Design of Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications

Research for the development of more efficient photocatalysts has experienced an almost exponential growth since its popularization in early 1970’s. Despite the advantages of the widely used TiO_2, the yield of the conversion of sun power into chemical energy that can be achieved with this material is limited prompting the research and development of  a number of structural, morphological and chemical modifications of TiO₂ , as well as a number of novel photocatalysts with very different composition. Design of Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications provides a systematic account of the current understanding  of the relationships between the physicochemical properties of the catalysts and photoactivity.

The already long list of photocatalysts phases and their modifications is increasing day by day. By approaching this field from a material sciences angle, an integrated view allows readers to consider the diversity of photocatalysts globally and in connection with other technologies. Design of Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications provides a valuable road-map, outlining  the common principles lying behind the diversity of materials, but also delimiting the imprecise border between the contrasted results and the most speculative studies. This broad approach makes it ideal for specialist but also for engineers, researchers and students in related fields.

Juan M. Coronado conducted his doctoral studies at the Catalysis and Petrochemistry Institute (ICP-CSIC) and he received his Ph.D in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1995. In 1997 he was awarded a grant of the “Marie Curie” EU program for the training and mobility of researchers, and he spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Dundee (UK). Besides, he was a visiting scholar for shorter periods at the University of Wisconsin (UW) and Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in USA. He was a tenured scientist at CIEMAT from 2005 to his appointment as a senior researcher in the unit of thermochemical processes of IMDEA Energy. His scientific activity is ascribed to the field of environmental catalysis, and in the last few years it has been mainly focused on photocatalysis. Within this area he has approached topics as different as the study of the reaction mechanisms at molecular level using in situ spectroscopic techniques (mainly FTIR and EPR), the synthesis of nanoparticles and nanotubes of TiO₂, or the application of solar radiation to photocatalytic processes. Currently, he is working for the development of thermochemical, catalytic and photocatalytic processes for the production of sustainable fuels, the valorization of CO₂ and the thermochemical storage of energy. Along his scientific career he has published more than 80 research papers in SCI journals of high impact index, he has been guest editor of Catalysis Today and he has co-authored 5 book chapters. Besides, he has presented more than 70 communications to international and national conferences and he has participated in 15 research projects funded by different institutions, among which he was the principal investigator of two of them. He is member of Royal Chemical Society, and the Spanish Catalysis Society and he has supervised 2 Ph.D theses.

María Dolores Hernández-Alonso holds a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a PhD by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Her doctoral research was conducted at the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (CSIC), spending short periods as a visiting scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Later on, she spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher in the Catalysis Engineering Group at Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), and in 2009 she started working in the Renewable Energies Division of the Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology Studies (CIEMAT) as a “Juan de la Cierva” and “Ramón y Cajal” researcher. Her research interests have been mainly related to photocatalytic processes, with special focus on obtaining improved photocatalysts for environmental applications. Along her career she has approach topics such as the synthesis of TiO₂-based nanostructures, the removal of pollutants, selective photo-oxidation reactions, indoor air treatment, or NO_x abatement, among others. She has participated in 12 projects, among which she was the principal investigator of one of them, and has being involved in different educational and supervision tasks. Currently, she is co-authored of 28 articles in SCI journals of high impact index, accumulating more than 700 citations. Besides, her work has given rise to more than 40 contributions to national and international conferences (20 as presenting author).

Raquel Portela conducted her doctoral studies at the Energy, Environment and Technology Research Centre (Ciemat), Spain, making short stays in the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Humbold-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, and received her Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in 2008. She was a three-month visiting scholar in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), USA, and the Institut of Environmental and Catalytic Research of Lyon (IRCELYON), France, and worked as a postdoctoralresearcher in Ciemat. In 2011 she was awarded a three-year “Juan de la Cierva” mobility grant to work in her actual position, the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (ICP), which belongs to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She has been Spanish delegate in the European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers (Eurodoc) and is member of the Spanish Catalysis and Chemical Engineering Societies. Her research activity has been developed in the frame of several projects, with both public and private funding, and is ascribed to the field of photocatalysis and environmental catalysis. She has worked in the synthesis and characterization of immobilized photocatalysts, including TiO₂–coated transparent substrates and hybrid sepiolite-TiO₂ conformed materials, and the evaluation of their photocatalytic activity for the elimination of bacteria, VOCs and H₂S in air, both at bench scale and in especially designed solar reactor prototypes with real air. She is currently focusing in the application of in-situ and operando spectroscopic studies. Throughout her scientific career she has authored 1 book chapter and co-authored 22 research articles in SCI journals of high impact index, and she has made contributions to dozens of international conferences. She has supervised one Ph.D thesis and two undergraduate student projects and is an invited reviewer in several SCI journals.

Fernando Fresno is currently a Research Associate in the Laboratory for Environmental Research at the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, and Assistant Professor at the School of Environmental Sciences of the same University. He has conducted postdoctoral research at the Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry of the Spanish National Research Council (ICP-CSIC, Madrid), 2010-2012, and the Spanish Centre for Reseach on Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT, Madrid), 2007-2010. He got his PhD in Chemistry in 2006 at the Autónoma University of Madrid (UAM), Spain, in 2006, working with a national doctoral grant at ICP-CSIC and the Inorganic Chemistry Department of UAM. He has worked as a visiting researcher in the University of Niigata (Japan), University of Aberdeen (UK) and IRCE Lyon (France). His research interests focus on photocatalytic processes for environmental and energy applications: Synthesis of new, more efficient photocatalytic materials; study of photocatalytic reactions; self-cleaning and superhydrophillic surfaces; and structure-activity relations in heterogeneous catalysts. He has participated in 9 funded research projects. He has co-authored 17 papers in peer-reviewed journals and one book chapter. He has contributed with over 30 communications to national and international conferences and is co-inventor in one patent. He has acted as an expert reviewer for several SCI journals and is a member of the editorial board of ISRN Nanomaterials and Journal of Energy. He is member of the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry and the Spanish Society of Catalysis.