My info
I got the Master of Science in chemistry in 1999 in University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. After that I started the PhD studies in physical chemistry in Institute of Physics, University of Silesia. At present I am the guest researcher in Polymers Division in National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) in Electronic Materials group.
The field of my interests is covering the relaxation processes and molecular interactions in disordered systems.
I was working, during my PhD studies, with low molecular glass forming liquids. My job was to investigate their dielectric response: the relaxations and conductivity. In particular I was specially working on the relationship between dc - conductivity and the structural relaxation time. In the liquids the dc - conductivity is connected with the translational motions of ions and the relaxation time of the structural relaxation process can be attributed with the rotational motions of molecules with the permanent dipole moments. I was examining the delay in both of the motion types with the decreasing temperature or increasing pressure and the relation between them in the specific thermodynamic conditions. The relation between dc - conductivity and dielectric relaxation time is described by Debye - Stokes - Enstein (DSE) equation. However, in supercooled liquids a breakdown of this law is observed and the equation is transformed into fractional DSE (FDSE) with an exponent "s". I was investigating, for the first time, if this phenomenon, observed before in cooled liquids, also exists in the pressed ones. I found that, it not only exist, but also can be described with the same DSE/FDSE equation with a very similar value of "s". This indicates that the phenomenon is a unique characteristic of the supercooled / superpressed liquids and the exponent "s" is a value characterizing given material. I also observed that the value of "s" depends on the molecules size of the examined liquid and can be connected with the ratio of activation volumes calculated for dc - conductivity and structural relaxation process.
After finishing PhD studies I am now working on two projects: one on characterizing semiconducting polymer films and the other one on antiplasticization in polymers.
The first of them is concentrated on characterizing polymer films that can be used in devices like transistors or diodes. The biggest advantage of using semiconducting polymers, instead of inorganic materials, is the low processing temperature that causes very low cost of the devises. The other advantage is the new possibilities that polymers give, like the flexibility for example.
The second of my projects is about antiplasticization. This phenomenon has been known in polymers for some time, but lately it was found that the same mechanism is working in biopresevation. It was observed that addition of low molecular additive can make the local relaxations in larger molecular matrix slower, which can cause longer life of the matrix. We examined trehalose - glycerol mixtures using dielectric spectroscopy and we were able to detect this phenomenon. We have observed that the phenomenon not only depends on concentration of the mixture but on the temperature as well. Thus, in the future applications both the conditions must be taken into account: concentration of the added chemicals and temperature of using and keeping the product. Our paper, published in Phys. Rev. E, was lately recognized as covering a focused area of frontier research and has been selected by Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research for the September 15, 2006 issue.
My current work on thin polymer films is connected with using different experimental techniques like Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, UV-Vis Spectroscopy, Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy, Ellipsometry, X-Ray Reflectivity, Thermo Gravimetric Analysis, Differential Scanning Calorimetry. However, the most of my experience is in using the Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy experiments with investigating organic samples. I am always willing to learn new techniques and work in any other field of chemistry or biochemistry.