Recent achievements
Martin was awarded with the prestigious ERC grant
Martin Setvin has awarded the ERC Consolidator grant for his project "SPOT (Single Polaron Tracking)". The project will open up interesting physics on polaron dynamics in ionic materials. The project will last for 5 years.
New publication on Polarons in Hematite
We combined non contact Atomic Force Microscopy with theoretical modelling to track polarons and how they evolve in real space. We were able to image polarons on the surface of hematite
Quantum Materials for Sustainable Technologies (QM4ST)
A large collaborative project has started in october 2023 named Quantum Materials for Sustainable Technologies (QM4ST). 4 institutes from Pilsen, Prague and Brno are involved, the total funding is 20M EUR for 5 years. The main focus is developing new materials with tailored properties.
"Neuron" prize came to the house
Martin Setvin won the "Neuron" price in the category young scientist. It is the highest scientific award one can achieve in Czech Republic. Let's keep doing good science.
What's New
September 2025: Marta Macyk joined us for a short term research stay
Marta from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland has joined our group for few weeks to work as part of her PhD. She is working on ferroelectric perovskites.
September 2025: Aji Alexander defended his thesis suscessfully
Our PhD student, Aji Alexander became Doctor officially upon defending his thesis. His research was focused on perovskite oxide surfaces, specifically understanding their interactions with adsorbates and light. He will be leaving our group soon, but for furthering in his research career.
July 2025: Few updates in group
Jesus went back to Spain to continue his research at San Sebastian. But he will be in close collaboration with Prague. Marek left the group for a new path in his career. He wishes to continue in academia as a teacher at school.
June-August 2025: Ugo worked with us as on his Master project
Ugo is a Master student from Grenoble, France. He did his Master project with us. His work was an ambitious effort of making new sensors for STM/AFM with Lithium Niobate. He had succeeded in preparing a prototype sensor.
March 2025: Rosear won the Marie Curie Czech grant
Rosear succeeded in getting the Marie Curie Czech grant for her research. She is going to be an independent researcher with her own funding.
November 2024-February 2025: Llorence was out for his foregin research stay
Llorence was out for his foregin research stay, as part of his PhD, to San Sebastian, Spain. He was working there with Sara Barja on defect engineering in HOPG.
December 2024: Martin won the ERC grant
Martin Setvin has awarded with the prestigious ERC consolidator grant for his project "SPOT-Single Polaron Tracking" The project will start in 2025 and last for 5 years. The aim of the project is to obtain the complete picture of polaron dynamics in ionic materials.
September 2024: Rosear won the Best Visual Student Paper Prize
Rosear was awarded with the best visual student paper prize in the 2024 Fall meeting of E-MRS. Her Presentation was on copper sulfide electrocatalyst for HER and CO2 reduction.
April 2024: Rosear joined the group
Roser Fernandez Climent joined us as a postdoc. She is from Chemistry background and she is the official chemist of the group. She is mainly working on Electrochemistry and the major task is to link Electrochemistry and Surface science.
January 2024: Jesus is back from Spain
Jesus comes back to our group, after spending two years in San Sebastian with Sara Barja. Jesus will stay here for one year with his own GACR funding (GACR postdoc outgoing). Then he will move to Spain for another two years with his MSMT postdoc project. His main topic will be combining surface science with electrochemistry.
October 2023: Marek joined the group
Marek Kuzmiak (left) comes as a replacement for Dominik Wrana (right) Interestingly, many people did not notice the change. Marek is from Slovakia (Kosice). Marek has two tasks. First, he will take over the LEED I-V project. Second, he will revive our room temperature STM.
October 2023: Sreehari joined the group
Sreehari Sreekumar joins us as a doctoral student. Sreehari comes from Kerala (India). He is working with our cryogenic nc-AFM/STM. The main research focus is be on polarons.