Young scientists have been awarded for the eleventh time in the National Student-Inventor Competition organised by the Kielce University of Technology. The purpose of the competition is to promote the involvement of students and doctoral students in the creation and development of an economy based on innovation, and in the studies conducted by research teams. This year 139 works by 272 co-authors were submitted. Jakub Wantoluk, a doctoral student from the Institute of Chemistry of the University of Silesia was among the awarded persons. He is a co-author of a patent for purifying water contaminated with heavy metal ions. Together with chemists from the University of Silesia and scientists associated with the University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz, he has developed graphene oxide modified with 5-amino-1, 10-phenanthroline. It is a chemical substance which allows for a relatively simple and effective way of sorption of heavy metal ions from solutions with a wide pH range. Details of the invention recognised in the competition can be found in the article: „Walka o czystość wód – patent” published in “Silesian research | Patents of the University of Silesia”. The results of the National Student-Inventor Competition are available at: https://tu.kielce.pl.
The authors of the invention are chemists associated with the University of Silesia: Assoc. Prof. Barbara Feist Professor of the University of Silesia, Assoc. Prof. Eng. Jacek Nycz, Professor of the University of Silesia, Prof. Rafał Sitko, Prof. Eng. Ewa Schab-Balcerzak, Dr Eng. Marcin Szala, Karina Kocot, PhD, Jakub Wantoluk, MSc, Justyna Kuczera, MSc, and also Assoc. Prof. Eng. Borys Ośmiałowski, Izabela Grela, MSc Eng., and Karina Mroczyńska, MSc from the University of Science and Technology in Bydgoszcz.
