Unparalleled collaboration between the Zlín Centre of Polymer Systems with a US-based cutting-edge scientific hub

The Centre of Polymer Systems (CPS), a research institute of Tomas Bata University (TBU) in Zlín, has been very successful in collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA. The US partner’s staff member, Prof. Yuriy Román, has been awarded a grant from the Global Seed Funds call (announced by MIT) – more specifically, MIT-Czech Republic Seed Fund, where David Škoda is participating as an international collaborator on behalf of the CPS.

“The scientific activity within this Czech-American collaboration is focused on the preparation of heterogeneous catalysts for olefin metathesis, and builds on an ongoing project we are managing together with MIT,” says David Škoda. 

The MIT-Czech Republic Seed Fund serves to support, foster and develop international collaboration between participating research organisations. As part of the above, the research focuses on the preparation of novel materials that act as highly active catalysts for the processing of hydrocarbons containing a double bond (propylene, ethylene, butene), which are essential base materials in the production of the increasingly widely used plastics.

Consequently, processing these hydrocarbons in a way that is efficient and has the least possible environmental impact is a major challenge for the chemical industry. “At CPS, we have developed a method to prepare catalysts that achieve high activity by having a special structure with an ideal distribution of active centres for catalysis. Using the substances, it will be possible to process hydrocarbons with double bonds more efficiently and achieve higher yields of chemical reactions in a shorter time, which will mean reduced energy consumption and consequently resource savings in these processes,” adds David Škoda.

The synthesis of catalysts is the very task which scientists at the Centre of Polymer Systems in Zlín handle. In addition to David Škoda, the project also involves Barbora Hanulíková and PhD student Vít Hrbáček. Tests of the efficiency of the prepared catalysts and special advanced characterisation of these materials are underway at MIT. “It is a great honour for us to cooperate with such a top institution as MIT is and we believe that we will continue to develop this cooperation. The fact that we were selected for the MIT-Czech Republic Seed Fund project indicates that they are counting on our cooperation in the future,” says Barbora Hanulíková.

The CPS team consisting of David Škoda and Barbora Hanulíková visited MIT in early July. “During the meeting, we discussed the current results of the synthesis of catalysts created on the part of the CPS and the results of the measurement of their catalytic activity, which is being studied at MIT. During our stay, we also paid several visits to the laboratory where catalytic reactions are carried out to get inspired by the local equipment in terms of devices and instruments,” says Barbora Hanulíková. CPS-based PhD student Vít Hrbáček travelled to the US as well to complete a six-month work placement. Together with him, Tomáš Pokorný, a PhD student from Masaryk University Brno, who is also involved in the project, is at MIT for a second – rather brief – one-month internship.

“The cooperation of our Centre with such an important world institution proves that we have excellent employees and unique equipment here in Zlín to work on world-class and high-quality research projects,” concludes Prof. Vladimír Sedlařík, the CPS Director.

(https://misti.mit.edu/faculty-funds/past-seed-fund-winners)