Dr hab. Wiktor Lewandowski is a chemist working in photonics and materials chemistry and a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Warsaw. He is also the winner of this year’s NCN Award for Physical Sciences and Engineering for his groundbreaking technique for the production of chiral photonic nanomaterials.
Lewandowski will talk about his research in the “Science in the Centre” series, organised by the Copernicus Centre and the NCN. The meeting will take place at 6 pm on Wednesday, 20 November and will be livestreamed on the YouTube channel of the Copernicus Centre.
Nanotechnology, or the science of materials and structures at nanometre scale, is opening up new horizons for all of us. Materials with dimensions of less than one billionth of a metre show properties that may revolutionise many areas of our lives. Some nanotechnology products are already available in the market, ranging from QLED TV sets, which offer previously unheard-of image quality, to rapid test kits that have improved our diagnostic capabilities. A technique for the production of certain kinds of nanomaterials was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023.
But do we understand the full potential of nanotechnology? Do we really know how to tap it, especially in view of their strong interactions with light? It is the ability to control the way nanomaterials interact with light that might hold the key to rapid new advances in optoelectronics and photonics.
In their research, Prof. Lewandowski and his team have demonstrated that it is possible to obtain the helical organisation of nanoparticles using liquid crystals. This self-organisation leads to the production of chiral materials that respond differently to light of opposite circular polarisations. The strategy proposed by the team is scalable and can be applied to various types of nanomaterials. Moreover, in a sense, it goes beyond what nature itself has achieved in the realm of nanotechnology. It proves that by understanding and harnessing the principles of self-organisation, we can create materials with completely novel properties.
Upcoming lectures:
The next lecture in the “Science in the Centre” series will be given on 27 November by Błażej Skrzypulec, this year’s winner of the NCN Award for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, followed, on 4 December, by Marcin Magierowski, the winner in Life Swciences.
You can also hear Wiktor Lewandowski speaking on the NCN podcast.