Nikolay Semenikhin

Dr. Semenikhin is a licensed Metallurgical Engineer specializing in failure analysis, materials characterization, and fracture mechanics. He received his Ph.D. and Bachelor of Science in materials science and engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Semenikhin's areas of expertise include electroless metal deposition, surface chemistry, optical analysis, nanotechnology, colloidal systems, and materials science. He has extensive experience in materials characterization methods such as electron microscopy (SEM), metallography, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Vis spectroscopy, hyperspectral microscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential measurements.

As a Paper Science and Engineering Research Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Mr. Semenikhin's studies in surface modification and metallization of cellulose nanocrystals were aimed at developing a novel optical extinction-based particle characterization technique. To facilitate this research, Dr. Semenikhin developed a novel chemical modification protocol that produced suspensions of cationic, electrostatically stabilized, individually dispersed, cellulose nanocrystals. The resulting particles could then be metallized (i.e., Au, Ag, Ni) using electroless deposition methods to produce functional nanoparticles or be incorporated into high-strength polymer nanocomposites.

Prior to his graduate studies, Dr. Semenikhin worked at Tricon Tool Inc., a tool and die shop specializing in electrical discharge machining and CNC milling, where he reverse engineered damaged components, created 3-D models, and programed CNC machines to manufacture components for customers in the aerospace, medical, automotive, mold and die, and general machining industries.