Fitxa persona

My profile combines basic education in Chemistry (bachelor) and Materials Chemistry (PhD). I have carried out various predoctoral and postdoctoral stays at the Laboratoire de Chimie de Solides de l'Université de Bordeaux and Le Laboratoire des Fluorures de l’Université du Maine (Le Mans) under the supervision of Prof. G. Villeneuve and G. Ferey, respectively. Since 1994 I have been a University Professor and since 2007 Full Professor in Inorganic Chemistry. My scientific activity has been centred in the area of knowledge of inorganic chemistry and has focused on the synthesis and characterization of materials prepared under mild conditions. In a first stage he focused on the chemistry of vanadium phosphates. Later the line expands to other related systems (phosphates, arsenates...) including other transition elements.The work on these materials (with 2-D and open structures) was carried out in collaboration with the group of Prof. G. Ferey, and to a certain extent we can consider these solids as the precursors of the current MOFs. Starting in 1996, I open a new line of work on mesoporous materials in the ICMUV (very relevant at the time, since it was created in 1992 with the publication of an article in Nature by researchers from Mobil). Since 1996 I have led the Nanostructured Materials Unit, which was the first group at the University of Valencia to work on ordered mesoporous materials. The work team currently has 4 staff members and 4 people in training. Our activity starts on porous non-siliceous materials. We were able to prepare mesoporous alumina for the first time with the use of cationic surfactants and we also published one of the first articles describing mesoporous TiO2. Both articles have garnered a good number of citations and we can consider them classic references. But without a doubt, the achievement that I consider most relevant of my entire scientific career has been the development of the "Atrane Route": a preparative methodology based on the use of atrane complexes as hydrolytic precursors. This method leads to materials with high compositional and structural homogeneity. The bases of this method were published in Sol. Stat. Sci. 2, 405-420 (2000), and it is an article that ranks among the most cited of the magazine. We extended the method to a large variety of solids: silicas, mixed oxides, phosphates, oxynitrides etc. Another notable development was the synthesis of a new family of nanoparticulate silicas with bimodal hierarchical porosity (called UVM-7, Chem. Commun. 330-331 (2002)), which have an improved accessibility compared to the MCM-41. The versatility achieved by combining the atrane route and UVM-7 silicas, has allowed us to design a wide variety of porous materials with applications in emergent fields (catalysis, remediation, sensors, biotechnology, nanomedicine, etc.). All these applications require a rigorous selection of porous substrates and appropriate loading protocols with both organic and inorganic species, including both one-pot and post-functionalisation processes. A large number of materials with sensor properties and sophisticated drug delivery systems have been developed.. This line of work allowed the implementation of new characterization techniques at the University of Valencia such as the adsorption-desorption of N2 (in 2000) and more recently the SAXRS (2020) thanks to national projects that I led. The communication of the achievements has been reflected in: (1) 270 publications (252 included in WoS, 3 book chapters and 15 national publications), 6 reviews, (2) 89 national and 92 international congresses (7 invited and 1 Plenary Lecture) (3) 8 national and 5 international patents. This activity has been well valued both in the scientific field (h index = 51; 10075 citations; 40.0 citations / article; 83% Q1 during the last decade) and in the institutional sphere (6 research sexennial periods favourably evaluated by CNEAI). Most of the funds needed for this activity come from 65 national and regional projects, 38 as IP that I have led continuously since 1994 (10 over the last decade). This activity has contributed to the training of research staff (Directed PhD = 10, and I am currently co-director of 2 PhD). Professional career of PhD students. P. Burguete (CEPSA). V. Puchol (Jeanologia S L). A. Moragues (BC Fertilis), J. M. Morales (professor at the Valencia School of Medicine). C. Belenguer (Generalitat Valenciana). E. Pellicer (Professor secondary school). Collaborations with industries (2011-2025): IQE, Microbiotech SL, Asociación Valenciana de Agricultores, Aquactiva Solutions, Fertinagro, Sanifruit. Public Collaborations (2011-2025): Hospital la Fe, Hospital Clínico de Valencia.

Recent Research Projects

1. TITLE: Synthesis and Selected Applications of Novel Multifunctional Porous Nanomaterials and Nanocomposites. FUNDING ENTITY: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. REFERENCE: PID2021-126304OB-C43. PI/ENTITY: P. Amorós, J. V. Ros/ICMUV-UV. DURATION: 2022-2024

2. TITLE: Transformation and Functionalization of Rice Hulls to Obtain Novel Silicon-Based Organic Fertilizers with Increased Nutrient Retention Capacity (ZEOFER-RICE). FUNDING ENTITY: EU, Ministry of Science and Innovation. REFERENCE: CPP2022-009855. (Public-Private Collaboration) PI/ENTITY: J. El Haskouri/ICMUV. DURATION FROM: 2023 UNTIL: 2026

3. TITLE: Development and validation of nanomaterials and sensors to promote the competitiveness of the agri-food sector. FINANCING ENTITY: EU, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Generalitat Valenciana. REFERENCE: AGROALNEXT/2022/065. PI/ENTITY: J. V. Ros, P. Amorós/UV-ICMUV. DURATION FROM: 2022 UNTIL: 2025

4. TITLE: Design and selected applications of multifunctional porous nanomaterials with improved porosity. FINANCING ENTITY: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. REFERENCE: RTI2018-100910-B-C44. PI/ENTITY: P. Amorós, J. V. Ros/ICMUV-UV. DURATION FROM: 2019 UNTIL: 2021

5. TITLE: New applications in X-ray Diffraction Techniques of the Central Service for Support to Experimental Research (SCSIE). FUNDING ENTITY: Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. REFERENCE: EQC2018-005228-P. PI/ENTITY: P. Amorós/ICMUV. DURATION FROM: 2019. UNTIL: 2019

6. TITLE: Mesoporous and particulate solids for the design of theranostic materials. FUNDING ENTITY: Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. REFERENCE: MAT2015-64139-C04-02-R. PI/ENTITY: P. Amorós/ICMUV. DURATION FROM: 2016 UNTIL: 2018

7. TITLE: Mesoporous hybrid nanomaterials and composites for the design of sensor, controlled delivery, and remediation systems. FINANCING ENTITY: Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. REFERENCE: MAT2012-38429-C04-03. PI/ENTITY: P. Amorós / ICMUV. DURATION FROM: 2013 UNTIL: 2015

8. TITLE: Mesoporous and particulate nanomaterials for the design of sensor systems, remediation, and energy-related applications. FINANCING ENTITY: Ministry of Science and Technology. REFERENCE: MAT2009-14564-C04-04. PI/ENTITY: P. Amorós / ICMUV. DURATION FROM: 2010 UNTIL: 2012.

Teaching experience

Subjects taught during the last few years:

Materials Science- I, Degree in Chemical Engineering at ETSE

Chemistry Laboratory –II, Degree in Chemistry.