Acabamos el año con una nueva sesión de ITQ Inspire Lab – Ciberseguridad para personal investigador: protege tu investigación

Esta jornada está centrada en la puesta en práctica de medidas simples y efectivas para reforzar la seguridad digital. El taller está orientado al personal que quiera potenciar la seguridad informática y es de particular interés para el personal investigador que maneja información sensible.

Esta sesión será impartida por expertos del Área de Sistemas y Comunicación (ASIC) de la UPV: Aristóteles Cañero, jefe de sección de Seguridad de la Información y Beatriz de la Blanca, Analista de Seguridad.

¿Qué aprenderás?

• Contraseñas seguras: cómo crear y gestionar claves robustas sin complicarte.
• Cifrado de datos: protege discos y memorias externas en minutos.
• Firma digital en correos: autenticidad y confianza en tus comunicaciones.
• Phishing: cómo detectar correos fraudulentos antes de caer en la trampa.
• Actualización de equipos: por qué es vital mantener tu software al día.
• EDR (Endpoint Detection & Response): la protección avanzada que ya tienes y cómo aprovecharla.
• Buenas prácticas en la red UPV: evita errores que ponen en riesgo tu información.

La metodología del taller combina explicaciones breves con demostraciones prácticas, de modo que los participantes puedan aplicar las recomendaciones de forma inmediata.

Miércoles 17 de diciembre

• 10:30h
• Salón de Actos del ITQ (UPV-CSIC)

Registro a la jornada

La jornada ha sido organizada desde Excelencia Severo Ochoa del ITQ (UPV-CSIC).

¡Os esperamos!

En esta nueva sesión de ITQ Talks contaremos con el Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez, responsable de la línea de luz 3Sbar en el sincrotrón ALBA.

Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez impartirá la charla “3Sbar: The New Beamline at ALBA synchrotron for Operando Studies of Catalytic Interfaces”

• 27 de noviembre de 2025 (12:00h)
• Salón de Actos del ITQ (UPV-CSIC)

3Sbar: The New Beamline at ALBA synchrotron for Operando Studies of Catalytic Interfaces

“God made the bulk, the surface was invented by the devil.” Wolfgang Pauli’s famous statement encapsulates the complexity of surfaces, where solids meet gases or liquids and where chemistry, structure, and reactivity converge. Understanding these interfaces under relevant conditions is essential for unraveling key processes in catalysis and energy conversion, yet it remains challenging due to different experimental limitations.

The 3Sbar beamline at ALBA synchrotron has been designed to overcome these limitations, providing a unique platform for the simultaneous investigation of the chemical and structural properties of surfaces and interfaces under relevant reaction conditions. The beamline integrates ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS), surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD), and X-ray scattering (XRS), allowing comprehensive characterization of solid–gas and solid–liquid interfaces across a wide range of pressures and environments relevant to the investigated processes. Moreover, 3Sbar is equipped with online gas chromatography (GC) and quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS) systems, enabling real-time monitoring of reaction products and direct correlation between surface transformations and catalytic performance. By combining multiple X-ray techniques with online product analysis, 3Sbar enables a complete operando approach, linking surface chemistry, structure, and reactivity simultaneously. This capability establishes 3Sbar as a powerful tool to advance the understanding of catalytic and electrochemical processes, contributing to the design of cleaner and more efficient technologies.

This presentation will introduce the 3Sbar beamline and illustrate its capabilities through representative catalytic experiments. Examples include solid–gas reactions, and solid–liquid electrochemical systems, where the evolution of electrified interfaces can be probed under working conditions.

Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez

Dr. Juan Jesús Velasco Vélez holds a degree in electronic engineering from the University of Granada and began his scientific career as a student assistant in microelectronic systems at Technische Universität Darmstadt (2005–2006). From 2007 to 2010, he served as a scientific assistant in the Department of Applied Surface Physics and Nanotechnology at the University of Mainz while completing his PhD in surface physics at Ruhr University Bochum. He subsequently worked as an electronic engineer at Adlantis GmbH in Dortmund (2010–2011).

Dr. Velasco Vélez was awarded two prestigious Feodor Lynen fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, conducting research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the United States (2011–2013) and later at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin (2013–2014). From 2014 to 2022, he was a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. Since 2022, he has served as Head of the 3Sbar Beamline at the ALBA Synchrotron in Barcelona.

En esta nueva sesión de ITQ Talks contaremos con el Dr. Liya Zhu, Research Fellow at the School of Electrical Engineering, Zhengzhou University. 

El Dr. Liya Zhu impartirá la charla «Solar fuel production via thermochemical and thermo-electrochemical coupling paths»

• 13 de noviembre de 2025 (12h)
• Salón de Actos del ITQ (UPV-CSIC)

Solar fuel production via thermochemical and thermo-electrochemical coupling paths

Renewable fuel production through solar-driven thermochemical cycle has attracted extensive research interests over the past two decades due to its advantages such as full-spectrum utilization and high efficiency potential. However, a series of technical bottlenecks have limited the energy efficiency to only around 5% under the current technological conditions. This talk will elaborate the energy conversion characteristics of the whole process in detail and clarify the origins of main energy losses based on its fundamental thermodynamics.

The research work of our team on key material development and reactor design will be presented and meanwhile some recent works on the thermo-electrochemical hybrid cycle derived from the concept of thermochemical cycle, as well as high temperature electrolysis will also be introduced.

Dr. Liya Zhu

Dr. Liya Zhu is a Research Fellow at the School of Electrical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, and currently a Visiting Researcher at the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) in the group of Prof. Andreu Cabot. He earned his Ph.D. in Power Engineering and Engineering Thermophysics from Xi’an Jiaotong University and has held several international research appointments, including as a visiting Ph.D. candidate at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

His research focuses on the development of solid oxide materials for renewable energy conversion, as well as multi-scale process modeling and thermal management. He has authored 20+ peer-reviewed articles and led several research grants, including projects funded by Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research Program and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).  

Os invitamos a una nueva edición de ITQ Talks!

En esta ocasión contaremos con el Prof. Dr. Ir. Jimmy A. Faria A. (University of Twente, The Netherlands) quien impartirá la charla «Dynamic Catalytic Ammonia Decomposition: A Strong Coupling between Localized Transient Heating and Reaction Kinetics»

• 6 de noviembre de 2025 (9:30)
• Salón de Actos del ITQ (UPV-CSIC)

Dynamic Catalytic Ammonia Decomposition: A Strong Coupling between Localized Transient Heating and Reaction Kinetics

Ammonia (NH₃) is emerging as a promising carbon-free hydrogen carrier, offering cost-effective solutions for hydrogen storage and transportation. However, recovering hydrogen from NH₃ via catalytic cracking remains energy-intensive due to the endothermic nature of the reaction. This seminar will begin by reviewing the role of ammonia as an energy storage medium in decentralized settings, focusing on its integration with renewable energy sources through an absorption-enhanced Haber-Bosch process. We will then examine the interplay between reaction kinetics and transient heating during dynamic ammonia decomposition, utilizing a custom-designed micro-reactor capable of ultra-fast thermal cycling.

Dynamic operation is achieved via Joule heating of a pyrolytic graphite sheet (PGS) coated with catalyst. Rapid heating to high temperatures within milliseconds, followed by fast cooling, enables efficient NH₃ decomposition. Compared to isothermal operation at 400 °C, dynamic modulation yields turnover frequencies up to four orders of magnitude higher for hydrogen production. This enhancement underscores the critical influence of pulse amplitude, frequency, gas hourly space velocity, and cooling rate in controlling surface reaction kinetics under non-steady-state conditions. The results provide compelling evidence for a strong coupling between localized transient heating and catalytic performance, suggesting that dynamic thermal modulation can overcome conventional kinetic constraints such as those predicted by Brønsted–Evans–Polanyi relationships. These findings open new avenues for high-efficiency hydrogen production from ammonia via temporally programmed catalytic processes.

Prof. Dr. Jimmy A. Faria A.

Dr. Faria is a professor at the University of Twente (The Netherlands) working in the Faculty of Science and Technology. After completing this B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in Venezuela he moved to the University of Oklahoma (USA) to pursue his PhD with Prof. Daniel Resasco where he worked in catalytic reactions in liquid-liquid interfaces. After graduation he moved to Spain to work in the corporate R&D center of Abengoa, leading the development of technologies for hydrogen production and biomass valorization. Since his appointment at the University of Twente Prof. Faria is working on smart catalytic materials and processes for sustainable chemical conversions for the C- an N- cycles.

In 2021, he received the VIDI personal grant to explore the utilization of catalytic foams for plastic chemical upcycling. This year, he became the coordinator of the Horizon Project FASTER focused on developing low temperature ammonia synthesis catalysts and the project manager of the National Growth Funds on Green Hydrogen NL (GroenvermogenNL) of ~24 M€ on green electrons and green hydrogen for nitrogen-based chemistry. He is also a committed teacher, receiving the teacher of the year award in 2025 for his leadership in the Chemical Science and Engineering program at the University of Twente.

Os invitamos a la jornada «Closing the Gaps in Bio/E-Fuels — Standards, Regulation, and Market Readiness» que se realizará el próximo 4 de noviembre de 2025. En la jornada se explorarán los últimos avances en combustibles biogénicos y eléctricos en sectores en los que es difícil reducir las emisiones contaminantes como son la aviación, el transporte de mercancías pesadas y el transporte marítimo.

En la jornada contaremos conferencias de Klaus Lucka y Werner Willems, expertos de Tec4Fuels, y de Karsten Wilbrand de Shell sobre los principales desafíos y oportunidades relacionados con la estandarización, la certificación y los marcos regulatorios; elementos cruciales para conseguir una adaptación exitosa del mercado de combustibles sostenibles.

El evento concluirá con una mesa redonda moderada por la Dra. Patricia Pizarro (IMDEA), coordinadora de BIOCTANE, y el Dr. Gonzalo Prieto (ITQ UPV-CSIC), coordinador de E-TANDEM.

La jornada está coorganizado por los proyectos BIOCTANE y E-TANDEM (financiado por Horizonte Europa) y tiene como objetivo fomentar el diálogo y la colaboración entre el personal investigador, la industria y los responsables políticos que trabajan por conseguir un futuro de transporte sostenible.

• 04/11/2025 (09:30-11:45)
• Registro

¡Os esperamos!