Recognition for our PhD student at an international conference in India

The winner of the Analytical Methods Oral Presentation Award was Dominika Bury, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Mechatronics and a member of the Bioactive Nanomaterials Research Team. The distinction was awarded for her presentation “MoB and Mo2B2 MBenes: Environmentally Safe 2D Photocatalysts for Water Purification”.

The awarded work concerned the analysis of two-dimensional MBenes using materials engineering techniques and the assessment of their application potential. In the study, MoB and Mo2B2 (MBenes) were obtained by selectively etching MoAlB in an HCl/H2O2 solution, after which their structural and environmental properties were determined. The materials exhibited an orthorhombic structure and favourable optical properties that support light absorption. Photocatalytic tests confirmed effective degradation of organic pollutants of up to 90 per cent under UV radiation and simulated sunlight. The reaction mechanism was associated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The project was carried out as part of the Preludium21 programme funded by the National Science Centre, with Dominika Bury serving as the project leader.

During the conference, Michał Jakubczak, a fellow doctoral student at the Faculty of Mechatronics and a member of the Bioactive Nanomaterials Research Team, also presented his research. He delivered a talk titled “Exploring Material–Cell Interactions in Two-Dimensional Boride Systems”. The presented work deepened understanding of how bacteria respond to the presence of light-activated 2D MBene nanomaterials. The results showcased in Mumbai are being developed as part of the Preludium22 project “An innovative method for tracking material–bacteria interactions in boron-based 2D materials”, for which Michał Jakubczak serves as the project leader. The project is funded by the National Science Centre.

Michał Jakubczak presenting at the Symposium on Current Trends in Analytical Chemistry in Mumbai

Among the speakers invited by the organisers was Dr Madhurya Chandel, a researcher at the Faculty of Mechatronics at Warsaw University of Technology and also a member of the team. He specialises in the synthesis and characterisation of materials and is a recipient of the 2025 Rector’s Award for academic staff. His presentation was titled “Exploring MBene: Synthesis and Characterization Strategies for a Next‑Generation 2D Nanomaterial”.

Dr Madhurya Chandel participating in the Symposium on Current Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Mumbai

The supervisor of the doctoral dissertations of Dominika Bury and Michał Jakubczak, as well as the head of the Bioactive Nanomaterials Team, is Prof. Agnieszka Jastrzębska.