Born on 7 March 1959 in Kiev, Ukraine. Candidate of Sciences (equivalent to PhD) in Colloid Chemistry, A.V. Dumanskiy Institute of Colloid and Water Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, 1983. Doctor of Sciences in Physics and Mathematics, Institute of Physical Chemistry of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 1992. ICREA Research Professor at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, since 2007. Invited researcher/professor at Karl-Franzens Universität, Graz, Austria; École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie et de Physique de Bordeaux (France); École Supérieure Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon (France); Universität Duisburg - Essen (Germany); Paul-Scherrer-Institute (Switzerland), etc. Member of Editorial Board of Desalination and Water Treatment (Taylor & Francis UK). Published 114 papers on theoretical and experimental studies of membranes, colloids, porous media and micro-/nano-fluidic systems.

Research interests

The keyword is the behaviour of fluids at nano-scale. I study the transfers of ions and water molecules through nano-metric (tens of nanometers) barrier layers of composite nanofiltration membranes. They are used, for example, to remove hardness from seawater. Another example is the transfer of ions and water through nano-porous track-etched membranes having identical cylindrical pores. I also study processes of current-induced concentration polarization of nano-/micro-interfaces where the concentration polarization is strongly-coupled to electroosmosis. Recently, I discovered that a layered structure consisting of a micro-perforated ion-exchange membrane and a nanoporous layer can have very interesting properties useful for AC electroosmotic pumps. Another topic is experimental and theoretical studies of ion transfer across polyelectrolyte multilayers where we have recently discovered very high (>1000) selectivities in the electrically-driven transfer of ions of different charge magnitudes. I’m also interested in the emerging membrane process of forward osmosis trying to understand where it can be better than the more traditional pressure-driven processes (e.g., reverse osmosis).