prof. Ing. Jiří Málek, DrSc.

Prof. Ing. Jiří Málek, DrSc., completed his doctoral studies at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Pardubice (later the University of Pardubice) in 1986. He worked for a long time at universities and scientific workplaces in Spain and Japan. He worked in the Joint Laboratory of Solid-State Chemistry of the University of Pardubice and the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 1997 he was appointed Associate Professor in Inorganic Technology and Doctor of Sciences in 2000 in the same field. He was appointed Professor in Physical Chemistry in 2002. Since 2002 he has been working at the Department of Physical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemical Technology of the University of Pardubice. He is a national representative in the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry. Prof. Málek was Vice-Chairman of the Government Council for Research, Development and Innovation, Chairman of the National Commission for Evaluation of Results. He was also a member of the Scientific Council of the Czech Science Foundation and scientific boards of several universities. He is currently Rector of the University of Pardubice. He also held the position of Rector of the University of Pardubice in 2006-2010.

Scientific interest

• Structural relaxation of non-crystalline materials
• Kinetics of crystal growth in supercooled liquids
• Viscosity of chalcogenide glass forming systems

Scientific activities

Prof. Málek deals with complex kinetic processes in supercooled glass-forming liquids and in chalcogenide glass materials. The main object of his interest is nucleation and growth of crystalline phases far from equilibrium. Another area of his detailed study is structural relaxation and long-term stability of physical properties of glassy materials. These kinetic processes are closely related to the viscosity of glass-forming liquids, which is also studied in great detail at the workplace of prof. Málek. Detailed knowledge of structural relaxation, nucleation-growth processes and viscosity behaviour of supercooled glass-forming liquids is of key importance for the targeted preparation of functional non-crystalline materials usable in electronics, photonics, optics and recording media.

Prominent international cooperation

• Supervisor of “International Cooperative Graduate Program” – NIMS, Japan
• Dr. L.A. Perez-Maqueda – Instituto de Cienceia de Materiales de Sevilla, Spain

Bibliometric indicators (Web of Science)

Number of papers 204, H-index 35, Total number of citations > 6300

Citations per paper in WoS Categories 2000-2019 (CZ average): CHEMISTRY PHYSICAL 47.00 (20.74), THERMODYNAMICS 47.11 (21.43), CHEMISTRY ANALYTICAL 48.07 (19.77).

Two most important projects carried out from the position of principal investigator or co-investigator

• Reversible crystallization and structural relaxation in amorphous materials for data recording media, 2011 – 2015; Czech Science Foundation GA P106/11/1152.
• Viscosity and kinetic phenomena in glass-forming systems, 2016 – 2018; Czech Science Foundation GA16-10562S.

Two most important publications

• Martinková S., Shánělová J., Barták J., Málek J.: Transient nucleation in Ge-Sb-S thin films, Crystal Growth & Design 18 (2018) 4562–4570.
• Málek J., Svoboda R.: Kinetic Processes in Amorphous Materials Revealed by Thermal Analysis: Application to Glassy Selenium, Molecules 24 (2019) 2725.

Awards

• Young Scientist Award, Int. Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (1992)
• Distinguished TA&C Researcher in Central and Eastern Europe, CEEC-TAC (2013)
• Eugen Segal Award, European Symposium on Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2018)