Jan Hynek was awarded the Otto Wichterle Prize

Jan Hynek (born 1990) specializes in research on porous coordination polymers - materials with large surface area and tunable pore size and chemistry which could find future applications e.g. for hydrogen storage, as components of fuel cells or in the removal of chemical impurities from wastewater. During his PhD studies, he was involved in the preparation of the first known porous coordination polymers with unique structures, which are characterised by higher chemical stability compared to previously used materials. He also succeeded in preparing porphyrin-based porous polymers that when irradiated with visible light, effectively inhibited the growth of biofilms of P. aeruginosa and E. faecalis. He also worked on the topic of porphyrins during a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in Japan. He is currently continuing his research on porous coordination polymers, focusing in particular on their proton conductivity. Proton-conducting materials are an important component of membranes in hydrogen fuel cells which are one possible source of clean energy. (Photo Jana Plavec)