Advanced materials for environmental challenges and biomedical research

It was organized by the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology as the project operator. The event brought together experts from academia and industry to discuss innovations that can contribute to a more sustainable future.

The Nanotechnogoly Centre (CNT) presented two keynote lectures. Gabriela Kratosova gave an overview of the development of ceramic and carbonised biomass-based sorption materials to help recover valuable metals from recycled lithium batteries. Grazyna Simha Martynkova discussed the links between recycling of battery components and the future of sustainable energy.
The CNT team is currently working on innovative filters and column equipment that will facilitate the recovery of secondary raw materials from Li-batteries obtained through the hydrothermal decomposition process. This project is being developed in collaboration with experts from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Bohemia and is already part of a national patent application.

The second day of the workshop focused on biomedical applications of advanced materials. Professor Marcin Basiaga from Silesian University of Technology (Gliwice, Poland) presented new technologies for the production of polymer nanocomposites for medical applications and presented his collaboration with CNT and Karla Čech Barabaszová's team. Another activity addressing e.g. the coating of joint replacements was presented by Professor Jana Seidlerová in her lecture "Surface modification of Ti-6Al-4V alloy using micro-arc oxidation and physical vapour deposition". Prof. Seidlerová and her colleagues from CNT Roman Gabor and Michaela Tokarčíková together with Associate Professor Lucie Bačáková from the Institute of Physiology of the AV ČR are developing this topic with practical potential.

The workshop had an international overlap, thanks to the participation of experts from the USA, Romania, Italy and Turkey, who are involved in joint research projects. Foreign colleagues collaborating on the project participated online. These included Khalid Lafdi from the USA, Daniela Predoi from NIMP in Romania, and Professor Tugrul Cetinkaya from the University of Sakarya in Turkey and Dr. Andrea Sorretino from UNISA in Italy.

The possibilities of using modern materials in energy and industry and how to contribute to decarbonisation and efficient waste management were discussed. Our work at CNT shows that innovation in materials can play a key role in transforming energy, recycling and medicine.
And we are proud to be part of it.