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Jose M. Serra Alfaro
Research Professor, Group Leader

Prof. José M. Serra did his Ph.D. work at the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ) directed by Prof. A. Corma in collaboration with the Institute Français du Petrole. The thesis involved the development of new tools for combinatorial catalysis and its application in the discovery and optimization of industrial catalysts. After that, he conducted a 2-year postdoctoral stage at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, working on the development of nanostructured SOFC cathodes as well as ion conducting membranes.

In 2006 he joined again ITQ and leads the Energy Conversion and Storage Group, the Fuel Cells and Ionic Membranes research line. The current activities are principally focused on the application of catalysis and materials science in: (a) the development of solid oxide fuel cells components, paying special attention to the design and characterization of new electrocatalysts (principally, cathode materials); and (b) development of mixed ionic-electronic conducting membranes for oxygen and hydrogen separation and catalytic membrane reactor applications. As a result, several works have been published and different patents have been recently filed. He is co-author of more than 175 scientific articles, 17 book chapters, 1 book and 27 patents in the field of catalysis and energy (16 of them licensed to industry).

He was involved in three FP7 EU projects dealing with ionic membranes and proton-conducting fuel cells: EFFIPRO, NASA-OTM, and DEMOYS, and actually he is the coordinator researcher in charge of the European projects GAMER, iCAREPLAST, eCOCO2, WINNER, CO2SMOS, SYMSITES, ALL IN ZERO and AMBHER from the Horizon 2020 programme.

The main research lines are ordered as follows: Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), lithium batteries and electrochemical reactors: electrocatalysis Ionic membranes, solid state electrochemical devices and catalytic membrane reactors, combinatorial science and catalysis: design and development of processes and equipment for high-throughput screening of materials libraries, heterogeneous catalysis: acid-base, red-ox and multifunctional catalysts, synthesis and characterization of ceramic materials, including mesoporous materials, chemical reactor engineering and process engineering: design and setting-up of chemical reactors and other facilities at bench and pilot scale.

Prof. Serra is the CSIC representative for the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA): Basic Science for Energy Joint Programme (AMPEA), Deputy Coordinator of the subprogram Materials Science in AMPEA. Jose M. Serra plans and coordinates the activities to be developed in the Industrial Decarbonization Area within the thematic and interdisciplinary platform PTI-Trans-ener (CSIC). Jose M. Serra is member of the PWG2 Process Optimisation & CCU (A.SPIRE) and since 2022 is member of the Strategic Innovation Committee (CEI) specialized in Decarbonization from the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI). For his contribution to the field, he has received the ExxonMobil Chemical European Science and Engineering Award 2005, the Spanish Catalysis Society Ph.D. Award 2004, the Christian Friedrich Schönbein Medal 2009, European Ceramic Society Young Scientist Award 2015, Medal of the Royal Spanish Engineering Academy 2016 and Air Liquide Scientific Prize 2018. He is the founder of KERIONICS, the Spin-off which develops ceramic membrane systems for the generation of O2.

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Sonia Escolástico Rozalen
Tenured Scientist

Dr. Sonia Escolástico is a Tenured Scientist at the Instituto de Tecnología Química, ITQ. PhD in 2013 by Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), her work was devoted to gas separation membranes based on mixed ionic conductors and their applications in catalysis. She has co-authored 39 peer-reviewed contributions in international journals, and participated in more than 50 international conferences and national and European research projects, including industry contracts. In 2010, she received the Young Scientist Award by the European Material Research Society. She holds three patents on mixed ionic-electronic conductors based membranes. From 2015 to 2017, Dr. Escolástico joined the Institute for Microprocess Engineering (IMVT) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. In the present, she works in the ECSGroup of ITQ and her main activities deal with catalytic membrane reactors, microreactors and material science.

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Antonio Chica Lara
Tenured Scientist

Born in Fuensanta (Jaén). Graduate in Chemical Sciences at the University of Granada (1987-1992) and PhD at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 2002 (Extraordinary Thesis Award UPV-2002). Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow (2002- 2004) at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California at Berkeley (USA), hired under the “Ramón y Cajal” program (September 2004- June 2007) and Tenured Scientist at the CSIC and Associate Professor at the UPV (Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering) since June 2007. His research work includes the study and development of new catalysts applied to reactions of industrial interest such as isomerization of paraffins, removal of sulfur compounds from fuels and sustainable energy production (e.g hydrogen, biodiesel, etc). His latest works include the development of technologies oriented to the use of ozone as disinfectant, where he has developed different catalytic materials with excellent ozone decomposition rates and high yields. He also works in the implementation and development of new industrial processes that allow the integral use of industrial waste streams (e.g. wastes from the wine or cheese industry) and in the development of advanced electrodes for redox flow batteries. He co-authored 48 peer-reviewed contributions in international journals, two book chapters (h-index June 2020: 22) and 31 patent applications, 25 of them licensed to industry and three in industrial exploitation. As CSIC member, he is responsible of the Hydrogen Production line within the JP Fuel Cell & Hydrogen EERA and he is coordinator of the Hydrogen Technologies and Biofuels research lines at the CSIC Thematic Mobility Platform. Awards: PhD Award UPV-2002 and “Valencia Idea” Award 2009 (Energy and Environment).

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María Balaguer Ramírez
Tenured Scientist

Dr. María Balaguer (Chemical Engineer) is a ‘Ramón y Cajal’ Fellow researcher in the Energy Conversion and Storage group. Her main work activities focus on the area of design and characterization of ionic/protonic –electronic materials for electrocatalytic reactors, gas separation and electrolytic cell devices for sustainable energy and synthesis of chemicals and fuels. She completed her PhD in 2013 in the field of ceramic materials for gas separation and received ‘The UPV doctoral thesis extraordinary award’. From 2013 to 2016, she joined the group of Materials Synthesis and Processing (IEK-1) in Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, combining the research interest between manufacturing technologies, in particular ice-templating and development of proton conducting materials for gas separation and catalytic membrane reactors. In 2016, she joined the ITQ back and in 2019 she received a ‘Juan the la Cierva Incorporación’ fellowship. In the cited research areas, she has participated in numerous national and European research projects, industry contracts and scientific conferences, both as a researcher and PI. She is the co-author of 45 articles in international peer reviewed journals and 2 patents related to mixed ionic electronic materials and manufacturing of solid oxide devices.

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David Catalán Martínez
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. David Catalán obtained a Chemical Engineering degree in 2011. In 2013, he started to work at the Instituto de Tecnología Química. PhD in 2019 by Polytechnical University of Valencia, his work was focused on the development of electrodes for proton conducting electrochemical cells and advanced simulations of membrane reactors. He has co-authored 5 peer-reviewed contributions in international journals and participated in 10 international conferences and national and European research projects, including industry contracts. At present, he is a postdoc researcher in the ECSGroup, and his main activities are focused on the advanced modelling of membrane reactors at intermediate and high temperatures.

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Laura Almar Liante
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Laura Almar is a Post-Doctoral Scientist at the Instituto de Tecnología Química, ITQ. Her research interests and expertise include material science, electrochemistry and 3D tomography techniques of solid-state ionic devices, particularly solid oxide cells, Li-ion batteries, gas separation membranes and catalytic membrane reactors. She has worked more than 15 years in the field of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Electrolysers. In 2014, she received her PhD by the Physics Faculty at the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) carried out at the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC). She performed research stays at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany and Georgia Tech, US. From 2015 to 2019, Dr. L. Almar joined the Department of Advanced Materials for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (IAM-WET) at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany. During her time at top world research providers in the area of Energy, L. Almar acquired fundamental and practical knowledge in electrochemistry and materials for energy engineering applications. She has co-authored 28 peer-reviewed contributions in international journals and participated in 61 national and international conferences in the field.

During the last four years, she has been Project Coordinator deputy of the H2020 EU projects iCAREPLAST GA 820770 (Catalytic recycling of plastic residues into added-value chemicals) and eCOCO2 GA 838077 (Electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 into chemical energy carriers in a membrane reactor), co-leading with J. M. Serra the project technical and financial activities. Additionally, she carries out communication and dissemination activities for specialised and general public, participates in the organisation of events and participates in the EU project proposals conceptualization and writing. Her research activities focus on the application of electrochemistry, materials science and engineering in the development of energy storage and conversion devices, catalytic reactors, process intensification and optimisation in the energy and chemistry industries. 

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Fidel Toldrá Reig
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Fidel Toldrá Reig (ORCID number 0000-0001-6133-7043)is a senior postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ). He earned a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Universitat de València in 2013, receiving the Extraordinary Degree Award from the university, the Valencian Society of Chemical Engineers, and the Generalitat Valenciana for Academic Excellence. He then completed an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València in 2014.

His Ph.D. research, conducted at ITQ under an FPU grant awarded by the Spanish Government, focused on the development of novel solid-state devices for sensing in collaboration with Sensata Technologies B.V. Additionally, his work extended to energy-related solid-state devices, such as fuel cells, electrolysers, and membranes. A key aspect of his research involved nanoscale engineering, where he deposited both active and protective layers using PVD techniques. During his Ph.D., he also completed a short research stage at Imperial College London, working with SIMS and LEIS techniques for sample characterisation.

Following his Ph.D., he joined the Laboratoire des Matériaux et du Génie Physique (LMGP-CNRS) as a postdoctoral fellow, continuing his research on solid-state energy devices. His work there focused on developing new material formulations and exploring alternative sintering processes for thin films prepared via CVD techniques, primarily atomic layer deposition (ALD).

Since September 2021, he has been part of the Energy Conversion and Storage group at ITQ, where he leads the scale-up and testing of solid oxide cells as well as the fabrication of nanoscaled films to reduce the operating temperature of solid-state devices and enhance their durability for use in harsh environments.
Dr. Fidel Toldrá Reig is the co-author of 10 research papers and 8 book chapters and has presented at 19 international and national conferences. He has taught in the Chemical Engineering undergraduate program at the Universitat Politècnica de València and is actively involved in science communication and outreach events.

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Alfonso J. Carrillo
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Alfonso J. Carrillo holds an M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Universidad de Salamanca (Spain), an M.Sc. in Renewable Energies from Universidad de León (Spain), and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (Spain). His Ph.D. research was conducted at IMDEA Energy (Spain) focusing on oxides for solar thermochemical energy storage. Then, he moved to the Electrochemical Materials Laboratory, led by Prof. Rupp, to perform his postdoctoral research on redox materials for solar-to-fuel thermochemical conversion, first at ETH Zurich (Switzerland), and after at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT (USA), where he was 2018 Eni-MIT Energy Fellow. He was awarded the Energy and Environmental Research Grant by Fundación Iberdrola, Juan de la Cierva Formación by the Spanish Ministry of Science, and recently, with a Junior Leader Fellowship by Fundación LaCaixa. He has worked at the ECSGroup at ITQ since January 2019, with a focus on the functionalization of redox oxides for energy storage and production of renewable fuels. He is co-author of 15 papers (h-index 9) and 1 book chapter.

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Candela Segarra Almela
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Candela Segarra has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Energy Conversion and Storage group of the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ) since 2022. She received a B. Sc. (Honours) in Applied Chemistry from Athlone Institute of Technology (Ireland) in 2007, a B.Sc in Chemistry from Universitat Jaume I (UJI) in 2009, and two M.Sc. in Theoretical Chemistry and Computational Modeling; and Homogeneous Catalysis by Universitat Jaume I in 2010 and 2011, respectively. In 2011, she was awarded an FPU Fellowship to carry out her PhD in the field of organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis at Universitat Jaume I and received ‘UJI doctoral thesis extraordinary award’ (2014). During her PhD training, she accomplished two research stays at the University of Münster (Germany) and Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal). In 2015, she was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship to be carried out at University College Dublin (Ireland). The same year, she moved to the University of Bern (Switzerland) to continue her research on redox-active ligand complexes in catalysis. In 2017, she joined ITQ; her work was focused on heterogeneous catalysis using multi-site organic-inorganic hybrid catalysts for multi-step chemical processes. During 2021-2022 she participated in the preparation of two H2020 projects, from which one was awarded (ALL-IN Zero). Currently, she works in the ECSGroup of the ITQ, and she combines Research with Project Management, being part of the research and dissemination team of the H2020 projects ALL-IN Zero and Symsites. She is a co-author of 14 scientific articles, 1 book chapter, and 1 teaching article, and has participated in more than 25 international and national conferences. She has participated in/organized 4 national conferences. From 2019 she holds the position of Treasurer of the Young Chemical Researchers Group of the RSEQ.

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Alvaro Represa Bullido
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr Alvaro Represa graduated with a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and obtained an MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid. Then, he joined the Energy Conversion and Storage Group at Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica, where he obtained his PhD, specialising in chemical processes for obtaining hydrogen and chemicals of interest, as well as other related energy applications. During this stage, he focused mainly on the design, fabrication, tuning and optimisation of laboratory and pilot scale systems, integrating pressurised catalytic processes, gas transport membranes and similar designs aimed at process intensification, as well as on the preparation and characterisation of catalytic and membrane materials. The main results of this stage included the development of a pilot reactor for the production of hydrogen through autothermal reforming of ethanol with high energetic efficiency, as well as advances in oxygen transport membrane materials suitable for use in oxy-fuel systems.

Currently, he continues to be involved in the Energy Conversion and Storage Group as a postdoctoral researcher, with a special focus on research into various technologies for the production of hydrogen: either from ammonia, by catalytic autothermal processes or using catalytic membrane reactors, or from electrolysis with proton ceramic based systems. He also continues to focus on the development and optimisation of advanced reaction systems at laboratory and pilot scales, as well as on the scaling-up of these processes in collaboration with different industrial companies and research centres.

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Elena Corresa Mateu
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Elena Corresa is a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ). She holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Universitat de València and an M.Sc. in Sustainable Chemistry from the Universitat Politècnica de València. She began working at ITQ in 2008 and, in 2017, was awarded an FPI Fellowship to pursue her PhD. Her doctoral research, conducted under the supervision of Prof. Avelino Corma, focused on crude oil upgrading processes.

She has been involved in several industry-funded research projects and has developed expertise in heterogeneous catalysis, petrochemistry, crude oil chemistry, and catalytic reactor technology. She is the co-author of several scientific publications and holds two patents. In addition to her research work, she participates in science dissemination activities and has contributed to the organization of international conferences.

Since May 2022, she has been a member of the Energy Conversion and Storage Group at ITQ, where her research focuses on the development and operation of catalytic and membrane reactors, as well as the development, intensification, and optimization of processes for the chemical and energy sectors. 

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Daniel Gutierrez Martín
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Daniel Gutiérrez Martín is a Post-Doctoral Scientist at the Instituto de Tecnología Química, ITQ. His expertise includes the synthesis and characterisation of oxide materials, particularly by electron microscopy and diffractometric techniques. He received a B.Sc in Chemistry in 2018, a M.Sc in Chemical Science and Technologies in 2019 and his PhD in Advanced Chemistry in 2024, all from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). His PhD thesis focused on studying ABO3-δ phases (A = Ba, Nd; B = Ni, Fe) as catalysts and electrocatalysts and was carried out in José Mª González Calbet’s group (UCM). He received a Complutense PhD Fellowship to fund his doctoral studies. During his doctorate, he collaborated with Dr. David Portehault (LCMCP, Paris), Profs. José Juan Calvino and Miguel Ángel Cauqui (UCA, Cádiz) and Prof. Joaquín Rodríguez-López (UIUC, Illinois) and visited their labs during multiple research stays. He has taught over 220 hours at UCM, directed 3 B.Sc thesis, and participated in various science communication projects. He is a co-author of 6 papers and 1 educational project.

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Uziel Ortiz Ramos
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Uziel Ortiz Ramos obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico) in 2018, where he was awarded the Academic Excellence Award from both the Mexican Institute of Chemical Engineers and the UASLP. He completed his M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in 2020. In 2024, he earned a double Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering Sciences from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico) and in Chemistry from the University of Granada (Spain) through an international joint supervision program, receiving cum laude distinction from UGR and honorable mention from UASLP. His research has focused on the design and synthesis of advanced 3D-printed carbon monoliths with tailored textural properties and channel geometries for environmental applications. This research integrates digital design, 3D printing, sol-gel processes, and computational modeling of fluid dynamics in porous media. He was awarded a fellowship from the National Council of Humanities, Sciences and Technologies (CONAHCyT) and a mobility fellowship from the Iberoamerican Association of Postgraduate Universities for his research stay at the University of Granada from 2022 to 2024. He has presented his work at over 20 national and international conferences and has authored several scientific publications and a book chapter. He has been recognized with multiple awards for best oral and poster communications in scientific events. In January 2025, he joined the ECSGroup at ITQ, where his research focuses on advanced modeling of thermo-fluid dynamics in electrochemical membrane reactors. He is currently participating in the EU-funded HYPPER project.

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Raul Bruno Machado de Silva
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Raul Bruno Machado da Silva holds a Diplôme d’Ingénieur from the École Supérieure de Chimie de Paris (France) and a BSc in Technological Chemistry from the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil).
In 2024, he earned his PhD with the highest honors (cum laude) as a LaCaixa Fellow and recipient of the Best Young Researcher Award from the International Association of Catalysis Societies (IACS), under the supervision of Dr. Antonio Chica Lara at the Instituto de Tecnología Química. His research focused on developing efficient catalytic technologies for the selective hydrogenation of CO2 to CH4, which included a collaboration with Dr. Emiel Hensen (Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands), employing state-of-the-art operando spectroscopic techniques to investigate reaction mechanisms.

His research interests include the development of novel heterogeneous catalysts, advanced in situ and operando spectroscopic characterisation, and modelling of industrial processes.
He has participated in over 20 national and international scientific congresses, authored five scientific articles, co-authored one project for knowledge transfer to the industry, and won four medals at the International Chemistry Olympiads.

He is currently working with the ECSGroup at ITQ in partnership with the company Tolsa, focusing on the development of novel catalysts for upgrading biogas via CO₂ methanation.

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Franziska Elisabeth Winterhalder
Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Franziska E. Winterhalder is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Instituto de Tecnología Química (ITQ, UPV-CSIC). She completed her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, where she developed alternative fuel electrodes for high-temperature electrolysis. Her work involved oxide material synthesis, characterisation, and fabrication techniques such as screen printing and wet powder spraying. During her PhD, she contributed to several national research projects involving industry partners as collaborators or stakeholders. In addition to her doctoral research, she successfully secured independent funding from the MatKat Foundation for a project focused on simplified solid oxide electrolysis cell production. Her M.Sc. in Materials Science was earned at Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, where she collaborated on projects with Fraunhofer IKTS. Prior to that, she completed her B.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Bayreuth. She has presented her research at several national and international conferences and is a co-author of three peer-reviewed publications on perovskite-based fuel electrodes and SOEC technologies.

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