Soft Matter Research Group

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