Professor Jesús Santamaría, principal investigator of the Nanostructured Films and Particles Group of the Nanoscience Institute of Aragón - NFP-INA and the CIBER-BBN, has been awarded with an Advanced Grant, one of the most prestigious European grants.

The project led by Dr Santamaría has been awarded €1.85 million over five years. Its objective is to design a micro-reactor that would apply energy in a selective manner, avoiding undesired reactions and allowing energy to be saved. Called the HECTOR project: “Microwave-assisted Microreactors: development of a gas-phase highly efficient direct heating of the catalyst”, this research will, according to Dr Santamaría, make it possible to conduct a new, different and environment-friendly type of chemistry.

The ERC Advanced Grants give support to excellent projects on the frontiers of science, led by active researchers with an excellent ten-year track-record wanting to undertake their project in an institution of any country in the European Union. In this round, more than 2000 applications were received by the European Research Council (ERC), of which a total of 266 are to be funded. Spain ranks seventh in terms of the number of Advance Grants received, with 13 scientists across the country conducting research projects under this program. 

Dr Santamaría, a senior professor in Chemical Engineering at the University of Zaragoza since 1990 and vice director of the Aragon Institute of Nanoscience since 2007, is the leader of the Nanoporous Films and Particles Group, member of the CIBER-BBN. Recently, he has been awarded an honorary doctorate by the Universidad Nacional Litoral, Argentina. His scientific excellence is demonstrated by his more than 200 articles published in scientific journal, 14 patents, 22 doctoral theses supervised and over 300 contributions to conferences.