Mario Borlaf. I obtained my degree in Chemistry in 2009 (UAM) and my PhD in Chemistry in 2013 (UAM, developed at ICV-CSIC). I recently received the R3 certificate, being recognised as established researcher (November 2023). As postdoc scientist, I was working at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC, 2014-2015, Florianópolis, Brasil), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa, 2015-2019, Switzerland), and Universidad de Burgos (UBU, 2020-2022). In 2022 I started my current position as Assistant Professor at UAM. I developed my research on synthesis and characterisation of ceramic nanoparticles, thin films formation, colloidal processing of ceramics (of aqueous slurries and organic ones) and additive manufacturing (mainly SLA-based techniques). My experience on synthesis, processing and application of ceramic materials, has led to co-authoring several publications and to disseminate my work at several conferences and workshops. I have participated in different projects (also as PI), some of them with industrial partners. I also supervised undergraduate, MSc, and PhD students. 

Total number of PhD thesis metored: 2 PhD thesis

Total number of publications: 43 publications: (Original research papers: 41;   Review papers: 1; Book Chapters: 1) h index= 21; i10 index= 30 Total Cites >1350 (Source: Google Scholar)

Sonia Bruña. I studied Chemistry at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM). I got my PhD degree in Chemistry in 2014, under the supervision of Prof. Isabel Cuadrado and Dr. Ana Mª González-Vadillo, at the Inorganic Chemistry Department (UAM), with International Doctor and Excellent "cum laude" distinctions. I was also granted with the Extraordinary Doctorate Award (academic year 2014-2015) from the division of Chemistry of the UAM. During this period, I worked on polyferrocenes linked through silicon as sensors and electrode modifiers, under a FPU fellowship (2009-2012) and a contract as non-doctor Assistant Professor (2012-2015). I also accomplished two pre-doctoral research stays, in 2010 in the University of Miami, USA, under the supervision of Prof. Angel E. Kaifer (3 months) and in 2013 in the Technische Universität Chemnitz, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Heinrich Lang (2 months).

In 2015, I got a position as Assistant Professor (Profesora Ayudante Doctora) at IQD-UAM. I then completed two post-doctoral stays: in 2016 (2 months) at Cardiff University (Wales, UK) in the group of Prof. Angela Casini (School of Chemistry) under the topic “design of ferrocene molecular boxes with biological properties”; and between 2017-2019 (two years), at University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, UK) in the group of and Prof. Charles O´Hara and Robert E. Mulvey, developing a new protocol to obtain hetero-poly-functional arenes and meta‐substituted arenes through a synergistic strategy based on dimetalation reactions (activation of C-H bonds) and subsequent selective Mg/halogen-exchange.

Since February 2022, I am a Permanent Associate Professor (Profesor Contratado Doctor) in Inorganic Chemistry (UAM). I have supervised and co-supervised the work of numerous PhDs, Master and Bachelor students, both at the UAM and at the University of Strathclyde, being also a lecturer on different academic subjects of the Chemistry, Science, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Biochemistry Degrees.

My current areas of research lye on: 1) the fields of Organometallic Chemistry, Electrochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry, focusing on the study of polyferrocenes and silicon and/or sulfur-containing molecules as electroactive sensors; and 2) the field of Material Science by using covalent organic frameworks (COFs), including nitrogen-rich rigid extended aromatic regions and ferrocenyl units, and organo-sulfur polymers (POSs) as catalysts for photo-, electro- and photoelectro-catalytic processes, such as inactivation of different kind of water pollutants, green hydrogen production, or CO2 revalorization. 

Total number of publications: 25 Original research papers: h index= 13; i10 index= 14 Total Cites >420 (Source: Google Scholar).

Rubén Mas-Ballesté. I was born in Barcelona, in 1975. I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1998 at the “Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona”. Since then my scientific career can be explained according the following periods:

PhD (1998-2004): Completed at the "Autonomous University of Barcelona" under the direction of professors Pilar González-Duarte and Agustí Lledós. (UAB Scholarship). I worked on the study of the structure and reactivity of the compounds of the general formula [L2Pt(μ-S)2PtL2] 

Postdoc (2004-2007): Completed at the University of Minnesota, under the direction of Prof. Lawrence Que Jr. (Postdoc scholarship from Ministry of Education and Science). I worked on the design of Bio-inspired non-heme iron catalysts capable of performing chemical processes similar to those observed in nature by enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of organic substrates. 

Ramón y Cajal Researcher at the UAM (2008-2012): I focused my research in the area of nanomaterials. I started new research lines with the main objective of isolating, characterizing and applying 1D and 2D nanostructures. In particular, promising advances in the extraction of layers of a few nm of thickness from crystalline samples of various laminar organic polymers and the surface assembly of a 2D polyester polymer, observed by STM, are noteworthy. More recently, a method to obtain a new laminar porous organic polymer at room temperature and its subsequent surface ordering was published. 

Permanent Position at the UAM (2013- present): In the last part of my career I shared my interests between two different areas. On one hand, I collaborated on the mechanistic study of some molecular catalytic systems. Especially relevant is the work devoted to several photocatalytic transformations. On the other hand, I invested a significant part of my efforts in the quest of photo- electro- or organo-catalytic materials. In particular, several Carbon-based materials, Metal Organic Frameworks and Covalent Organic Frameworks were studied.

Current position: Associate Professor (Inorganic Chemisttry).

Total number of PhD thesis metored: 7 PhD thesis (one more in progress). 

Total number of publications: 106 publications: (Original research papers: 89;   Review papers: 11; Book Chapters: 3; Patents: 3) h index= 36; i10 index= 80 Total Cites >5750 (Source: Google Scholar)

Undergraduate students

Former members