Anastasiia Semenova, Ph.D.

Researcher | Data Scientist

About Me

Researcher in the field of materials science with a Ph.D. from RWTH Aachen (2024). My research centers on low-dimensional oxide materials synthesized via wet-chemistry methods and on their subsequent detailed physical and chemical characterization. Core expertise includes electrochemical methods (EIS, LSV, CV, ECSA, ALT), structural analysis (XRD, including Rietveld refinement), and surface characterization (XPS, XAS).

In 2023, I completed a professional retraining program in “Development and Application of Big Data Technologies (Data Science)” with a graduation project dedicated to the classification of thyroid diseases from ultrasound images using VGG16 and DenseNet121 models. I work with Python (pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, PyTorch, dask), Jupyter, and Git. Currently, I am focusing on applying ML methods to electrochemistry and materials analysis and am open to collaborative projects involving real experimental data.

Projects

Defect-structure engineering of Sr/Ba–Co–Me–O perovskite catalysts for OER in industry-relevant alkaline water electrolysis

Investigated Sr/Ba–Co–Me–O (Me = Fe, Co, Ti, Zr, Ta, Mo) perovskite-derived OER catalysts under industrial alkaline water electrolysis conditions, focusing on how BCTCB2 treatment atmosphere, oxygen content, and B-site doping shaped structure, oxygen vacancies, and stresses in CSD thin films and mesh-supported layers. Durability gains were tied to structural stabilization of CdI₂-isostructural face-sharing layers and elevated oxygen-vacancy concentration, with Mo-doped films showing the best ALT lifetime (308 h at 100 nm, ~28 µm/10 years corrosion-rate estimated). Mechanistically, electrolyte oxygen was observed to diffuse into the bulk and a CoOOH surface layer formed during operation, with O₂ desorption identified as the rate-limiting step; scaling via binder-free laser sintering produced strong adhesion but induced recrystallization and surface restructuring that governed performance.

Room-temperature gas sensors based on surface-tunable ZnO and ZnSnO₃ nanostructures

The study explored solution-processed ZnO and ZnSnO₃ oxide nanostructures to understand how synthesis parameters, surfactants, and surface treatments tune adsorption properties for chemiresistive gas sensors. Surface active-site distribution and type were quantified via Hammett indicator adsorption and deliberately tuned through synthesis-condition adjustments, UV exposure, and oxygen-vacancy variation, with experimental trends benchmarked against quantum-chemistry adsorption modeling; structure and composition were confirmed by AFM/SEM, XRD, and FTIR. In addition, finite-element modeling showed the feasibility of using the piezoelectric effect to shorten resistance recovery time, while quantum-dot surface modification enabled photosensitization and faster signal recovery, supporting applicability to “electronic nose” sensor arrays.

Piezoelectricity in nanoscale ZnO nanostructures

Piezoelectric effect in nanoscale ZnO structures. ZnO nanostructures were synthesized in the presence of various surfactants to enable controlled tuning of morphology and geometry. Finite element modeling (FEM) in COMSOL Multiphysics was used to simulate the surface distribution of piezoelectric potential for structures of different geometries under various mechanical loading conditions. Based on these results, an enhanced piezoelectric energy harvester concept with increased output power was proposed.

Publications

SrCoO3-δ and SrCo1-xTixO3-δ perovskites as electrocatalytic materials for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline envoronment (2026)
Materials Chemistry and Physics • DOI: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2025.131713
Perovskites OER Water electrolysis Ti doping Strontium cobaltite
Open
Advanced electrocatalyst for OER by laser treatment of BaCo-oxide powders (2025)
Electrochimica Acta • DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2025.145864
Perovskites OER Alkaline water electrolysis Barium cobaltate Laser sintering
Open
Способ изготовления газоаналитического мультисенсорного чипа на основе иерархических наноструктур оксида цинка
Патент ЕАПО №036831 • 2020
Patent
Open
Cys-modified zinc oxide 1D-nanostructures formation for gas sensors application (2019)
EAI Endorsed Transactions on Energy Web • DOI: 10.4108/eai.13-7-2018.156389
Gas sensors Adsorption sites Surfactants Cysteine Zinc oxide
Open
Formation of an active part of inertial mass based piezoelectric nanogenerator (2018)
Journal of Physics: Conference Series • DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1038/1/012044
Piezoelectric Nanogenerator 1D-nanostructures Zinc oxide
Open