During the ceremonial gala of the Distributed Energy Congress, held on 25-26 September 2023 in Krakow, Dr. Jakub Kupecki, Professor of the Institute of Energy and Prof. Konrad Świerczek from the AGH University presented awards to the winners of the 5th edition of the Prof. Walther Herman Nernst Award. Awards are individual distinctions awarded in three categories, i.e. for significant scientific, technical and practical achievements related to electrochemical processes. Awards are awarded to researchers employed in Poland who did not exceed 50 years of age.
In this year's edition, the prize in the category of technical achievements was awarded to Dr. Katarzyna Siuzdak, Prof. IMP PAN, for the achievement of the "Development of the method of producing and modifying using pulse laser beams of ordered nanotubes, including transparent substrates, for electrical energy storage and conversion equipment". The award winner is the director of the Functional Materials Laboratory at the Centre for Plasma and Laser Techniques of the PAN.
The patron of the award is Professor Walther Hermann Nernst (1864-1941), a chemist and German physicist born in Poland, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1920. He dealt with solid body thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and solution theory. In 1887 he presented a concept of describing the mathematical principle of the operation of the fuel cell in a form known and used until today as the so-called Nernst equation.
