Team

Dr. Piotr Mocny – Principal Investigator

Dr. Piotr Mocny is a POLONEZ BIS Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Warsaw (Poland). He holds B.Eng. and M.Sc. degrees in Applied Physics and Chemical Technology from Gdańsk University of Technology. He explored modification of polyolefins by reactive extrusion at SABIC in Geleen (the Netherlands) during his industrial internship under supervision of Prof. Lidia Jasińska-Walc and Robbert Duchateau. After graduation in 2013, he did doctoral studies at Polymers Laboratory of Prof. Harm-Anton Klok at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) working on post-polymerization modification of polymer brushes. He continued as a postdoc in the group of Prof. Holger Frauenrath, where he developed lubricative graft copolymer coatings for aluminum for automotive industry. Then he moved to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (USA) to work under Prof. Krzysztof Matyjaszewski (under Swiss Postdoc.Mobility grant). There, he developed photomediated method for grafting from fluoropolymers, as well as new surfactant macroinitiators for grafting from liquid metals. At the conclusion of his stay, he received Polonez Bis grant and returned to his motherland an adiunkt (Assistant Professor) at the University of Warsaw. Together with his mentor, Paweł W. Majewski, they are exploring phase separation and self-assembly of liquid metals in polymer composites.

His research interests cover modifications of challenging substrates (fluoropolymers, liquid metals, flat surfaces) by light-mediated polymerizations, as well as their utilization for electronic applications.

Sumaira Mari Baloch

Sumaira Mari Baloch is a first-year PhD student at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw. Her doctoral research is conducted under the supervision of Dr. Piotr Mocny and focuses on polymer brushes and their applications in advanced functional materials. Her work aims to deepen the understanding of polymer surface modification, controlled polymerization processes, and structure–property relationships in soft matter systems.

Sumaira’s research interests include polymer chemistry, surface engineering, and nanostructured materials. Through her doctoral studies, she is gaining experience in modern polymer synthesis techniques, material characterization, and interdisciplinary research at the interface of chemistry and materials science. Her long-term goal is to contribute to the development of innovative polymer-based materials for technological and biomedical applications.

Dr. Paweł W. Majewski – Mentor

Prof. Paweł W. Majewski studied at the University of Warsaw where I earned an MSc in Physical Chemistry (2007) and, one year later, in Molecular Biology. In 2008, he joined the group of Prof. Osuji at Yale University where he pursued his PhD research, studying the interactions of strong magnetic fields with soft materials. After graduation, he joined the Center for Functional Nanomaterials at Brookhaven National Laboratory where he worked with Dr. Kevin Yager and Dr. Charles Black on development of photo-thermal methods for directing self-assembly of block copolymer thin films. Then, he obtained Polonez fellowship, funded by National Science Center (NCN) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement and returned to the University of Warsaw. Here, he started his independent research as an assistant professor and a leader of a new soft-materials research group whose establishment was generously funded by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) under the First Team grant program.

Bartosz Świątkowski – student

Former members

Bartosz Świątkowki

Bartosz is studying Nanoengineering at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. Within his student project he synthesized triblock copolymers using ARGET-ATRP and SARA-ATRP techniques.

Karol Pietrzela

Karol is studying Nanoengineering at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. During his several student project since 2024 under supervision of dr Piotr Mocny he synthesized block copolymers using ARGET-ATRP, SARA-ATRP and Photo-ATRP techniques. He used these copolymers to prepare liquid metal-based (eutectic gallium indium, EGaIn) composite materials. He analyzed their mechanical, thermal and dielectric properties. He defended his Eng. thesis in March 2026.

Karolina Osińska

Karolina started studies at the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw in 2019. In her bachelor thesis, she focused on Raman spectroscopy of porphycene derivatives, potential photo-switches in nanotechnology. Currently, as a part of her master thesis, she is conducting research on the DNA interactions with porphyrin derivatives. During her education, she completed internships at the Institute of Physical Chemistry and the Institute of Physics of Polish Academy of Science which expanded her interests in material chemistry and biochemistry. Within the group of dr. Mocny she studied self-assembly of block copolymers, Photo-ATRP, as well as light-mediated synthesis of polymer brushes. Currently she is working at the Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry.