We are pleased to announce that Ing. Martin Veselý, Ph.D. has received a grant from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic entitled: MicroDetect - Fast and cost-effective detection of microplastics in drinking water using AI spectro-microscopy. The project will run from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2027.

Project number: FY01010196

Project goals:

The goal of the MicroDetect project is to develop an innovative analytical system for the detection, classification, and quantification of microplastics in various types of water, especially drinking water. Current methods are often time-consuming, insufficiently precise, and difficult to apply to individual microplastic particles, which range in size from 1 μm to 5 mm. Moreover, existing approaches require extensive manual sample preparation and human interpretation of results, limiting their practical use in operational conditions. The MicroDetect project focuses on developing and validating technology that automates the microplastic analysis process and eliminates subjective errors caused by human interpretation. The project will deliver three key outputs: A utility model protecting the developed filtration apparatus – an innovative solution for the efficient separation of microplastics from water samples. A functional prototype of the filtration apparatus – a device enabling optimized microplastic filtration for subsequent analytical detection. A verified technology of the analytical system – software capable of generating automated reports on the quantity, size, and composition of microplastics based on optical analysis. This system has direct commercial potential not only in water quality monitoring and industrial processes but also in research laboratories and environmental management. Thanks to its high precision and speed, MicroDetect enables up to 80% more efficient microplastic detection compared to conventional methods, significantly improving the effectiveness and scalability of this technology in various industrial and environmental applications.

Congratulations

Reference: https://www.bosch-home.com/cz/novinky/filtr-na-mikroplasty (4.1.2026)

On November 20, 2025, the Student Scientific Conference was held again at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, with six students from our group registering to participate this year. Namely: Nikolas Letzel, Mariia Khover, Jáchym Kučera, Sofiia Zadniprianska, Zhuldyzai Zhazykbayeva, and Ihar Astanin. The most successful was the work of Nikolas Letzel, who won first place in the category Study and Use of Heterogeneous Catalysts with his work "Synthesis of Ge Nanoparticles as Fluorescent Probes for Studying the Availability of Porous Heterogeneous Catalyst Systems." Sofiia Zadniprianska also won third place in the same category with her work: Graphene oxide supported metal nanoparticles for CO₂ activation. We congratulate both winners and thank everyone else for participating. 

We are delighted to announce that Iryna Danylo has successfully defended her dissertation entitled Correlative Spectromicroscopy for the Nanoscale Characterization of Low-Dimensional Materials and Their Catalytic Applications, which she wrote under the supervision of Martin Veselý, Ph.D. 

Congratulations from the whole 2D CAT group.

Ing. Iryna Danylo, Ph.D., received an award for the best oral presentation at the 26th Annual YUCOMAT Conference for her work Correlative Spectromicroscopy of Platinum-Based Catalysts on 2D Materials: from Fabrication to Catalytic Activity.

We warmly congratulate Dr. Danylo.