Head of Department Gun’ko Volodymyr M. Doctor of Sciences (Chemistry), Professor   Telephone: + 380 44 422-96-27 Fax: + 380 44 424-35-67 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Department staff is 11 co-workers including 1 DSc, 7 PhDs and 1 PhD student.  From 1986, the Department researchers have published 4 books, 33 chapters in collective books, 35 review articles and more than 700 original papers, and obtained 36 patents of Ukraine, Russia, USA, Germany, and USSR; 2 DSc and 11 PhD theses were defended.

Directions of investigations

Synthesis of novel oxide, composite, bionanocomposite materials, and surface functionalization; determination of morphological, textural and adsorption characteristics of disperse and porous sorbents; analysis of properties of nanocomposites and aqueous dispersions of oxides, adsorption of low- and high-molecular compounds. Materials have been studied using FTIR, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC), TPD-MS, adsorption, AFM, SEM, TEM, QELS, DSC, SAXS, rheology, NMR, TG/DTA, NMR-, TSDC-, DSC-cryoporometry, NMR-relaxometry, TG-thermoporometry, quantum chemistry, theory of adsorption and reaction mechanisms, development of computer methods to analyze various experimental data.

Main results for the recent years

The influence of complex oxides structure on their adsorption and catalytic properties was determined, as well as photodestruction and pyrolysis of organics at their surfaces. Ideas on structural hierarchy of nanooxides were developed. Changes in the oxide structure due to the synthesis effects or the influence of mechanical or thermal activation, media and sorbates were elucidated. The influence of the morphology and chemical structure of complex nanooxides was analyzed with respect to the behavior of the colloidal systems. The mechanisms of reactions of organosilicon compounds (OSC) with a surface of silicas in gaseous and liquid media were analyzed with consideration of different solvent effects. The influence of the surface modification of silicas by OSC on the characteristics of the suspensions was studied depending on the modifier content and reaction conditions. The models of water adsorbed onto a surface of silica, mixed oxides, carbon-mineral adsorbents, polymers, etc. were developed using the experimental and theoretical methods. Cryoporometry methods based on the data of TSDC, DSC, NMR, as well as NMR-relaxometry and thermoporometry based on TG were used to study soft (biomaterials and bioobjects) and solid (oxides, carbons, composites) materials in weakly and strongly hydrated states. Comprehensive investigations of alumina, silica, titania, zirconia, germania, and complex oxides allowed to establish certain regularities of the “structure – property” types related to the pH dependence of the EDL structure, Debye screening length, particle size distributions, adsorption of small molecules and ions or polymers, catalytic destruction of adsorbed organics, dipolar and ionic relaxation of structured water and adsorbed polymers, etc. The methodology of calculations of the pore size distributions using complex pore models was developed for individual, complex and hybrid adsorbents. To solve coupled integral equations, the self-consistent regularization method with maximum entropy method was developed and implemented in investigations of texturally and chemically complex materials using adsorption, SAXS, XRD, SEM, AFM, and TEM methods. The structure of adsorption complexes of biomolecules and adsorbed layer of biopolymers at a surface of different oxides, the mechanisms of adsorption and reactions were analyzed in detail using a set of experimental methods. Features of surface reactions with participation of vitamins, carbohydrates, glycosides, coumarins, flavonoids, chitosan, dextran, etc. were established for different oxides. A significant portion of the results was obtained in collaboration with colleagues from Universities from Lublin (Poland), Illinois, Cincinnati, New York, and Akron (USA), Brighton and Cardiff (UK), Athens (Greece), Nancy (France), Queensland (Australia), Stockholm (Sweden), Hangzhou (China), Kyiv and several Institutions from NAS of Ukraine. Department co-workers have participated in two 7FP projects, 3 STCU, several bilateral projects with Poland and China, NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme project “A novel nanoparticle based real-time sensor for B. anthracis and M. tuberculosis” G5798 (2021-2023) with teams from Cardiff University, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Puglia e della Basilicata (Italy), and tree teams from Ukraine.

Department staff

Gun’ko Volodymyr M., DSc, Head of Department, tel.: + 38 (044) 422 96 27

fax: + 38 (044) 424 35 67, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Andriyko Lyudmyla S., PhD, Senior Research,

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Dikhtyaruk Eugen V., Leading Engineer (0.5), PhD stud.,

tel.:+ 38 (044) 422 96 31; е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Golovkova Lyudmyla P., PhD, Senior Researcher,

tel.: + 38 (044) 422 96 27; е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Guzenko Natalia V., PhD, Senior Researcher,

tel.: + 38 (044) 424-94-63, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Kazakova Olga O., PhD, Senior Researcher,

tel.: + 38 (044) 422 96 27, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Matkovskyi Oleksandr K., PhD, Research Associate,

tel.:+38 (044) 4229609; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Nosach Lyudmyla V., PhD, Senior Researcher,

tel.: + 38 (044) 424-94-63, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Nychiporuk Yuriy M., Junior Researcher,

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Paentko Viktoria V., Junior Researcher,

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Pakhlov Evgeniy M., PhD, Senior Researcher,

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Recent publications

1. V.M. Gun’ko, V.V. Turov. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies of Interfacial Phenomena. - Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2013. - 1040 p.

2. V.M. Gun’ko, V.V. Turov, V.I. Zarko, O.V. Goncharuk, E.M. Pakhlov, J. Skubiszewska-Zięba, J.P. Blitz. Interfacial phenomena at a surface of individual and complex fumed nanooxides // Adv. Colloid Interface Sci. – 2016. – V. 235. - P. 108–189.

3. V.M. Gun’ko, E.M. Pakhlov, O.V. Goncharuk, L.S. Andriyko, A.I. Marynin, A.I. Ukrainets, B. Charmas, J. Skubiszewska-Zięba, J.P. Blitz. Influence of hydrophobization of fumed oxides on interactions with polar and nonpolar adsorbates // Appl. Surf. Sci. – 2017. – V. 423. – P. 855–868.

4. V.M. Gun'ko, V.V. Turov, T.V. Krupska, E.M. Pakhlov. Behavior of water and methane bound to hydrophilic and hydrophobic nanosilicas and their mixture // Chem. Phys. Lett. – 2017. – V. 690. – P. 25–30.

5. V.M. Gun'ko, I. Savina, S.V. Mikhalovsky. Properties of water bound in hydrogels // Gels. – 2017. – V. 3(37). – P. 1-30.

6. V.M. Gun’ko, T.V. Krupska, L.S. Andriyko, N.Yu. Klymenko, I.V. Siora, O.A. Novikova, A.I. Marynin, A.I. Ukrainets, B. Charmas, S.B. Shekhunova, V.V. Turov. Bonding of doxorubicin to nanosilica and human serum albumin in various media // J. Colloid Interface Sci. – 2018. – V. 513. - P. 809–819.

7. V.M. Gun’ko, E.M. Pakhlov, O.V. Goncharuk, L.S. Andriyko, Yu.M. Nychiporuk, D.Yu. Balakin, D. Sternik, A. Derylo-Marczewska. Nanosilica modified by polydimethylsiloxane depolymerized and chemically bound to nanoparticles or physically bound to unmodified or modified surfaces: Structure and interfacial phenomena // J. Colloid Interface Sci. - 2018. – V. 529. P. 273–282.

8. V.M. Gun’ko, V.V. Turov, E.M. Pakhlov, T.V. Krupska, B. Charmas. Effect of water content on the characteristics of hydro-compacted nanosilica // Applied Surface Science. – 2018. – V. 459. – P. 171–178.

9. V.M. Gun’ko, V.V. Turov, E.M. Pakhlov, A.K. Matkovsky, T.V. Krupska, M.T. Kartel, B. Charmas. Blends of amorphous/crystalline nanoalumina and hydrophobic amorphous nanosilica // Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids. – 2018. – V. 500. – P. 351–358.

10. V.M. Gun’ko, V.V. Turov, E.M. Pakhlov, T.V. Krupska, M.V. Borysenko, M.T. Kartel, B. Charmas. Water interactions with hydrophobic versus hydrophilic nanosilica // Langmuir. – 2018. V. 34. – P. 12145-12153.

11. V.M. Gun’ko, V.V. Turov, T.V. Krupska, I.S. Protsak, M.V. Borysenko, E.M. Pakhlov. Polymethylsiloxane alone and in composition with nanosilica under various conditions // J. Colloid Interface Sci. – 2019. – V. 541. – P. 213–225.

12. V.M. Gun'ko, V.V. Turov, O.V. Goncharuk, E.M. Pakhlov, O.K. Matkovsky. Interfacial phenomena at a surface of individual and complex fumed nanooxides // Surface. – 2019. – V. 11 (26). – P. 3-269.

13. V.M. Gun’ko. Atomic charge distribution functions as a tool to analyze electronic structure of molecular and cluster systems // International Journal of Quantum Chemistry. – 2021. – V. 121(14). - e26665.

14. V.M. Gun’ko. Polymer adsorbents vs. functionalized oxides and carbons: particulate morphology and textural and surface characterization // Polymers. – 2021. – V. 13. – 1249.

15. V.M. Gun’ko. Morphological and textural features of various materials composed of porous or nonporous nanoparticles differently packed in secondary structures // Applied Surface Science. – 2021. – V. 569. – 151117 (1-8).