled as standard service activities or, more commonly, within the framework of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MEYS) project NanoEnviCz, which supports scientific research and instrumental techniques. In addition to its service activities, CIT also engages in scientific research, both fundamental and applied. One of the key research topics at CIT is titanium dioxide, which has been studied for many years due to its excellent photocatalytic properties, which can be modified as needed (e.g., different morphologies, variable particle sizes). This type of photocatalyst is also being developed for the degradation of microplastics. Another research direction involves 2D materials, specifically graphene materials, layered double hydroxides/alkoxides, which can be further modified with ionic liquids (mostly imidazolium-based, in some cases containing metals). Ionic liquids themselves are studied as homogeneous catalysts and, after modification of 2D materials, as heterogeneous catalysts, particularly for ring-opening polymerizations. Multi-layered composites based on 2D MXene are being explored for their use in extreme conditions.In the realm of applied research, CIT focuses on the application of photocatalytic materials, particularly titanium dioxide. This material is used in active coatings as nanocrystalline sheets or composites with SiO2 (for protection against algae and mould). Another application of this material is the development of floating photocatalysts with synergistic sorption functions for the purification of water contaminated with low concentrations of persistent aromatic pollutants (such as bisphenol and dioxin). Another long-standing focus of CIT is the development of sorption materials for decontamination in aqueous environments. This includes the development of sorption materials such as amorphous forms of titanium dioxide (anchored to recycled materials) and nanocomposites with graphene oxide (with the possibility of modification using imidazolium-type ionic liquids) for the removal of heavy metals and radionuclides. Scientific topics Photoactive materials and composites (Jan Šubrt, Eva Pližingrová, Snejana Bakardjieva) Sorbents for radioactive waste and heavy metals (Jan Šubrt, Monika Motlochová, Petra Ecorchard) 2D materials (Petra Ecorchard, Snejana Bakardjieva) Aplications Self-cleaning photocatalytic coatings (Jan Šubrt) Innovative photocatalytic screeds and concrete additives (Jan Šubrt, Eva Pližingrová) Sorbents of radionuclides (Jan Šubrt, Monika Motlochová, Petra Ecorchard) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Members
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FacilitiesScanning electron microscope JSM-6510 - Jan Šubrt, Pavlína FialováTransmission electron microscope JEM-3010 - Natalija Murafa Setaram SetSys Evolution coupled with quadrupole mass spectrometer QMG 700 Pfeiffer, by SuperSonic system, Setaram - Anna Vykydalová, Pavla Kurhajcová STA449 F1 (Netzsch) coupled with gas chromatograph 7890B GC (Agilent Technologies) with mass detection 5977 MSD - Anna Vykydalová, Pavla Kurhajcová FT-IR spectrometer Nicolet iS50 - Petra Ecorchard, Pavla Kurhajcová Quantachrome Instruments FloVac Degasser a Quantachrome Instruments NOVA 4200e - Eva Pližingrová, Pavlína Fialová Lambda 750 UV/VIS/NIR - Darina Smržová Belsorp-Max II – Darina Smržová, Pavlína Fialová Shimadzu Total Organic Carbon Analyser TOC-L CPH/CPN - Guru K. Thirunavukkarasu Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM/MFM/EFM) Bruker Dimension Icon – Darina Smržová | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||