Dr. Sciscenko was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on 30th January 1992. He holds a degree in Chemistry Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina, May 2017), and started with his first research activities at INQUIMAE (Argentina, from 2014 to 2016) in analytical chemistry. His studies on environmental remediation began at the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission (Argentina, from 2016 to 2018), employing zerovalent iron nanoparticles to remove U(VI), Cr(VI) and As(III, V) from contaminated water and soil. From 2018-2021, he carried out his PhD Thesis on Chemistry at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain) enrolled in the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) - Innovative Training Networks (ITN) project, AQUAlity (Thesis defended on October 2021). During this stage, Dr. Sciscenko gained knowledge on advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), mostly focused on the photo-Fenton reaction to eliminate emerging contaminants from water, proposing fluorescence excitation-emission matrices – parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) as an unexplored chemometric tool to track the generated oxidative changes on fluorescent pollutants and dissolved organic matter. Within the MSCA-ITN program, he carried out very productive secondments in Spain (Plataforma Solar de Almería and FACSA), Norway (Institute for Energy Technology) and France (University of Clermont-Auvergne). From 10/2022 – 10/2024, Dr. Sciscenko performed a secondment as postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turin (Italy) to acquire experience in heterogeneous photocatalysis applications (mostly based on carbon nitride materials) financed by the project SANITISE (competitive call 2021 from Spanish postdoctoral fellowships program). 

Today, Dr. Sciscenko is the MSCA – Postdoctoral Fellow leading his project, HERO4PFAS, related to innovative photochemical ways of producing hydrated electrons (with special focus on metal-free semiconductors presenting negative electron affinity) in order to degrade the recalcitrant per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from water. HERO4PFAS will be carried out at the University of Turin as host institution from 10/2024-10/2026. 

Prof. Minella was born in Verbania (Italy) on 19th May 1982. He graduated in Advanced Chemical Methodologies in 2006 at University of Turin discussing a thesis with title “Characterization of the semiconductor – electrolyte interface in nanocrystalline TiO2 thin film electrodes”. He got his Ph.D. in 2010 at the School of Science and High Technology of the University of Turin defending a thesis with title “Photo-effects at the semiconductor–electrolyte interface: study and optimization of the charge separation and transfer processes as a function of the interface properties”. He started to work in March 2010 for the R&D section of the multinational company Rockwood S.p.a. In 2013 he was under contract Professor of the Master “Chemical-Biological production systems” (Department of Life Science and Biology of the Systems, University of Turin) and of “Analytical chemistry of materials and laboratory” (Department of Science and Technological Innovations, University of Piemonte Orientale). From May 2014 he is researcher of analytical chemistry at the Department of Chemistry of the University of Turin and the 1st October 2017 became Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry at the same university. In 2016 he received the “Best Italian Young Researcher in the field of Analytical Chemistry” award from the Analytical Division of the Società Chimica Italiana (Italian Chemical Society). His main research interests concern the study of Advanced Oxidation Processes and particularly to the photocatalytic processes over irradiated semiconductor. In this field his main activities concern: i) study of the relation between surface properties and photocatalytic activity; ii) synthesis and study of organic/inorganic hybrid photocatalysts; iii) development of pigments with photocatalytic activity based on iron oxides and TiO2; iv) development of new analytical methodologies for the measurement of the photocatalytic efficiency; v) advanced oxidation technologies especially Fenton and Fenton-like processes; iv) coupling of membrane technologies with AOPs. Other research interests concern the study and modeling of photochemical reactions in surface and atmospheric waters, with particular attention to the role that the photochemistry has in the transformation of pollutants. Furthermore, he worked in the field of innovative materials for energetic with particular attention to the synthesis of new materials in lithium ion batteries  (especially in the framework of the Ca(r)vour Project, this project is devoted to the development and application of innovative materials for lithium batteries in the automotive field). 

Prof. Minella collaborates with research institutes of the Italian Research Council (CNR-IRSA, CNR-ISTEC and CNR-IENI) and with international and national academic research groups (Politecnico of Turin, University of Salento, University of East Piedmont, Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Federal Institute of Hydrology – Koblenz, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes, Eawag Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology – Dübendorf).