In the Colloids and Nanostructured Materials Research Group at the Department of Physical Chemistry and Materials Science, and in the Supramolecular and Nanostructured Materials Joint Cooperation Research Team of the University of Szeged and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), the researchers led by Prof. Dr. Imre Dékány, mainly deal with colloid dispersions, self-organizing systems examined in materials science and in nanotechnological applications and the aggregation of biocolloids such as proteins.

The researchers developed complex liquids (nanoemulsions) for the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company, MOL Plc. that can enter into the smallest pores of the reservoir rocks, thus they provide the opportunity of so called tertiary (enhanced) recovery of crude oil (EOR) and natural gas in Hungarian oil and gas fields.

Under a commission of Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, the research team also produces reactive self-organizing surfaces and also deals with photocatalysis which makes it possible to produce photocatalytic self-cleaning thin films. They developed functionalized (plasmonic) photocatalysts that are capable of degrading pollutants as a reaction to natural light thus they can be used for both environmental protection and civil defence purposes. According to one of their most recent results, functionalized reactive surfaces reacting under solar light are also possible to apply in microbiological researches, namely, the possible methods for swiftly destroying various antibiotic-resistant bacteria have also been developed. Their results can be utilized in healthcare and in every field that deals with bacteria and viruses that threaten human health.

The associates also developed hydrophobized intercalated nanocomposites for the fragrance industry giant, Firmenich SA. The characteristics of such nanocomposites have recently been examined during the development of products that could ensure the controlled release of drug and scent molecules.

For GE Hungary, fluorescent nanoparticle powders, self-organizing films and nanostructured electrode coating materials were synthesized, which are used for the development of novel energy efficient light sources by the industrial partner.

The synthesis of controlled size and shape noble metal (e.g.: gold and silver) nanoparticles is of high priority among the projects of the research teams. They produce nanosized gold and silver with different surface plasmonic properties, and their alloys in order to analyze the biocompatibility of the biologically active materials absorbed on their surface, and the effect of the surface modification under physiologic circumstances. They attach drug agents such as peptides to the functionalized noble metal particles. Functionalized noble metal particles are also used during the development of optical sensors exploiting the fact that their plasmonic characteristics are significantly modified by protein aggregation. They also create an optical waveguide biosensor that facilitates the quantitative analysis of the bond of drug molecules in the nanogram/cm² range on its surface, in various biological systems.