The Soft Matter Group, headed by Professor Miroslav Štěpánek, is a part of the Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry of the Charles University in Prague. Our interdisciplinary research very much sits at the interface between physics and chemistry of macromolecules and biomacromolecules. It includes study of solutions of both synthetic and biological macromolecules; their thermodynamic and kinetic properties, such as self assembly, aggregation, diffusion, etc.

We also study mechanisms of (surface) plasmon-enhanced optical processes in molecules and of reactions undergone by molecules on surfaces of nanoparticles (NPS) in plasmonic NPs-molecules hybrid systems, with focus on the photochemical and the plasmon-mediated reactions; optimization and utilization of methods of molecular spectroscopy based on (surface) plasmon enhanced optical processes.

For studies of these systems, we use methods, such as light, X-ray and neutron scattering, calorimetry, TEM, AFM, SERS (surface-enhanced Raman scattering), SERRS (surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering), SEL (surface-enhanced luminescence), SEIRA (surface-enhanced infrared absorption) and computer modelling.

If you are interested in joining our group, as a graduate or undergraduate student, or as a postdoctoral fellow, please see the page open positions

Theory and simulations

  • Coarse grained simulations of polymers
  • Mean-field and analytical numerical modeling
  • Simulations of acid-base equilibria and reaction equilibria in complex fluids

Experiment

  • Light scattering
  • TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy)
  • AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy)
  • Calorimetry
  • Fluorometry

Academic staff

Miroslav Štěpánek

prof. RNDr., Ph.D.

Professor

Pavel Matějíček

prof. RNDr., Ph.D.

Professor

Peter Košovan

Doc. RNDr., Ph.D.

Associate professor

Ivana Šloufová

RNDr., Ph.D

Assistant professor

Mariusz Uchman

Ing., Ph.D.

Assistant professor

Blanka Vlčková

prof. RNDr., CSc.

Professor

Robert Mundil

Ing., Ph.D.

Postdoctoral fellow

Katarzyna Maria Byś

Ing.

Doctoral student

Belhssen Hleli

M.Sc.

Doctoral student

Jana Hrnčířová

Mgr.

Doctoral student

Jan Kožíšek

Mgr.

Doctoral student

Soňa Mesíková

Bc.

Master student

Patricia Montes Rubio

Mgr.

Doctoral student

Sebastian Pineda Pineda

M.Sc.

Doctoral student

Ipsita Padhee

M.Sc.

Doctoral student

Magdaléna Nejedlá

Bc.

Master student

Kristýna Dušková

Bachelor student

Paulína Šimková

Bachelor student

Eliška Müllerová

Bachelor student

Eliška Stančíková

Bachelor student

Vojtěch Keprta

Bachelor student

Jakub Krieger

Bachelor student

Research topics

Block copolymer nanoparticles

28 May 2019

  • Self-assembled block copolymer colloids (micelles, vesicles)
  • Polyelectrolyte surfactant complexes
  • Interpolyelectrolyte complexes
  • Encapsulation of low-molar-mass compounds in polymeric nanoparticles
 

Boron cluster compounds

28 May 2019

  • Solution behavior of anionic boron cluster compounds
  • Physicochemical properties of boron cluster conjugates
  • synthesis of polymers based on boron clusters
 

Macromolecular synthesis

28 May 2019

  • Synthesis of functional block copolymers
  • Postpolymerization reactions
  • Boron Cluster- and Phenyl Boronic Acid-containing polymers
 

Single molecule SERS spectroscopy.

16 Jan 2019

Detection of target adsorbates at ultralow concentrations and/or on a single molecule level. Design and preparation of substrates providing high SERS enhancement.

SERS and SERRS spectral studies of surface complexes

16 Jan 2019

SERS and SERRS spectral studies of formation, dynamics and decomposition of transition metal-adsorbate complexes on the surface of plasmonic metal nanoparticles. SERS and SERRS spectral monitoring of free-base porphyrin metallation ...

Synthesis and assembling of mono-and bi-metallic plasmonic metal nanoparticles.

16 Jan 2019

Synthesis and morphological as well as optical characterization of mono-and bi-metallic plasmonic metal (mainly Ag and Au) nanoparticles. Preparation of their hybrid systems with selected molecules, namely porphyrins, phthalocyanines transition ...

Surface-enhanced luminescence (SEL)

16 Jan 2019

Comparison of the mechanisms of SERS, SERRS and SEL. Tayloring of plasmonic metal substrates for SERRS or SEL of a particular chromophore/luminophore.

Selected Publications

of Soft Matter group

M. Stornes, P. M. Blanco, and R. S. Dias,
Polyelectrolyte-nanoparticle mutual charge regulation and its influence on their complexation
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects, 628, 2021

DOI, BibTeX

Z. Slanina, F. Uhlík, L. Feng, T. Akasaka, X. Lu, and L. Adamowicz,
Calculations of the Lu3N@C80 two-isomer equilibrium
Fullerenes, Nanotubes and Carbon Nanostructures, 27(5), 2019

DOI, BibTeX