Enhancing scientific cooperation in the field of materials research was the main goal of an online networking meeting between the Czech Republic and Taiwan, which was organized on April 9 by the Czech Liaison Office for Education and Research in Brussels together with the Czech Economic and Cultural Office Taipei. The Czech Republic was represented by four domestic universities, with Radek Zbořil, a physical chemist and the Head of the Materials-Envi Lab at CEET, speaking on behalf of VSB-TUO.
“At the meeting I presented the Materials-Envi Lab research in the areas of solar energy conversion, water purification, energy storage and new approaches to the solution of antibiotic resistance. I also presented the possibilities of new low-dimensional materials in optoelectronics, medical diagnostics and sensing and technologies used to prepare so-called atomic catalysts including their use in modern chemistry,” said Zbořil, evaluating the meeting.
In addition to VSB-TUO, the event was also attended by Charles University, the University of Chemistry and Technology and Czech Technical University in Prague. Speakers from National Taiwan University, National Tsing Hua University, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology spoke on behalf of the Taiwanese side. The presentations included a wide range of research topics such as the study of quantum materials, hydrogen storage and transport, green energy, biomedicine and biomaterials, photonics, nano-structured materials or semiconductors.
“My colleagues from Taiwan and I have identified several common research areas, especially in the field of green energy. We are particularly interested in the offer of colleagues from the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University to use a unique synchrotron device using high-energy X-ray radiation to describe the structural and electronic properties of the materials that we are developing. With colleagues from the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology we have found possibilities of cooperation in the field of photochemical production of hydrogen,” concluded Zbořil.