RNDr. Antonín Fejfar, CSc.

Even neighbourhood festivals are influenced by fashion trends. On the third Saturday in September, a part of Cukrovarnická Street was traditionally transformed into a friendly and sunny neighbourhood space. This year's Zažít město jinak (Experience the City Differently) event ran along the lines of the circular economy – clothes and books were exchanged, photovoltaic devices were demonstrated and there was also positive chemistry.

The latest episode of the popular series Nezkreslená věda  focuses on a key topic of our time – the photovoltaic harnessing of the Sun's energy.

We are pleased to announce the 21st IUVSTA Summer School on Physics at Nanoscale 2024, continuing the tradition of successful summer schools on nanostructures, surfaces and thin films.

Professor Chien-Cheng Kuo and a group of 14 talented students from the National Sun Yat-Sen University in Taiwan recently embarked on an unforgettable journey to the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Their mission was to delve into the world of cutting-edge research and gain invaluable real-world insights.

In the quest for a sustainable and decarbonized future, renewable energy sources have emerged as the key pillars of modern energy systems. Solar photovoltaic offers a vision of a world powered by 100% renewable electricity, where access to electricity is universal. It plays a vital role in meeting various energy demands, from communication and transportation to heating and synthetic fuels. Marko Topič's lecture covered several topics related to solar cells and photovoltaics.

There are pieces of news that are hard to believe. This applies also to the one about the decease of Vláďa Cháb, who was known for his immeasurable vitality and sporting spirit. Unfortunately, his great scientific and sporting heart stopped on the night of March 5, 2023, at the age of 76. When I heard about a month ago that he was not in good health, I did not pay much attention to the news. I believed that there was no illness or obstacle that Vláďa’s spirit could not handle. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

Will we be left with high electricity bills and is the transmission network in the Czech Republic sufficiently dimensioned? Current topics of the last months became the subject of the Current and Future Energy workshop, which was organized in the Solid21 lecture hall on January 17 by the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, where research into renewable sources is running e.g. within the Pilatus project.

Coilgun, observation and processing of miner planet occultation using CMOS cameras or determination of the atomic structure of surfaces using ion scattering - these are the winning works in the field of physics of the 44th year of the national showcase of high school scientific activities. The students were presented their awards by the FZU director Michael Prouza and his deputy Antonín Fejfar.

The results of the NextBase international project, with the participation of scientists from the FZU, have brought hope for the restoration of European competitiveness in the production of solar panels. The project has developed prototypes of solar cell with high efficiency and low-cost potential.