News

Isabel Muñoz de Frutos, one of our PhD. Students won the prestigious contest «Three Minutes Thesis» organized at the University of Valladolid with her talk «Poliespán, poliespán… ¡Qué invento el poliespán!» («EPS, EPS, what an invention EPS is!»).

She discussed the role of polystyrene in combating climate change, and she definitely convinced the jury.

Now she will continue to the regional phase. Good luck Isabel!

I am pleased to announce that Antonio Largo Barrientos, one of our talented doctoral students, has been awarded the Best Oral Communication Prize at the «II congreso de doctorandos en Química», organized by the Valladolid Territorial Section of the Real Sociedad Española de Química (RSEQ). This conference brought together students, researchers, and professionals in the field of Chemistry, and Antonio stood out for the quality and impact of his presentation.

Congratulations, Antonio Largo Barrientos! We are incredibly proud of your success and excited about what the future holds.

In the photo, Antonio Largo Barrientos receives the award.

PhD student Félix Lizalde Arroyo has won the Best Paper Award at FOAMS 2024, the most prestigious conference on cellular polymers. This award is presented every year by the SPE: Inspiring Plastics Professionals (Thermoplastic Materials & Foams Division) during its annual congress. This conference is open to world-renowned speakers presenting technical papers on innovations in foam processing, new blowing agents, micro- and nano-cellular foams and, in general, the potential industrial applications of these materials.

The winning paper deals with the production of a nanocellular material from a high performance polymer, which combines a reduction in weight with an improvement in properties compared to the performer solid.

In the photo, Félix Lizalde Arroyo receives the award from Stephane Costeux.

Three young researchers from the CellMat group have been awarded at the latest edition of the Poly-char 2024 conference, held in May in the city of Madrid.

The awards were:

• Dr. Beatriz Merillas: Best oral presentation award (by GEP)
• Jaime Lledó Martín: Best poster award (by IUPAC)
• Clara Amezúa: Best poster award (by GEP)

Beatriz Merillas, a postdoctoral researcher in the CellMat group, has been awarded the Best PhD Thesis in Polymers 2023 , granted by the Specialized Group in Polymers (GEP) of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Physics.

The award was given for her thesis titled «Synthesis, Characterization, and Structure-Properties Relationship of Aerogels and Aerogel-Based Composites,» in which the GEP recognized the advancements made in the field of nanoporous materials and aerogels.

The author, together with her thesis advisors Miguel Ángel Rodríguez and Fernando Villafañe, defended her thesis in 2023, which included 11 scientific publications and earned the honors of Cum Laude and International Doctorate.

Judith Martin de Leon, Victoria Bernardo and Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Perez, members of CellMat, have publish a book titled NANOCELLULAR POLYMERS. FROM MICROESCALE TO NANOSCALE.

The book covers production, structure, properties and potential applications of nanocellular polymers fabricated by using foaming methods.

Beatriz Merillas Valero, Ismael Sanchez Calderon and Daniel Cuadra Rodriguez, researchers at CellMat Laboratory, presented their PhD thesis.

The three thesis received Excellent-Cum Laude califications.

Beatriz Merillas Valero, PhD student of CellMat Laboratory, wins the First Prize for the Best Oral Presentation from Early Career Researchers in a competition between the different students who presented in the «Spanish-Portuguese Industry-Academia Aerogel Meeting”, 1-2 March 2021 in Coimbra, Portugal.
This meeting is organized by AERoGELS COST Action (https://cost-aerogels.eu), the Chemical Process Engineering and Forest Products Research Centre (University of Coimbra, Portugal), the I+D Farma research group (University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) and Flucomp (Asociación de Expertos en Fluidos Comprimidos, Spain).

Researchers from CellMat develop a process to produce transparent nanocellular polymers without the need of a post-processing. They open the door to their possible use in several industrial applications.

https://diariodecastillayleon.elmundo.es/articulo/innovadores/espumas-con-tamanos-de-celda-diminutos-transporte-seguro-vacunas/20220119125509040106.html

Beatriz Merillas Valero, PhD student of CellMat Laboratory, wins the second prize for the Best Poster Presentation from Early Career Researchers in a competition between the different students who presented a poster in the International Conference on Aerogels for Biomedical and Environmental Applications in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.