We are part of the University Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies (CEET). We provide teaching in the bachelor's, master's and doctoral study program Nanotechnology in Czech and English. Our students are involved in solving projects and practical requests of industrial companies. The main research focus of the Nanotechnology Centre includes synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials and their composites, the application of nanotechnologies and advanced materials and their environmental safety, nanophysics, magneto-optics, plasmonics and spintronics, and molecular modelling and simulation. We have top modern equipment, we cooperate with industry, domestic and foreign universities and institutes. We offer the services of an accredited laboratory according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025 2005.
The history of the Nanotechnology Centre begins with establishing of the Central Analytical Laboratory (CAL), which was founded at the VŠB University in 1992 under the leadership of prof. RNDr. Zdeněk Weiss, DrSc. The laboratories were equipped with at that time highly sophisticated laboratory devices within the European Phare project and the main task was to provide services to VŠB-TUO and to customers from the industrial, commercial and legislative spheres. In 1997, the laboratory services were accredited by the Czech Accreditation Institute o.p.s. and this accreditation is still maintained and developed.
In 2005, prof. RNDr. Pavla Čapková, DrSc. became the director. She continued the then-current activities of the institute and at the same time fulfilled the vision of the founder by building the foundations of the Nanotechnology Centre, which was established on 1 February 2007 by the transformation of VÚCHEM. Since then, the institute's activities have focused mainly on research in the field of preparation, characterization and application of nanomaterials, while the original content related to service, development and research activities in the field of chemical, phase and structural analysis has been maintained and is also being further developed.
Research in the field of nanotechnologies was further supported by the establishment of a study program in the field of Nanotechnology, which was prepared in close cooperation with the Institute of Physics at the Faculty of Mining and Geology VŠB-TUO. Since the successful accreditation of the doctoral study program in 2012, several students have already completed this study.
In 2010, prof. Ing. Jaromír Pištora, CSc. became the director. He continued to develop the activities on which the Nanotechnology Centre was built and at the same time built new opportunities for young scientists and researchers, for example by supporting a double degree doctoral program in nanotechnology, the so-called "double degree" study in collaboration with universities in France, USA and Canada.
On 1 January 2021, the Nanotechnology Centre merged with the Institute of Environmental Technology, the Energy Research Centre and the Centre for Energy and and Environmental Technologies to form the new University Centre of Energy and Environmental Technologies (CEET).
On 1 Februrary 2024, prof. Ing. Gražyna Simha Martynková, Ph.D. was named the director of the Centre of Nanotechnologies.
