Beatriu Domingo Tafalla, a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Emilio Palomares, has successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Earth-abundant based nanostructured catalysts for CO2 Reduction” publicly on Friday,  November 15th. The members of the evaluation committee were Prof. Dr. Paolo Fornasiero (University of Trieste, Italy), Prof. Dr. Cyril Godard (Universitat Rovira i Virgili) and Prof. Dr. Elena Mas Marzá (Universitat Rovira i Virgili).

Why did you become a scientist?

Because I was curious to know how nature works and use this knowledge to help our society.

What do you want to achieve as a scientist?

I want to make people become interested and involved in science.

What is your thesis about?

It is about the design and characterisation of nanostructuted catalysts for CO2 reduction. I’ve worked with carbon dots, a quite new type of nanocarbon materials, and with TiO2, and I combined both materials with the iron porphyrin molecular catalyst.

What triggered your interest for the subject of your thesis?

The green-friendliness of the materials that we use to construct out catalysts.

What applications can your thesis have in the future?

It can help in the development of earth-abuntand based catalysts to transform CO2 into valuable products, which I consider to be essential to keep our quality of life.

The thing that I like most about my thesis is…. 

The pieces of contribution from all the people I met along the trip of the PhD.

From the lessons learnt (or skills developed) at ICIQ, which one do you value the most?

I learnt that if a experiment seems failed or there is an error at the beginning, it is always better to start from scratch than to lose time trying to fix it.

What ICIQ moment you´ll never forget? 

It was a day during my first month, when we were all together moving the lab from building 1 to building 2. Although a moving might seem tough and annoying, we shared loads of laughs and funny moments which made me realise I had made the right choice to be part of the Palomares group. 

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your PhD?

Many things! But probably the most important would be to know when to stop pushing on something that is not working.

What advice do you have for someone who’s starting their PhD now?

Be patient and keep in mind that despite seeming “a bad result”, any result is good.

From your experience at ICIQ, what do you think we can improve?

I think ICIQ needs more scientific figures in the groups with stable positions. These people are essential to transfer the knowledge from generation to generation.

Who/What has been your biggest influence/motivation?

My boss, Emilio. I admire him because he is a person with such clear values and objectives, both in the personal and professional way.

Where are you going next? What will you do there?

I am preparing to become a high-school teacher and transfer my knowledge and love to science to other students that might be curious as I was at their age.

What is your favourite molecule? 

DMSO, it dissolves almost everything.

If you were a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?

A pirex cell for electrochemistry measurements.

Tell us something about you that people might not know… 

I am not a chemist! I am an infiltrated graduated in nanoscience and nanotechnology.