News and Events
News and updates
07/08/2012 Rafa interviewed by Vera Köster from Chemistry Views (Wiley). You can read the intereview here
17/07/2012 Rafa interviewed by several media along the lines of Social media in Sciences, Researchgate and his recent work on biofuels, see Highlights for more info!
June/July 2012 European tour with invited lectures and visits in Warsaw, Linz, Ljubljana and many others.
01/06/2012 Rafa leaves to the Max Planck in Berlin to Prof. Antonietti´s group for a short stay of three months as part of his GreenTalents2011 award.
30/05/2012 Jose Bermudez from INCAR leaves the group after his very succesful 3-month stay in Cordoba. Best of luck for the future and many thanks for the great job and results that will be published soon!!
15/05/2012 Alina heading to the group of our collaborator Prof. Ana Rosa Silva at Aveiro for 3 weeks.
20/05/2012 The group signs a contract agreeement with the company Petrowood Combustiveis Ltd from Portugal.
22/04/2012 Rafa on a US tour sponsored by the ACS Oklahoma Section visiting Oklahoma, Bartlesville, Kansas and Wichita.
20/04/2012 Alina passes her Ph.D viva with distinction and already accepted a 1 year postdoc at Aalto University in Finland with Prof. Herbert Sixta. Congratulations Alina and all the best for the near future!
07/03/2012 Rafa on a European tour (Italy,Poland) until March 20th.
06/03/2012 Cristina leaves the group back to Romania (goodbye and see you in October again!) and the group welcomes our new rising star Jose Bermudez from INCAR for three months, welcome Jose!!
06/02/2012 The groups starts a collaboration with NanoInnova Technologies in Madrid to investigate the catalytic activity of the graphene oxide materials they market. Stay tuned for further updates!
06/02/2012 The group receives Ms. Cristina Lavinia Nistor from ICECHIM, Bucharest; welcome Cristina!
06/02/2012 Last results in collaboration with groups from Jesus Santamaria (Universidad de Zaragoza), Oliver Kappe (University of Graz) and Pratibha Gai (Nanocentre, York) on the investigation of microwave effects in the preparation of supported nanoparticles published in the February issue of Green Chemistry 2012: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ gc/c1gc16119a
06/02/2012 Last publication of the group on biocollagen production from leather waste valorisation in collaboration with the IQAC of the CSIC in Barcelona available in the February issue of Green Chemistry 2012: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ gc/c2gc16330f
06/02/2012 Antonio Pineda receives funding from MEC for a research stay of 3 months in CPERI, congratulations Antonio!
27/01/2012 The X-Cube continuous flow instrument (http://www.thalesnano.com/products/x-cube) already installed and running! Stay tuned for the first results coming soon!
For more photos click here
26/01/2012 Rafa Luque´s interview by Biochemistry students at UCO featured at their blog El rincón Bioquímico http://elrinconbioquimico.blogspot.com/ Gracias Elisa y Félix!
26/01/2012 Last publication from the group in 2012 on microwave-assisted pyrolysis of biomass appears in the Feburary issue of Energy and Environmental Science, EES 2012, 5, 5481-5488 http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ ee/c1ee02450g
26/01/2012 Last results on lignin valorisation practises will be available soon.. Stay tuned for further updates!
23/01/2012 Recent work from the group on waste valorisation highlighted in the Green Chemistry Blog http://blogs.rsc.org/gc/2012/01/21/tailor-made-biopolymers-from-leather-waste-valorisation/
18/01/2012 Recent work in collaboration with Prof. Dion Dyonisiou on monodispersed titania nanoparticles featured in the Front Inside Cover of Chemical Communications, Issue 13, 2012 http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2012/ cc/c1cc16050h
10/01/2012 The group receives Prof. Carol S.K. Lin from City University of Hong Kong as visitor for a month, welcome Carol!
09/01/2012 Happy new year from the Nanoscale Chemistry and biomass valorisation group!!
21/11/2011 Rafa Luque is awarded the Green Talents 2011 prize (see highlights section for more details)
07/11/2011 Rafa Luque is awarded the Marie Curie Prize from Insituto Andaluz de Quimica Fina y Nanoquímica at UCO (see highlights section for more details)
27/07/2011 Rafa Luque interviewed by Green Chemistry Deputy Editor Anna Simpson for Chemistry World in July 2011, read it here http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/ 2011/July/27071103.asp
Research interests
Biomass/waste valorisation

Research on biomass valorisation has been focused in several areas including transformations of biomass-derived platform molecules to high added value chemicals and biofuels (e.g. biodiesel) to microwave-assisted processes with lignocellulosics, algae and other low-cost and waste raw materials.
Current projects include:
LIGNIN DEPOLYMERISATION USING NOVEL METHODOLOGIES AND HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSTS
VALORISATION OF WASTE FEEDSTOCKS: FROM HIGH ADDED VALUE CHEMICALS TO CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
TRANSFORMATION OF PLATFORM MOLECULES TO BIOFUELS AND CHEMICALS
Selected references
Energy Environ. Sci. 2012, 5, 5481-5488
Energy Environ. Sci. 2012, 5, 5186-5202
Green Chem. 2011, 13, 3162-3167
ChemCatChem 2011, 3, 594-597
Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 5266-5281
Energy Environ. Sci. 2010, 3, 254-257
Biores. Technol. 2010, 101, 4144-4150
Energy Environ. Sci. 2010, 3, 1706-1721
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Energy Environ. Sci. 2008, 1, 542-564 aaaaaaEnergy Environ. Sci 2011, 4, 3913-3929
Nanoscale Chemistry
We have focused our research on a range of supported metals and metal oxide nanoparticle on porous materials. Metals employed to date from noble (Pd, Pt, Ru, Rh) to transition metals including Fe, Co, Cu and Ni.
Materials have been prepared using novel methodologies developed in our group including microwave and ball-milling assisted deposition protocols.
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Selected references
Adv. Synth. Catal. 2011, 353, 3107-3113
Green Chem. 2012 , 14, 393-402
Chem. Rev. 2011, 111, 3036-3075.
Chem. Commun. 2010, 46, 7825-7827
Green Chem. 2010, 12, 1995-2002
Green Chem. 2010, 12, 1281-1287
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Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 1860-1862aaaaaaaaa Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 9024-9035aaaaaaa
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Green Chem. 2010, 12, 1540-1543
