Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
My research career has focused on Materials Science applied to Climate Change Mitigation, spanning my PhD and three postdoctoral positions (~10 years). Throughout this journey, I have maintained a strong publication record, authoring and co-authoring 16 publications (10 as first author, including one as corresponding author), with an h-index of 10 (Scopus). My publication output spans the full duration of my research career: 2017 (2), 2018 (2), 2019 (2), 2020 (1), 2021 (3), 2022 (1), 2024 (1), 2025 (1), 2026 (3). I earned my PhD at the Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología del Carbono (INCAR-CSIC, Oviedo) under the supervision of Dr. Carmen Barriocanal, where I explored renewable biomass as a sustainable additive for metallurgical coke production in blast furnaces. My thesis demonstrated how biomass-based briquettes and alternative binders (e.g. molasses, paraffin) can reduce coking pressure, greenhouse gas and PAH emissions, while maintaining acceptable coke quality. This work resulted in international collaborations, a stay at the University of Nottingham, and was distinguished with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award. In my early postdoctoral stage at INCAR (~2 years), I contributed to establishing a new research line on photocatalytic hydrogen production using polymeric carbon nitride (PCN), revealing the strong influence of precursor and annealing conditions on hydrogen evolution efficiency. This study led to a high-impact publication in the journal Carbon (Laura et al., 2022, DOI:10.1016). Subsequently, during an industrial postdoc (2 years) at the University of Zaragoza in collaboration with the Aragonese Cellulose Industries, S.A. (SAICA), I developed 12 new analytical methodologies for structural and chemical characterization of recycled paper. These advances enabled optimization of paper printability and mechanical strength, generating significant technological transfer and direct industrial applications. Lately (Apr 2024 – Dic 2025), as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Jesús Santamaría Ramiro, under the supervision of Prof. Reyes Mallada (University of Zaragoza), my work focuses on CO₂ capture and utilization under microwave heating. I have contributed to the development of both dry reforming of methane (DRM) and CO₂ adsorption plants, including catalyst synthesis, selective CO₂ adsorbents, and monolith engineering. The first promising results have been presented at international Conferences (Laura et al., EPIC-2025). This stage has also allowed me to supervise Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, gaining valuable mentoring experience.