Research

Advanced mesoporous titania for efficient photocatalysis

Inspired by the sol-gel chemistry approach to homogenously introduce chemical functionalities in the walls of mesoporous materials, our group is working on the synthesis of surfactant-free mesoporous titanias.
 

Sol-gel coordination chemistry: incorporation of chemical functionalities in mesoporous

Sol-gel Coordination Chemistry is based on the use of a coordination complex with ligands containing terminal trialcoxysilane groups, which can be hydrolyzed with or without presence of other silica source, to produce a coordination complex-silica network.

Mesoporous zeolites for refining applications

Zeolites are widely used in the chemical industry due to their unique combination of open crystallin structure, ion-exchange capacity, and strong acidity. Their application is limited, however, by the small size of their pores (typically below 0.7 nm).

Synthesis and characterization of metal and metal oxide nanoparticles

Metal nanoparticles synthesis and characterization constitute a major research area in Materials Chemistry. Especially relevant is the use of nanoparticles in nanotechnology applications, because when metal particle size reaches the nanometer scale often shows emerging optical, magnetic, electrical and chemical (catalytic) properties.