(Photo)catalytic materials for organic synthesis

(Research line led by Rubén Mas-Ballesté)

What are the factors that determine the catalytic activity of a material? How the advantages of immobilizing catalytic centers can be enhanced? Is it possible to establish synergies in design materials that give rise to complex catalytic processes?  These questions are addressed from a basic perspective, designing new extended materials based on condensation reactions of different types. We pay special attention to photocatalytic processes mediated by photoactive materials that owe their properties either to the insertion of functional fragments or to the synergistic assembly of  building blocks that separately are inactive. Following these strategies we have reported efficient catalytic systems for the photocatalytic sulfoxidation of organic sulfides, C(sp2)-C(sp3) couplings, dehaolgenation reactions or highly recyclable systems for Suzuki or Heck type couplings.

RRL Solar 2024, 2300768 

ACS applied materials & interfaces, 2023, 15 (25) 30212–30219.

Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2022,121791 

ACS applied materials & interfaces, 2022, 14, (14), 16258-16268.

Advanced Sustainable Systems, 2022, 6, (3), 2100409.

Catalysts, 2021, 11,(12), 1426.

ACS catalysis 2021, 11, (19), 12344-12354.

Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2020, 272,119027.

ChemCatChem, 2019, 11, (19), 4916-4922.

Catalysis Science & Technology , 2019, 9 (21), 6007-6014.

 Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Porous Materials for Environmental Photocatalytic Applications

(Research line led by Alicia Moya)

To address environmental challenges, such as clean water scarcity , innovative, low-cost hybrid materials are developed, which combine the structural versatility of reticular materials such as Covalent Organic Frameworks (COFs) with the high performance and durability of inorganic components, such as TiO₂ or lead-free perovskites.

This investigation focuses on the design, synthesis, and advanced characterization of innovative organic/inorganic hybrids to harvest light more efficiently. The core of this research line lies in understanding the synergistic effects at the hybrid interface. By optimizing interfacial charge separation and transfer processes, hybrid systems can significantly outperform the activity of their individual components, ultimately dictating the material's efficiency in light-based applications.

These advanced hybrids can bridge the gap between fundamental materials science and practical environmental applications. By providing fundamental insights into structure-property relationships, this research seek to develop scalable materials capable of addressing real-world environmental scenarios towards the degradation of emerging water pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, dyes, and pathogens.

Nanoscale 2025, 17, 8880-8891

Inorganics, 2025, 13, 152

Carbon 2022, 199, 80-86

Nanoscale 2020, 12, 1128-1137

J. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2020, 268, 118613

    Ceramic nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, and thin films formation. 

(Research line led by mario Borlaf)

Colloidal sol-gel route is a low-cost synthesis that allows to obtain nanoparticles with a low particle size, low aggregation degree, and high stability (well dispersed in the reaction media, even for years). Ceramics such as TiO2, Nb2O5, TiNb2O7, CaTiO3, among others, even doped with other metal ions, can be synthesized at temperatures below 50 ºC and reaction times of minutes, hours, or days, depending on synthesis conditions. The nanoparticles can be easily deposited on substrates by dip-coating, spin-coating, spray coating, or electrophoretic deposition (EPD).

The synthesis of ceramic nanoparticles by Flame Spray Synthesis is a very powerful and versatile route. Spherical nanoparticles can be synthesized by burning out a solution containing the metal ions that will form the ceramic particle. This route has not been implemented yet in the laboratory.

J. Mater. Chem. A 2024,12, (9), 5156-5169.

Open Ceram. 2021, 8, 100200.

Catalysts 2020, 10, (9), 984.

J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, (13), 5231-5240.

J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 2017,100, (89), 3784-3793.

Mater. Chem. Phys,. 2014,144, (1-2), 8-16.

Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2014, (30), 5152-5159.

    Inverse vulcanization reactions to prepare ferrocenyl-containing sulfur-rich materials: electroactive sensors

(Research line led by Sonia Bruña)

Inverse vulcanization (IV) is an emergent route materialized a decade ago as an alternative to obtain polymers with a high sulfur content, also known as polysulfides. Sulfur is an exceptionally Earth-abundant element; besides it is produced in high quantities in oil refining and natural gas purification processes. However, its demand is still far from meeting its high levels of stock. In this regard, in the past years, IV has been exploited for reevaluating and enhancing sulfur uses in a sustainable and low-cost process, which is highly desirable. These reactions are carried out at temperatures above the melting point of sulfur (120 ⁰C), when a ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of the S8 ring occurs. Di-radicals (•(Sn)•), formed after the ROP, bind to unsaturated co-monomers (olefinic fragments) in a clean process, in which sulfur acts both as a reactant and as the reaction medium, avoiding the use of solvents.

We have recently developed a strategy, based on IV, to introduce physico-chemical properties to sulfur-based materials that are not specific of polysulfide fragments. In particular, novel redox-responsive polysulfide materials have been isolated as a consequence of including electroactive ferrocenyl moieties (C). In addition, these materials exhibit a synergistic ferrocene-sulfur effect, evidenced by their ability to electrochemically recognize environmental hazardous Hg2+ and Cd2+ soft metal centers. From a broader perspective, this strategy, based on the incorporation of redox-active building blocks on sulfur-based polymers through inverse vulcanization procedures, opens the door to a wide range of functional materials with applications related to metal centers, such as sensing or photocatalysis, in which we currently work to inactivate different kind of water pollutants.

Polymer Chemistry, 2024, 15, 1015-1025.

Water decontamination

(Research line led by Rubén Mas-Ballesté)

Availability of drinking water is an increasing challenge worldwide. In fact, water is related with many aspects of economic and social challenges, and it is, by itself, a main goal for sustainable development. However, nowadays, 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed drinking water services. The consequences of such problem are not only local but also national and global in today’s interconnected world. Therefore, the search of new strategies for water disinfection and purification is still a global challenge. To this respect, owing the outstanding photocatalytic properties found for porous organic materials, we proffer to explore their practical applications for wastewater decontamination. In particular generation of singlet oxygen as a silver bullet is successfully applied to the degradation of several contaminants and to the inactivation of viruses. In addition, incorporation of highly coordinative fragments allows metal removal from aqueous solutions. Overall, the use of extended organic materials is being explored for the removal of three different kind of water pollutants: organic molecules, pathogens, such as bacteria and viruses, and heavy metals. 

Chem. Mater. 2025, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.4c03161

Nanoscale, 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D4NR05363J 

Materials Today Chemistry 2021, 22, 100548 

    Ceramics additive manufacturing (including colloidal processing) 

(Research line led by Mario Borlaf)

Stereolithography (SLA) based techniques such as Digital Light Processing (DLP) consist in using photosensitised monomer solutions filled with ceramic powder to build up layered structures. During the process, certain areas are exposed to light of a certain wavelength to induce polymerisation, and thus solidify on a movable stage. Afterwards, the stage moves, and the process is repeated, stacking the layer on the one generated previously, until the part is completely printed. Subsequently, the green body is heat treated to remove the organic binders and obtaining the densified ceramic part. For high quality pieces, a good colloidal processing is mandatory. This processing is even more evident when an UV-curable system is used because if the raw material is not properly dispersed, the monomer fills the voids between the agglomerates/aggregates of particles, leading into pieces with more defects and with lower density. However, when the powder is properly dispersed and the agglomerates/aggregates are broken, the monomer surrounds the primary particles and when the polymerisation occurs, the piece will be more compact, which results in a higher density piece with less defects after thermal treatment.

J. Power Sources 2023, 570, 233063.

Open Ceramics 2021, 5 100066.

J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 2020, 40 (4) 1574-1581.

J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. 2019, 39 (13) 3797-3803.