Our student, Ing. Michael Foltýn, together with his supervisor Ing. Michal Horák, Ph.D., was awarded 3rd place in the prestigious Werner von Siemens Award for his master’s thesis in the field of plasmonics.
In his experimentally focused research, he explored the plasmonic properties of non-noble metals such as bismuth, indium, or lead, comparing them to the traditionally used gold. Bismuth showed the greatest potential and became the main subject of the study — whether in the form of nanostructures fabricated via ion beam lithography or as chemically synthesized nanoparticles. The results confirmed that bismuth can successfully replace gold in a number of applications, opening the door to more affordable solutions, for example in medical diagnostics.
Congratulations on this great achievement and thank you for representing our institute so well!
You can find more information about the competition here, or browse the awarded thesis here.