Mikołaj Feculak M. Sc. 
4th year of education at the Doctoral School 
Discipline: Agriculture and Horticulture 

As part of the “Staż za miedzą” programme of the Association of Lublin Universities, I completed a research internship at the Department of Radiochemistry and Environmental Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin, under the supervision of Prof. Patryk Oleszczuk, from 01 July to 30 September 2024. During the internship, I investigated the adsorption and desorption of antibiotics, tetracycline and sulfadiazine, on pristine engineered nanoparticles and transformed nanoparticles of CuO and ZnO. I also examined how nanoparticle transformations, including sulfidation, phosphorylation, and protein corona formation, affected these processes.

I used high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine adsorption and desorption isotherms and kinetics in aqueous solutions, followed by experiments under environmentally relevant conditions, including soil and rhizosphere extracts and root mucilage. The study also accounted for the effects of temperature, pH, and divalent cations. The internship broadened my expertise in modern analytical approaches and in interpreting interactions between organic pollutants and nanomaterials, and the collected results provided a basis for further analysis and future scientific publications.