Award for Ondrej Havelka

Simply: he is a young "nanoscientist". "This is an astonishing technology that enables the preparation of nanoparticles, and our team has contributed to the discovery of the field itself and possible solutions to the problems of the world today by exploring it," says Ondrej Havelka. With his further research, he wants to prevent the birth of the era of superbugs, which is inevitably coming to us, and the recognition of laser synthesis as the main competitor of nanoparticle preparation to modern chemical methods.

For what work did you win this prestigious award?
The ministry has recognised achievements in the synthesis of advanced nanoparticles using pulsed lasers. This astonishing method of preparing nanoparticles leads our team to try to shed light on issues that are quite fundamental to today's society. Thus, our research interests have expanded to include a wide range of applications such as heterogeneous catalysis, development of smart fluids, recovery of clean water from oil-polluted sources, among others.

What does laser preparation of nanoparticles involve?
The whole process can be imagined as an ancient story where Jesus was to have water turned into wine. But you're in for a different story. You show up at a good restaurant and order a glass of pure water. You take a piece of gold, for women it may be the gold earrings they are wearing, and you drop it into your glass of water. Next, you start pointing a very intense beam of light at the earrings in the glass, which is one particular color. Within moments, the original clear liquid in your glass will begin to turn red. Eventually, the water in the glass will turn completely colored and look like wine. In fact, the liquid will be full of floating gold nanoparticles that are so small that their spherical shape in the water itself will be invisible to us. All we'll see is a deep red liquid that will fascinate us.

What does this award for outstanding students mean to you personally?
The prize is awarded by the Ministry to students for outstanding achievements in scientific, developmental, artistic or other creative activities. Only university rectors can nominate for the award, so I hereby sincerely thank you for the constant trust from Rector Brzezina. I appreciate the award all the more because it is awarded to students from all fields of study at universities in the Czech Republic - natural sciences, engineering, arts and humanities.

What do you enjoy most in your research work?
I think the process of discovering and challenging. Now I would like to work on solving the world's biggest problem in the field of laser synthesis, which is predetermining the internal structure of bimetallic nanoparticles. In terms of the application of this problem, I will currently be concerned with preventing the birth of the era of superbugs, which is inevitably approaching us also due to the overuse of antibiotics.
I would also like to help make laser synthesis a major competitor for nanoparticle preparation to modern chemical methods. The formation of a new laser industry would make it possible to avoid the paradoxical scenario where we drown in the chemical waste resulting from the preparation of nanomaterials that were originally intended to help us make the world a better place.

Who is Ondrej Havelka?
He is a nanotechnology researcher at the Department of Environmental Chemistry at the Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovations of the Technical University of Liberec, where he co-founded the laser research team "FEMTO-NANO group". Together with his scientific colleagues and students, he is involved in the preparation of advanced nanoparticles using high-power pulsed lasers. He collaborates with international laboratories from the University of Padua, Silesian Technical University in Katowice and the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC). Besides his scientific activities, he is an active member of the Academic Senate of TUL and the Student Chamber of the Council of Universities. As a volunteer blood donor he has already managed nearly 100 donations, i.e. nearly 70 litres of this life-saving fluid.