Research Lines
Below you have a short description of our current research lines, most of them clearly interlinked, and arranged around the challenges the world faces nowadays.
Polymers for the packaging industry
Polymers for active and high barrier packaging: Focused in increasing the shelf life of food and reducing the footprint asociated to the distribution chain.
Polymers for sustainable packages: Use of biodegradable materials that can be treated in composting chains at the end of its useful life or naturally biodegradable.
Materials for clean energy production
This line of research focuses on the use and development of new materials for applications in power generation/storage from renewable sources and low environmental impact. The line focuses on the use of nanomaterials for heat transfer and storage. There is a permanent collaboration in this line with the Group of Multiphasic Flow of the Universitat Jaume I.
Materials for biomedical applications
Sol-gel coatings for prosthesis: metals are the most commonly used materials to produce implants for their excellent mechanical properties. However, they are not able to create a natural bonding with the mineralized bone and can, because of corrosion, release particles that could produce rejection. Our approach to deal with these problems is to use sol-gel coatings to bio-functionalize the surface of the implants increasing its bio-compatibility
Functional Coatings
Development of techniques for carrying out functional coatings as well as their characterization. Within this research, there are two areas of application in which the group has extensive experience: anti-corrosive coatings and functionalized metal coatings to improve the bio-compatibility.
Corrosion Prevention
Except in the case of corrosion at elevated temperatures, which is a purely chemical process, the remaining corrosion processes are always electrochemical. This research line focuses on the development of techniques based on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy as a tool for optimization and development of procedures that allow for greater corrosion resistance. These techniques are complementary applied to materials for biomedical applications and coatings for industrial applications as well.
Thermoelectricity
Thermoelectric materials are solid-state semiconductors able to directly convert heat into electricity. This technology can contribute to improve the efficiency of current energy systems by converting the approximately 60 % of waste heat generated in nowadays ways of producing energy. Apart from energy harvesting, thermoelectrics are established in the market as coolers, and employed in small-size refrigeration, temperature control of sicentific and medical instrumentation, electrical components, etc.
This research line focuses on the development new characterisation methods typically employed in electrochemistry, such as impedance spectroscopy and potenciometry, applied to thermoelctricity. This includes the design of instrumentation and the development of physical models for the understanding of thermoelectric phenomena. We are also exploring the use of porous materials permeated by electrolytes (ionic liquids, redox couples, salts) and the solid-liquid interactions. In this respect, we also look at thermoelectrochemical cells (liquid thermoelectrics) to understand the processes governing the conversion of heat into electricity and identify new possible routes for energy harvesting in these unexplored systems.
Polymer-Clay Aerogels
Polymer clay aerogels are a new family of foams with an extremely low density.
The research line focuses on the development and characterization of new hybrid polymer clay systems with enhanced properties for a particular application.