In sunny and hot July I spent most of time working on microbiological experiments of my beloved PEMs. Of course the main idea is to prevent bacteria's settlement at the materials surface but how to obtain such effect??? At first it is necessary to check if adhesion occurs at all. I have already done it and now I can indicate which films are the most promising for future research. In the next step adhesion kinetics will be assessed, so the microb’s story has just begun…

The month of July was dedicated to work on the deposition of nanoparticles from the obtianed colloidal solutions, computer simulations and I starter preparing a doctoral thesis. At the end of the month were held weekly researcher visit at the Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
I was depositing 140 nm silver nanoparticles and measuring optical response and microstructure. The FDTD simulation enabled determination the influence of nanoparticles sizes distribution on optical behaviour. The 10% decrease in Si reflectivity was obtained.

In July, I decided to fill the gaps in my knowledge.
I've read a lot of paper. This was
the first step in writing of my PhD thesis.
In order to write a good introductory part I needed
to refresh information concerning
properties of materials which are affected by grain boundaries,
current achievements in so-called interface engineering,
experimental techniques for measuring boundary geometry, etc.

Development of potential parameters to describe the interatomic interactions of liquid aluminium alloys. Fitting those parameters to first principles calculations. Finally, determination of structural and dynamic properties as a function of temperature.

First month of summer time I spent for the LLP-ERASMUS individual training programme internship in the Joanneum Research Forschunsgesellschaft mbH Materials – Institute of Surface Technologies and Photonics Functional Surfaces from 01.06.2014 to 28.06.2014 in Leoben – Austria.
I had an opportunity to get experience and perform experiments on application of the plasma polymerization methods and tribological measurements. I completed the following plan:
1. Familiarization with laboratory equipment and experimental procedures.
2. Preparation of thin films by the plasma polymerization methods.
3. Training in tribological measurements.
4. Micro-mechanical analysis of the polyelectrolyte thin films.
5. Introduction of nano-particles into polyelectrolyte multilayer by plasma polymerization method.