Charles University Centre of Advanced Materials

design, synthesis, and applications

Charles University Centre of Advanced Materials

Design, synthesis, and applications


CUCAM – is a Centre of Excellence focused on research in advanced materials. It has been established under the Chemistry Section at the Faculty of Science based on a support from Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (OP VVV “Excellent Research Teams”, project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000417).

WE DEVELOP

a world-leading Centre of Excellence in Advanced Materials located at Charles University (CU) in Prague, specialising in the Design, Synthesis and Application.

OUR SCIENTIFIC FOCUS

is on the use of modular (i.e. low dimensional) building units for the preparation of new advanced materials, with a particular emphasis on the preparation of hybrid solids.

THE MAJOR VISION

is to overturn the conventional thinking and practice in materials science by developing methodologies that can target ‘unfeasible’ materials – that is, materials which cannot be prepared by traditional methods.

OUR METHODOLOGIES

open up routes to materials that have different properties (both chemical and topological) to those we currently have, which in turn opens up new avenues for exploitation.

People of the project


Joachim Sauer

Prof., Dr., Dr. h.c.

Interim Key Foreign Researcher

Jiří Čejka

prof. Ing., DrSc.

Excellent Researcher

Ivan Němec

prof. RNDr., Ph.D.

Excellent Researcher

Jiří Mosinger

doc. RNDr., Ph.D.

Key Researcher

Miroslav Štěpánek

doc. RNDr., Ph.D.

Key Researcher

Filip Uhlík

doc. RNDr., Ph.D.

Researcher

Róbert Gyepes

doc. RNDr., Dr.

Researcher

Andreas Erlebach

Ph.D.

Researcher

Michal Mazur

Mgr. Ph.D.

Assistant professor

Maksym Opanasenko

Doc. Ph.D.

Associate professor

Mariya Shamzhy

Doc., Ph.D.

Associate professor

Jan Přech

Ing., Ph.D.

Assistant professor

Milan Eliáš

Mgr.

Technician

Oleg Rud

Ph.D.

Researcher

Pavla Eliášová

Mgr. Ph.D.

Assistant professor

Robert Mundil

Ing., Ph.D.

Postdoctoral fellow

Goals


The goal is to develop the science and the human capital at Charles University, positioning the Centre at the forefront of this field and building an international network of collaborators and partners that cements the position of the research as a globally recognized brand. An important aspect of this is to develop the capacity of the researchers to develop industrial and commercial links to exploit novel and inventive research findings.

Strategy
We work on creative and innovative chemistry that impacts across a wide range of different areas of science and technology.

Our particular focus is in advanced materials, but we are looking outwards to cross borders between scientific fields.

We are building and leading strong networks of scientists that transcend the traditional boundaries.


The key scientific advances
●            The development of new chemistry concepts that will allow step changes in exploitation of the outstanding properties of advanced materials in a way that has not been possible previously.
●            The development of generalised synthetic strategies to target novel properties, and subsequent demonstration of these properties.
●            The use of world-leading characterisation and computational techniques to connect novel chemistry to new properties through transformative synthetic chemistry, structural characterisation and computational prediction and simulation.

THEMES

  1. Modular routes to new advanced catalysts: Developing the ADOR mechanism
  2. Hybrid electronic and optical materials based on low dimensional modular units (e.g. graphene)
  3. Advanced functional materials for medical and other applications

Equipment


DXR Raman microscope

8 Apr 2019

Thermo Scientific DXR Raman microscope interfaced to an Olympus microscope equipped with the set of excitation lasers 445, 532, 633 and 780 nm used for solid state micro-samples characterization. This ...

iN10 FTIR microscope

8 Apr 2019

Thermo Scientific iN10 FTIR microscope equipped with dual detector system (DTGS, MCT) is used for solid state micro-samples characterization and mapping in transmission, reflection and ATR modes (Ge crystal).

FTIR spectrometer Thermo Nicolet 6700

8 Apr 2019

Combined spectroscopic system based on FTIR spectrometer Thermo Nicolet 6700 (50-12000 cm-1) and FT-Raman module Thermo Nicolet Nexus (100-3700 cm-1), Nd: YVO4 laser 1064 nm). The system ...

MonoVista CRS+

8 Apr 2019

The research grade micro/macro Raman system MonoVista CRS+ (Spectroscopy & Imaging GmbH, Germany) interfaced to an Olympus microscope equipped with 532 and 785 nm excitation lasers. This system enables ...

Electrospinning equipment

8 Apr 2019

Laboratory electrospinning equipment for preparation of photoactive nanofiber membranes. The laboratory setup consists of a syringe needle connected to a high-voltage (5 to 50 kV) direct current power supply, a ...

Set-up for irradiation experiments

8 Apr 2019

Laboratory set-up for irradiation experiments including light sources (lasers, solar simulator), light detectors and detectors for O2 and NO. We are using this for all light-activated experiments, using monochromatic ...

Varian 4000 UV-VIS spectrometer

8 Apr 2019

Varian 4000 UV-VIS spectrometer (Agilent, USA) equipped with an integration sphere can be used in transmission or reflection mode. Integrating spheres are ideal for measuring the transmission of turbid, translucent ...

Quantaurus-QY Plus spectrofluorimeter

8 Apr 2019

Quantaurus-QY Plus spectrofluorimeter (Hamamatsu, Japan) is designed to measure the instantaneous absolute value of emission quantum yield using the photoluminescence method. We are using the machine for measuring quantum yields ...

FLS 980 spectrofluorimeter

8 Apr 2019

FLS 980 spectrofluorimeter (Edinburgh Instruments, UK). Two detectors (single photon counting PMTs are available to cover the wavelength range from 200 nm – 1700 nm) with independent exit slits and three ...

Bruker D8 ADVANCE powder diffractometer

8 Apr 2019

Bruker D8 ADVANCE powder diffractometer allows to be operated in three modes:

  • reflection measurements using the Bragg-Brentano parafocussing arrangement,

  • reflection measurements using the parallel-beam arrangement,

  • transmission measurements.

The instrument is ...

Nicolet™ iS50 FTIR Spectrometer

8 Apr 2019

Nicolet™ iS50 FTIR Spectrometer equipped with two MCT/B and two DTGS detectors is a core of sophisticated system exploited to investigate surface chemistry of nanomaterials. In-situ set-up (shown in ...

Micromeritics 3Flex volumetric Surface Area Analyzer

8 Apr 2019

The laboratory is equipped with Micromeritics 3Flex volumetric Surface Area Analyzer for determining textural properties of solid materials. The instrument allows measurements of total surface area, pore volume and calculation ...

Microscope JEOL JEM-NeoARM 200F

8 Apr 2019

JEOL JEM-NeoARM 200F Microscope is equipped with: • Schottky-type Field Emission Gun (30-200 kV voltage) • Condenser Lens with Cs aberration correction • CMOS camera (4096 x 4096 pixels, up to 200 fps ...

Presentations


Presentations from CUCAM WORKSHOP (February 8, 2017)

Opening of the High-Resolution Electron Microscopy Laboratory
Jan 14th 2019

3D VS 2D ZEOLITES (Petr Nachtigall)

PHOTOACTIVE NANOFIBER MATERIALS (Jiří Mosinger)

CUCAM Charles University Centre for Advanced Materials (Russell Morris)

Synthesis and Application of Novel Porous Materials (Maksym Opanasenko)

Self-assembled systems based on polyelectrolytes: Properties and applications (Miroslav Štěpánek)

Research Activities


CUCAM project

Events


Conferences, workshops and other meetings

There are no upcoming seminars scheduled yet

CUCAM organizes Workshop on Low Dimensional Materials

Sept. 19, 2022 - Sept. 22, 2022

Add to Calendar 09/19/2022 09/22/2022 Europe/Prague CUCAM organizes Workshop on Low Dimensional Materials

CUCAM organizes the School of Catalysis

After the successful "School of Catalysis" in 2019 and 2020, in the year 2022, we again plan to focus on experimental and theoretical aspects of catalysis.

Details and registration are there.

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

May 24, 2022 - May 26, 2022

Add to Calendar 05/24/2022 05/26/2022 Europe/Prague CUCAM organizes the School of Catalysis

After the successful "School of Catalysis" in 2019 and 2020, in the year 2022, we again plan to focus on experimental and theoretical aspects of catalysis.

Details and registration are there.

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

CUCAM Annual Meeting – Sep 22nd-23rd 2021

Sept. 22, 2021 - Sept. 23, 2021 (17:30 – 13:00 )

Add to Calendar 09/22/2021 17:30 09/23/2021 13:00 Europe/Prague CUCAM Annual Meeting – Sep 22nd-23rd 2021

Online seminar: Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies Creating Value from the Emissions

link to zoom meeting

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to climate change, with total emissions amounting to 36 Gt/y. To contrast climate change, which in turn is caused by the progressive increase in the earth's average temperature, it is necessary to implement all actions aimed at reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, so as to achieve the "net-zero emissions" target well before the end of the 21st century.

These actions concern, among others, the improvement of energy efficiency, the expansion of renewable energy sources, fuel switching. Another important contribution is given by the capture of CO2 emitted by important industrial sectors (e.g. steel, cement production, chemical and refining industries, power generation) and its management through geological sequestration (CCS) or utilization (CCU). It is precisely on CCU options that attention is being focused as CO2 can be considered a valuable commodity to produce several important products and materials of common use. Indeed, new chemical pathways that involve the transformation of CO2 into fuels, chemicals and construction materials are widely studied both in academia and industry.

These transformations, however, are energy intensive as CO2 is, de facto, the "spent" form of carbon from which all the energy has been extracted. This opens up a whole series of questions relating to the actual climatic benefits that these utilization pathways can provide.

In this lecture, the main technological CCU pathways will be briefly examined, highlighting their advantages and limits and their possible contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

March 17, 2021 - (14:00 )

Add to Calendar 03/17/2021 14:00 Europe/Prague Online seminar: Carbon Capture and Utilization Technologies Creating Value from the Emissions

link to zoom meeting

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major contributor to climate change, with total emissions amounting to 36 Gt/y. To contrast climate change, which in turn is caused by the progressive increase in the earth's average temperature, it is necessary to implement all actions aimed at reducing CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, so as to achieve the "net-zero emissions" target well before the end of the 21st century.

These actions concern, among others, the improvement of energy efficiency, the expansion of renewable energy sources, fuel switching. Another important contribution is given by the capture of CO2 emitted by important industrial sectors (e.g. steel, cement production, chemical and refining industries, power generation) and its management through geological sequestration (CCS) or utilization (CCU). It is precisely on CCU options that attention is being focused as CO2 can be considered a valuable commodity to produce several important products and materials of common use. Indeed, new chemical pathways that involve the transformation of CO2 into fuels, chemicals and construction materials are widely studied both in academia and industry.

These transformations, however, are energy intensive as CO2 is, de facto, the "spent" form of carbon from which all the energy has been extracted. This opens up a whole series of questions relating to the actual climatic benefits that these utilization pathways can provide.

In this lecture, the main technological CCU pathways will be briefly examined, highlighting their advantages and limits and their possible contribution to reducing CO2 emissions.

Seminar: In situ FT-IR studies on formation of H-bonded alcohol adducts and their role in the mechanism of cyclopentanol etherification

Join Zoom Meeting: link

Mechanistic studies play a key role of understanding how specified reaction conditions and/or properties of the catalyst itself can be tuned to optimize catalyst activity and selectivity towards desired product of particular reaction. The presentation will focus on FT-IR qualitative analysis of H-bonded methanol/cyclopentanol adducts formed by interaction with acid sites (more/less accessible for the substrate) located in MFI zeolites and their  role in the mechanism of cyclopentanol etherification.

March 2, 2021 - (11:30 )

Add to Calendar 03/02/2021 11:30 Europe/Prague Seminar: In situ FT-IR studies on formation of H-bonded alcohol adducts and their role in the mechanism of cyclopentanol etherification

Join Zoom Meeting: link

Mechanistic studies play a key role of understanding how specified reaction conditions and/or properties of the catalyst itself can be tuned to optimize catalyst activity and selectivity towards desired product of particular reaction. The presentation will focus on FT-IR qualitative analysis of H-bonded methanol/cyclopentanol adducts formed by interaction with acid sites (more/less accessible for the substrate) located in MFI zeolites and their  role in the mechanism of cyclopentanol etherification.

Seminar: Reverse ADOR Approach: Reconstruction of UTL zeolite from layered IPC-1P material

Join Zoom Meeting: link

The Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reassembly (ADOR) transformation of the UTL zeolite has led to the discovery of numerous new zeolite structures (PCR, OKO, *PCS, IPC-7, IPC-9, IPC-10); however, these daughter  structures have only smaller pore size than the parent UTL. We have developed a method to artificially increase the spacing of layered intermediate IPC-1P by intercalating organic species and to reconstruct the double  four rings (D4R) between layers, thus transforming IPC-1P back into the parent UTL zeolite.

 

March 2, 2021 - (11:30 )

Add to Calendar 03/02/2021 11:30 Europe/Prague Seminar: Reverse ADOR Approach: Reconstruction of UTL zeolite from layered IPC-1P material

Join Zoom Meeting: link

The Assembly-Disassembly-Organisation-Reassembly (ADOR) transformation of the UTL zeolite has led to the discovery of numerous new zeolite structures (PCR, OKO, *PCS, IPC-7, IPC-9, IPC-10); however, these daughter  structures have only smaller pore size than the parent UTL. We have developed a method to artificially increase the spacing of layered intermediate IPC-1P by intercalating organic species and to reconstruct the double  four rings (D4R) between layers, thus transforming IPC-1P back into the parent UTL zeolite.

 

School of Catalysis – Experimental Techniques in Catalysis

After the successful "School of Catalysis" in May 2019, which has been devoted to general aspects of catalysis, for the current edition we plan to focus in more detail on some experimental techniques applied in catalysis and particular aspects of catalysis (homogeneous, heterogeneous, industrial).

Details and registration are there.

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

Nov. 30, 2020 - Dec. 2, 2020

Add to Calendar 11/30/2020 12/02/2020 Europe/Prague School of Catalysis – Experimental Techniques in Catalysis

After the successful "School of Catalysis" in May 2019, which has been devoted to general aspects of catalysis, for the current edition we plan to focus in more detail on some experimental techniques applied in catalysis and particular aspects of catalysis (homogeneous, heterogeneous, industrial).

Details and registration are there.

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

Workshop on Water in Zeolites

An international workshop is being planned with the objective of bringing together world-known experts from the field of heterogeneous catalysis to discuss fundamental aspects about the interaction of liquid water in zeolite catalysts. This is a topic of profound consequences in several catalytic processes for chemical, petrochemical, and oil refining industries.

Details and registration are there

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

Nov. 3, 2020 - Nov. 6, 2020

Add to Calendar 11/03/2020 11/06/2020 Europe/Prague Workshop on Water in Zeolites

An international workshop is being planned with the objective of bringing together world-known experts from the field of heterogeneous catalysis to discuss fundamental aspects about the interaction of liquid water in zeolite catalysts. This is a topic of profound consequences in several catalytic processes for chemical, petrochemical, and oil refining industries.

Details and registration are there

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

Workshop on Low Dimensional Materials

It is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the "Workshop on Low Dimensional Materials".

Details and registration are there.

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

Sept. 8, 2020 - Sept. 11, 2020

Add to Calendar 09/08/2020 09/11/2020 Europe/Prague Workshop on Low Dimensional Materials

It is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the "Workshop on Low Dimensional Materials".

Details and registration are there.

Liblice Castle, Czech Republic

CZ-UK Workshop on Nanomaterials

Czech-British workshop focusing on research, development and application possibilities of nanomaterials took place in Karolinum, Prague on 22 and 23 October 2019

The British Embassy in Prague and the Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry of the Faculty of Science at the Charles University organised a CZ-UK workshop on nanomaterials, which was held in Karolinum on   October 22-23, 2019. Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Mr. Nick Archer MVO, opened the workshop. From both countries, six excellent speakers were invited including e.g. A. Goodwin – Oxford, J.P. Attfield – Edinburgh, R. Catlow – Cardiff, P. Nachtigall - UK Praha, R. Zbořil – Olomouc, J. Málek – Pardubice. The invited lectures were focused on cutting edge research in materials with contributions on new types of magnetic materials, disordered solids, zeolites, catalysis or possibilities of application of synchrotron and neutron diffraction for material studies. The contributions combined experimental aspects with theoretical calculations. The lectures were followed by lively discussions.  Altogether 70 participants took part in the Workshop and presented their results as posters.

The workshop featured top experts from the UK and the Czech Republic:

  • Phoebe Allan (University of Birmingham)
  • Pavel Jelinek (Institute of Physics of the CAS)
  • Paul Attfield (University of Edinburgh)
  • Jiří Malek (The University of Pardubice)
  • Rob Bell (University College London)
  • Petr Nachtigall (Faculty of Science, Charles University)
  • Richard Catlow(Cardiff University)
  • Maksym Opanasenko (Faculty of Science, Charles University)
  • Andrew Goodwin (University of Oxford)
  • Michal Otyepka (Regional Center of Advanced Technologies and materials of Palacký University)
  • Joe Hriljac (University of Birmingham)
  • Radek Zbořil Regional Center of Advanced Technologiesand materials of Palacký University)

Oct. 22, 2019 - Oct. 23, 2019

Add to Calendar 10/22/2019 10/23/2019 Europe/Prague CZ-UK Workshop on Nanomaterials

Czech-British workshop focusing on research, development and application possibilities of nanomaterials took place in Karolinum, Prague on 22 and 23 October 2019

The British Embassy in Prague and the Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry of the Faculty of Science at the Charles University organised a CZ-UK workshop on nanomaterials, which was held in Karolinum on   October 22-23, 2019. Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Mr. Nick Archer MVO, opened the workshop. From both countries, six excellent speakers were invited including e.g. A. Goodwin – Oxford, J.P. Attfield – Edinburgh, R. Catlow – Cardiff, P. Nachtigall - UK Praha, R. Zbořil – Olomouc, J. Málek – Pardubice. The invited lectures were focused on cutting edge research in materials with contributions on new types of magnetic materials, disordered solids, zeolites, catalysis or possibilities of application of synchrotron and neutron diffraction for material studies. The contributions combined experimental aspects with theoretical calculations. The lectures were followed by lively discussions.  Altogether 70 participants took part in the Workshop and presented their results as posters.

The workshop featured top experts from the UK and the Czech Republic:

  • Phoebe Allan (University of Birmingham)
  • Pavel Jelinek (Institute of Physics of the CAS)
  • Paul Attfield (University of Edinburgh)
  • Jiří Malek (The University of Pardubice)
  • Rob Bell (University College London)
  • Petr Nachtigall (Faculty of Science, Charles University)
  • Richard Catlow(Cardiff University)
  • Maksym Opanasenko (Faculty of Science, Charles University)
  • Andrew Goodwin (University of Oxford)
  • Michal Otyepka (Regional Center of Advanced Technologies and materials of Palacký University)
  • Joe Hriljac (University of Birmingham)
  • Radek Zbořil Regional Center of Advanced Technologiesand materials of Palacký University)

New publications


Intrinsic valley polarization in 2D magnetic MXenes: surface engineering induced spin-valley coupling

16 Oct 2021

Journal of Materials Chemistry C , 9, 11132-11141 (2021)

Shuo Li, Junjie He, Lukáš Grajciar and  Petr Nachtigall

MWW and MFI Frameworks as Model Layered Zeolites: Structures, Transformations, Properties, and Activity

30 Sep 2021

ACS Catalysis, 11(4), 2366–2396. (2021)  link

Shamzhy, M., Gil, B., Opanasenko, M., Roth, W. J., Čejka, J.

Researchers have found a new approach for zeolite synthesis.

18 Nov 2019

Researchers from the Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry (Valeryia Kasneryk, Mariya Shamzhy, Qiudi Yue, Michal Mazur, Russell E. Morris, Jiří Čejka and Maksym Opanasenko), in collaboration with colleagues from ...

Publications


Z. Slanina, F. Uhlík, L. Bao, T. Akasaka, X. Lu, and L. Adamowicz,
Eu@C86 isomers: Calculated relative populations
Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, 28(7), 2020

DOI, BibTeX

Z. Slanina, F. Uhlík, W. Shen, T. Akasaka, X. Lu, and L. Adamowicz,
Calculations of the relative populations of Lu@C82 isomers
Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, 27(9), 2019

DOI, BibTeX

Z. Slanina, F. Uhlík, L. Feng, T. Akasaka, X. Lu, and L. Adamowicz,
Calculations of the Lu3N@C80 two-isomer equilibrium
Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, 27(5), 2019

DOI, BibTeX

Z. Slanina, F. Uhlík, L. Feng, and L. Adamowicz,
Sc2O@C78: Calculations of the yield ratio for two observed isomers
Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, 25(2), 2017

DOI, BibTeX