A significant academic milestone has been achieved by our colleague Ladislav Svoboda, who has successfully concluded his habilitation process. Since 2025, he has also been leading the Advanced Nanomaterials Laboratory at the CEET Nanotechnology Centre, where he and his team develop research into materials designed for environmental protection, energy, and health safety.
His habilitation thesis, entitled "Photocatalytic Nanomaterials: From Design to Applications", presents a comprehensive line of research focused on semiconductor nanomaterials based on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄).
The research maps out the entire developmental journey in detail—from the basic, less active material, through two-dimensional nanosheets, to advanced systems fixed onto nanofibrous textiles. The primary objective of the work was not merely achieving laboratory results, but developing functional, real-world systems that find applications in areas such as water and surface purification, biological protection, or efficient hydrogen production.
A fundamental practical output of this work is the patent "Method of permanent decontamination of an air filter surface by photocatalytic inactivation of biological agents" (CZ 309592), which was developed in response to the need for safer filtration systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The technology not only captures biological particles but also inactivates them directly on the filter surface, significantly reducing the risk of secondary contamination. The material's effectiveness was verified by the State Institute for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection (SÚJCHBO).
The results achieved are already fostering new partnerships aimed at transferring the newly developed materials and laboratory methods into industrial operations. Svoboda is currently developing collaborations with the Faculty of Materials Science and Technology at VSB-TUO and the company Pardam. Furthermore, he is preparing the next phase of testing for chemical and biological protection in cooperation with SÚJCHBO.
However, he plans to push the boundaries of nanotechnology even further with his team: "In my habilitation thesis, a crucial step was the transition from bulk material to thin and modified two-dimensional nanosheets, which extend laterally up to hundreds of nanometres. But now, I am working on a system that goes even lower in terms of dimensions. The new system is composed of carbon nitride-based quantum dots with a size of only about 6 nm. Although materials of this type are well-known, I have managed to develop a technology that enables their preparation in larger quantities. This opens up a much wider scope for testing them in various applications, such as single-atom catalysis, optoelectronics, medicine, sensors, bioimaging, and other fields," stated Ladislav Svoboda.
The career path of the newly appointed Associate Professor has been shaped primarily by scientific placements at prestigious research institutions abroad. Alongside his research work, however, he has also long been active as a volunteer and mentor in the "Vstaň a choď" (Stand Up and Walk) community, which supports people with physical disabilities. He considers this very combination of high-quality research with determination, openness, and mutual support to be the foundation for leading a successful research team and inspiring the future generation of students.
Ladislav Svoboda elaborates further on the research into photocatalytic nanomaterials and their real-world applications in the following interview:
1. To begin with, I would like to ask: what specific problem is the research into photocatalytic nanomaterials intended to solve in practice?
These materials have a wide range of applications. At the core of our work is the materials engineering of nanomaterials—we design and modify their structure so that they possess precisely defined properties for a given application. We then verify these materials in three specific directions. The first is water and air purification, where we eliminate pollutants that are difficult to degrade. Furthermore, we focus on the biological and chemical protection of surfaces, which then actively destroy viruses, bacteria, or hazardous chemical substances themselves. Recently, our research has also steered towards the energy sector, where we use solar radiation to produce clean hydrogen from water.
2. Could you tell me what makes graphitic carbon nitride better compared to other materials for purifying water, surfaces, and air, or for hydrogen production?
Conventional photocatalysts, such as titanium dioxide, require the UV component of radiation to reach full efficiency. They work in direct sunlight, but a problem arises indoors or behind glass, which filters out UV radiation. Graphitic carbon nitride works directly under ordinary visible light, which is its main advantage for practical use. It is a stable, non-toxic, and inexpensive material. My habilitation thesis demonstrated precisely these possibilities of materials engineering and the methods by which its activity can be enhanced. We are capable of surface-treating and modifying it depending on the specific application, thereby directly controlling its properties according to what we require from it in a given system. In short, it is highly flexible, which is one of the reasons why there is such great interest in this material.
3. Speaking of this interest, what was pivotal when transitioning from a laboratory material to a functional technology usable, for instance, in filters or nanofibrous textiles?
In the laboratory, you mostly work with the material in powder form, which is unusable in practice. The powder would be washed away or blown away immediately. Therefore, it was crucial to figure out how to firmly anchor the nanomaterial onto our nanofibrous supports. The main challenge lay in ensuring that the particles adhere reliably to the surface while remaining accessible to light and reactants. If you completely submerge a photocatalyst in a binder, it stops working. We thus had to find an optimal fixation technology that preserves its high activity.
4. I would be interested to know how it is verified that these materials actually work outside laboratory conditions and are ready for practical deployment?
Initial tests are always carried out in our laboratory. If those turn out well, we approach external partners who are capable of testing the materials in a more realistic environment—such as the State Institute for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Protection. All of our developed materials are demonstrably active; their functionality has been repeatedly proven. In practice, however, the key factor is primarily how quickly and effectively the reaction takes place in a real-world environment, where conditions are not ideal.
5. If we focus on real-world application, where do these new nanomaterials hold potential, and what steps are still missing to bring them into practice?
The closest to application are decontamination air filters, as well as materials for the chemical and biological protection of emergency services or the military. As for the next steps, in the laboratory, we prepare materials on the scale of grams. The main task now is to scale this technology up to an industrial level and ensure that large-scale production is economically sustainable while the material retains its properties.