Alvaro Gallo-Cordova, ICMM's researcher, awarded at Margarita Salas Research Prize for his thesis on materials to decontaminate water

Image

Microplastics from cosmetics are considered 'emerging pollutants', as these kinds of microplastics are increasing. And that is a dangerous thing. In this context, achieving its elimination and degradation is crucial, and that is, in part, what the researcher Álvaro Martín Gallo Córdova has managed to do in his doctoral thesis, which he defended in March 2022 at the Institute of Materials Science in Madrid (ICMM), CSIC. Because of this thesis, he just won a second prize at the Margarita Salas Research Awards in the Environmental Sciences category.

"I feel super happy," acknowledges the researcher, who highlights this type of award as "a way of motivating young scientists to continue on this path."

The thesis, entitled Magnetic Nanoreactors: Environmental Catalysis Applications [Nanorreactores Magnéticos: Aplicaciones en Catálisis Ambiental],  was directed by Puerto Morales Herrero and Jesús García Ovejero and obtained an outstanding grade with Cum Laude mention and international mention. In it, the researcher sought "to make our contribution to finding solutions to problems such as climate change and environmental pollution."

He has used magnetic materials based on nanometer-sized iron oxide: "We cannot see it with the naked eye, but the material exists and within this small world we are capable of creating incredible structures", explains Gallo-Cordova with simple words.

"These structures are capable of trapping pollutants found in water and transforming them into other compounds that are not harmful to the environment," continues the researcher, who points out that the magnetic nature of these nanoparticles has allowed them to separate the pollutants "just by using a magnet, which is an efficient, simple and clean process."

In his thesis, Gallo-Cordova argues that what makes his work special is its linking of the primary research carried out by him in Morales' group with industry. In fact, during the study they managed to scale up their nanoreactors to reach the first stages of industrialization, where the results were more than favorable: "This technology is apt to form part of the water treatment processes that currently exist at an industrial level," says the researcher.

At this point is where they tested the aforementioned microplastics of cosmetic origin and where they managed to eliminate them by 100% and degrade them by 70%. "This thesis offers a catalog of highly versatile magnetic nanoreactors for environmental applications, and proposes multiple routes by which the basic research developed can advance towards industrial implementation," summarises the scientist.

Gallo-Cordova, a chemical engineer by training, insists on being grateful for the support and influence of his thesis supervisor: "Thanks to her I became passionate about this," he says, stressing that the ICMM "is a multidisciplinary institution that provides its researchers and students with the necessary tools to promote and develop research projects linked to society and the problems that afflict us today".

The scientist now continues his training as a postdoctoral researcher in the ICMM's Materials for Medicine and Biotechnology Group and is now on an international stay in Buenos Aires (Argentina). He explains how he learned at this institute what makes a good scientist: "It's not the publications or how smart you are, but your ability to take the knowledge you have acquired and share it with the whole world, with your students, with your fellow scientists so that science continues and we can transfer it to fulfill the great ultimate goal of contributing to society".

To conclude this interview, we talk about the future. He is convinced and hopeful to continue his career doing science with an environmental focus: "I would like to lead my own laboratory to share with my students all that I have learned during my scientific career and have my work and that of others transferred across generations".