Lately I've been preparing the PV silicon cells for final experiment: implementation of silver nanoparticles on the cell front. Parallel to that the suspesions were optimized and the deposition condition were tested. On the field of computer simulation I finished investigation of possible mechanisms that can decrease the yield from plasmonic structres implementation on the Si cell front. There were particles interaction, periodic and random arrangement, two-particle aggregates case, and size distribution. The final experiment is planned in September.

Differential Thermal Analysis was performed for three different aluminum based alloys. Investigation of melting behaviour in binaries and determination of relative crystallinity as a function of temperature for two cooling rates. Comparative study: DTA vs. lever rule.

Most of the passed month I spent on preparing
myself for the ICOTOM conference I attended in the end of the month.
This includes both slides for my presentation
and paper that is to be published in conference proceedings.
At the conference I presented a couple of
practical applications of methods for quantitative grain boundary analysis
I've developed during last years.

This month I spent most of my time on microscopic observations of PEMs modified by nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles were introduced by in situ nucleation method from salt solution in three different pH values to obtain various particles density. Further cytotoxicity experiments were performed. I have also carried out in situ visualization of smooth muscle cells migration on the surface functionalized by migration channels.

In August I have participated in ICOTOM 17 (International Conference on Textures of Materials) and attended to Grain Boundary Engineering tutorial both organized in Dresden, Germany. In weeks before conference I helped prepare the article to be published in conference proceedings, as well as attended to my own endeavors concerning measuring hardness and collecting EBSD maps from KoBoed titanium samples at different stages of recrystallization/grain growth. Additionally another successful KoBo deformation of titanium sample have been performed at AGH, this time with lower temperature (350 C) and higher extrusion ratio (λ = 25).