Prof. Radek Zbořil, Ph.D.

(*1973). After receiving his PhD degree in 2000, Radek Zbořil stayed at several universities, for example, the University of Delaware or the University of Tokyo. Since 2010, he has been a Professor at Palacký University Olomouc. He was a Founding Director (2010–2020) of the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM) at Palacký University Olomouc. Since 2018, he has been a guest scientist at Friedrich–Alexander University Erlangen–Nürnberg, Germany. Currently, he acts as the Scientific Director of the RCPTM division of the Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN). He is also a vice-director of Nanotechnology Centre and leads the Materials-Envi Lab at the Centre for Energy and Environmental Technologies (CEET) at VSB-Technical University Ostrava.

Between years 2012 and 2019, prof. Zbořil also acted as the Director of the Competence Centre of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic dealing with advanced nanotechnologies and biotechnologies for water and soil treatment (Nanobiowat). He was a member of the Board of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (Alfa programme) and of the Scientific Board for chemistry of the Neuron Endowment Fund. He was or still is a member of the Editorial Boards of several journals published by Elsevier, Wiley or Nature family. Since 2012, he has been the Chairman of Nanocon, one of the largest conferences in the field of nanotechnologies in the Central European region. Since 2014, he has been the Chairman of the prestigious Zahradník lecture series, having hosted many world-recognized speakers. He also organized the US–Czech Conference on Advanced Nanotechnology and Chemistry under the auspices of the US Ambassador, Stephen B. King.

Prof. Zbořil has received many awards for his research. Among others, he was awarded by the Czech Republic’s Minister of Education for extraordinary results achieved in the field of research, experimental development and innovations (2011). He also won the Werner von Siemens Award (2018) or the Miloš Hudlický Award given by the Czech Chemical Society (2023). He was one of the laureates of two awards “Visionary 2021” for his works in water treatment and antimicrobial technologies. He also acted as the panel member for the evaluation of prestigious ERC Advanced grants (2022) and as the external panel evaluator of ERC Advanced grants (2023).  

The research of Prof. Zbořil’s is focused on advanced nanotechnologies, low-dimensional materials and single-atom engineering towards applications in biomedicine, water treatment, catalysis, energy, and environmental technologies, with other application strategies being developed. Examples of his main achievements include the development of the world’s thinnest insulator based on fluorographene (Small 2010), room-temperature organic magnets based on functionalized graphene (Nature Communications 2018), and the first two-dimensional carboxylic acid named graphene acid (ACS Nano 2017). Furthermore, his team contributed to, for example, the discovery of the mechanism behind the bacterial resistance to silver nanoparticles, alongside a way to overcome it (Nature Nanotechnology 2019), the development of 1D non-metallic conductors (Nature Nanotechnology 2020), the first iron-based heterogeneous catalyst for hydrogenation of nitriles (Nature Catalysis 2022) or novel plasmonic catalysts for selective reduction of nitroarenes under visible light (Nature Nanotechnology 2022; Nature Nanotechnology 2023).

Prof. Zbořil has also contributed to the development of numerous technologies that have been successfully implemented in the fields of water treatment and biotechnologies (e.g., EP 2 873 329, EP 3 585 736 and EP 2 164 656). Among others, the technology for the large-scale production of iron nanoparticles is successfully applied by NANO IRON company for groundwater treatment in Europe, US, and Asia; or the technology for the separation of antiviral and antimicrobial lactoferrin protein from the milk medium has been licensed to companies in the Czech Republic and Poland. He is also co-inventor of the technology being in Phase II of clinical trials in metastatic breast cancer treatment (2016-001386-81 EudraCT).

He is an author and co-author of more than 650 papers and many books/book chapters published by, e.g., American Chemical Society, Wiley, or American Institute of Physics. His publications have received over 84 900/63 600 citations (Google Scholar/Web of Science). His H-index is 135/116 (February, 2026). Professor Zbořil has appeared many times on the list of Highly Cited Researchers, published annually by Clarivate Analytics in the USA and on the list of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide by Stanford University. Based on the prestigious research.com)  ranking, he is the most cited Czech scientist in the field of materials science (2022, 2023). In the world ranking, he is among the Top 5 most highly cited scientists in Water Treatment, Top 20 in Energy, and Top 50 in Catalysis and Nanotechnology, according to Google Scholar.

Professor Zbořil is the Principal Investigator of many national and international grant projects, with the financial support for Palacký University Olomouc and VSB-Technical University Ostrava totalling more than EUR 80 million.

Nature family publications

Publications in Chemical Reviews and Chemical Society Reviews

Selected Cover Arts

Selected publications in impacted journals

(February, 2026)

Journal	Publications count	Impact factor 2024
Chemical Reviews	8	55.8
Nature Catalysis	1	44.6
Progress in Materials Science	1	40
Chemical Society Reviews	6	39
Nano Micro Letters	1	36.3
Nature Nanotechnology	4	34.9
Energy & Environmental Science	3	30.8
Advanced Materials	13	26.8
Materials Science and Engineering	1	26.8
Advanced Energy Materials	2	26
Coordination Chemistry Reviews	5	23.5
Applied Catalysis B-Environment and Energy	1	21.1
Chem	1	19.6
Advances in Colloid and Interface Science	2	19.3
Advanced Functional Materials	17	19
Accounts of Chemical Research	2	17.7
Nano Energy	1	17.1
Angewandte Chemie	9	16.9
ACS Nano	16	16
Nature Communications	5	15.7
Journal of the American Chemical Society	9	15.6
Advanced Science	5	14.1
Chemical Engineering Journal	8	13.2
ACS Catalysis	10	13.1
Biomaterials	4	12.9
Ecomat	1	12.6
Biotechnology Advances	1	12.5
Water Research	3	12.4
Small	21	12.1
Carbon	19	11.6
Journal of Hazardous Materials	6	11.3
Environmental Science & Technology	11	11.3
Nano Today	1	10.9
Materials Horizons	1	10.7
Biosensors & Bioelectronics	5	10.5
Journal of Materials Chemistry A	17	9.5
Green Chemistry	12	9.2
Nano Letters	2	9.1
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces	11	8.2
Journal of Power Sources	1	7.9
Chemical Science	3	7.4
Advanced Optical Materials	2	7.2
Chemistry of Materials	20	7.0

Selected Patents

Immobilization method of silver nanoparticles to solid substrates

Priority Application: PV 2011-549

1. Patent: CZ 303 502. Granted: 12.9.2012. Inventors: Soukupová Jana, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.
2. Published Application PCT/CZ2012/000068 under WO 2013/029574 (7.3.2013)
3. Patent: EP 2 701 515. Granted: 6.9.2017. Inventors: Soukupová Jana, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.
4. Patent: US 9,505,027. Granted: 29.11.2016. Inventors: Soukupová Jana, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.

Status: Available

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Process of whey protein separation from milk medium

Priority Application: PV 2013-885

1. Patent: CZ 305 371. Granted: 8.7.2015. Inventors: Holá Kateřina, Zbořil Radek, Medřík Ivo. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.
2. Patent: EP 2 873 329. Granted: 17.5.2017. Inventors: Holá Kateřina, Zbořil Radek, Medřík Ivo. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.

Status:   2018 granted for a non-exclusive license to LACTOFIRM (CZ) 2021 granted for a non-exclusive license to FERILAC (PL) Available for a non-exclusive license

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Composite material comprising organic-fibres and zerovalent iron nanoparticles and its use as catalyst

Priority Application: EP 14184322.7

1. Patent: CZ 306 844. Granted: 28.6.2017. Inventors: Kasibhatta Kumara, Petala Eleni, Kasibhatta Josena, Perman Jason, Filip Jan, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.

Status: Available

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Method for verification of product authenticity

Priority application: PV 2015-140

1. Patent: EP 3 262 184. Granted: 2.10.2019. Inventors: Ranc Václav, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.

Status: Available

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POLYMER SUBSTRATE WITH IMMOBILIZED SILVER NANOPARTICLES AND METHOD OF PREPARATION THEREOF

Priority application: PV 2016-38

1. Patent: CZ 307 996. Granted: 28.8.2019. Inventors: Soukupová Jana, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.
2. Published application: PCT/CZ2017/050002 under WO 2017/129153 (3.8.2017)
3. Patent: EP 3 407 715. Granted: 18.12.2019. Inventors: Soukupová Jana, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.

Status: Available

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Effervescent zero-valent iron compositions and method of remediation of pollutants from aqueous solutions

Priority application: PCT/CZ2017/050009

1. Published application: PCT/CZ2017/050009 under WO 2018/153389 (30.8.2018)
2. Patent: EP 3 585 736. Granted: 21.4.2021. Inventors: Petala Eleni, Filip Jan, Zbořil Radek. Ownership: Palacký University, Olomouc.

Status: Available

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Solar Thermoplasmonic Nanofurnace for Zeptolitre–Scale Chemistry and Method for Making and Using Same

Priority application: US 62/843,058

1. Published application: US 62/843,058 under 20200347508 (5.11.2020)
2. Published application: US 16/865,365 under 20200347508 (5.11.2020)
3. Published application: PCT/CZ2020/050028 under WO 2020/224685 (12.11.2020)

Status: Available

Selected Grant Projects

Principal investigator of grant projects with subsidy for UP over 75 mil. EUR

Project Title	Amount (EUR)	Period	Role
Control of electronic properties of metal-containing molecules through their noncovalent interactions with solvents, ligands and 2D nanosystems Funding source: Czech Science Foundation (GAČR), call EXPRO	1.1 million	2019–2023	project co-leader
Nanotechnologies for Future Funding source: ESF/Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: Operational programme OPVVV, “Excellent Research”	13 million	2018–2022	project leader
Advanced Hybrid Nanostructures for Renewable Energy Applications Funding source: ESF/Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: Operational programme OPVVV, “Excellent Teams”	5 million	2017–2022	project leader
Environmentally friendly nanotechnologies and biotechnologies in water and soil treatment (NANOBIOWAT) Funding source: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR), call: Centres of Competence	11.7 million	2012–2019	project leader
Development of Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials Funding source: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: National Programme of Sustainability	21 million	2014–2019	project leader
Centre for environment friendly high effective polymer antimicrobial agents for industrial applications, (ALTERBIO) Funding source: Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (TAČR), call: Centres of Competence	650 000 (UP budget)	2014–2019	leader of the team at UP
Taking Nanotechnological Remediation Processes from Lab Scale to End User Applications for the Restoration of a Clean Environment (NANOREM) Funding source: EU: FP7- NMP	274 000 (UP budget)	2013–2017	leader of the team at UP
Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials Funding source: ERDF/ Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: Operational programme OP VaVpI	20.1 million	2010–2014	project leader
Development of the research team of the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials and its involvement in international networks and projects Funding source: ERDF/ Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: Operational programme OPVK	1.5 million	2011–2014	project leader
Research team of the Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials with a focus on unconventional experimental techniques in materials and optical research Funding source: ERDF/ Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: Operational programme OPVK	835 000	2012–2015	project leader
Nanomaterials and nanotechnologies for environmental protection and a sustainable future Funding source: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports CZ, call: Large Research Infrastructures	603 000 (UP budget)	2016–2019	leader of the team at UP

Selected Awards

• 2024 - The Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW)
• 2023 - The Miloš Hudlický Award given by the Czech Chemical Society
• 2022-2023 - Materials Science in Czech Republic Leader Award – the most cited CZ scientist in materials science
• 2021 - Visionary 2021 Award for the works in water treatment and antimicrobial technologies
• 2020-2021 - Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry, awarded by Clarivate Analytics, USA
• 2021 - World’s top 2% scientists according to the Stanford University
• 2019 - Highly Cited Researcher in Cross-field, awarded by Clarivate Analytics, USA
• 2018 - Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry, awarded by Clarivate Analytics, USA
• 2018 - Werner von Siemens Award
• 2016 - Gold Medal at International Exhibition of Technical Innovations, Patents, and Inventions INVENT ARENA, Třinec, Czech Republic
• 2015 - City Olomouc award for the year 2014 in the field of science and research
• 2011 - Prize of the Czech Republic’s Minister of Education for extraordinary results achieved in the field of research, experimental development and innovations.

Selected Lectures

• Global Summit and Expo on Graphene and 2D Materials (2DMAT2021) in Paris, France, August 23-25 2021 (plenary talk together with prof. Konstantin Novoselov, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2010)
• 8th edition of the largest European Conference & Exhibition in Graphene and 2D Materials (GRAPHENE 2018), Dresden, Germany, June 26-29, 2018.
• IV. Mediterranean Thematic Workshop in Advanced Molecular Imaging (MEDAMI 2016), Ajaccio, Corsica, May 1-5, 2016.
• International Scientific Conference on Nanomaterials & Applications (NANOAPP), Portoroz, Slovenia, September 22-26, 2013.
• 4th International Conference from Nanoparticles and Nanomaterials to Nanodevices and Nanosystems (IC4N), Corfu, Greece, June 16-20, 2013 (keynote talk together with prof. Daniel Shechtman, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry 2011)

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