Francisco Gonell

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at Instituto de Tecnología Química (UPV-CSIC)

Novel lamellar chalcogenide materials, named as ITQ‐75, are synthesized, focusing on the advancement and alteration of metal (tin and zinc) sulfide‐based microstructured materials. These are achieved via hydro(solvo)thermal processes in the presence of N‐heterocyclic aromatic structural directing agents. The comprehensive characterization of these...

Zeolites containing Rh single sites stabilized by phosphorous were prepared through a one-pot synthesis method and are shown to have superior activity and selectivity for ethylene hydroformylation at low temperature (50 °C). Catalytic activity is ascribed to confined Rh2O3 clusters in the zeolite which evolve under reaction conditions into single R...

An impressive library of functional oxide nanomaterials is now available, encompassing multicompartment nanoparticles and heterostructures in general that enable further tuning of the properties. Nonetheless, the vast majority of these nano‐objects is built on relatively common oxides, easily synthesized at the nanoscale by chemical methods known s...

Developing more sustainable catalytic processes for preparing N-heterocyclic compounds in a less costly, compact, and greener manner from cheap and readily available reagents is highly desirable in modern synthetic chemistry. Herein, we report a straightforward synthesis of benzimidazoles by reductive coupling of o-dinitroarenes with aldehydes in t...

In many liquid-phase synthesis methods developed to produce nanomaterials, the key parameters governing the selective synthesis of solids and compounds are clearly identified, e.g. heat treatment profile, precursors solubility, pH, etc. Most of these well-understood approaches rely on relatively low temperature processes, below 400 °C, where conven...

We report phase selective synthesis of intermetallic nickel silicide nanocrystals in inorganic molten salts. NiSi and Ni 2 Si nanocrystals are obtained by reacting a nickel (II) salt and sodium silicide Na 4 Si 4 ...

We report a synthesis pathway in molten salts toward ligand-free nanoparticles of the layered perovskite La0.5Sr1.5MnO4 (l-LSMO) and of the pseudo-cubic perovskite La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (pc-LSMO). These particles are readily implemented as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts in alkaline conditions. They show high ORR selectivity for the 4-ele...

Transparent upconverting hybrid nanocomposites are exciting materials for advanced applications such as 3D displays, nanosensors, solar energy converters, and fluorescence biomarkers. This work presents a simple strategy to disperse upconverting β-NaYF4:Yb3+/Er3+ or Tm3+ nanoparticles into low cost, widely used and easy-to-process polydimethylsilox...

Manganite perovskite oxides exhibit a wide range of properties relevant for catalysis, energy conversion and spintronics. Such behaviors can be deeply modified at the nanoscale where confinement and surface effects may prevail. Interesting properties could then emerge from manganite perovskite nanocrystals, although their synthesis remains a challe...

The search for simple, earth–abundant, cheap and non–toxic metal catalysts able to perform industrial hydrogenations is a topic of interest, transversal to many catalytic processes. Here, we show that isolated FeIII–O sites on solids are able to dissociate and chemoselectively transfer H2 to acetylene in an industrial process. For that, a novel, ro...

The influence of the crystallographic phase of ZrO2 on its catalytic performance in the MPV reduction of cyclohexanone with 2-propanol has been systematically investigated by combining accurate synthesis procedures, XRD and HRTEM characterization, kinetic measurements and DFT calculations, and compared to that of Zr-beta zeolite. The higher intrins...

Photocatalytic H2 production has emerged as one of the most clean and promising renewable energy sources. In spite of the efforts to obtain efficient photocatalysts able to produce H2 from Sun light and water, there is still the need to prepare cheaper and environmental friendlier photocatalysts. Phosphate-based materials could be good candidates t...

Nanocrystalline ZrO2 and WOx–ZrO2 catalysts with good control over the zirconia phase and the nature of the W species were synthesized by a microwave-assisted aqueous route. The monoclinic ZrO2 (m-ZrO2) and tetragonal ZrO2 (t-ZrOz) polymorphs were isolated through accurate control of the synthetic conditions, in acidic and basic media, respectively...

The kinetics of the ketonic decarboxylation of linear and branched carboxylic acids over m-ZrO2 as a catalyst has been investigated. The same apparent activation energy is experimentally determined for the ketonic decarboxylation of both linear pentanoic and branched 2-methyl butanoic acids, while the change in entropy for the rate-determining step...

El present treball de millora educativa constitueix un exemple de millora en les pràctiques de laboratori de l’assignatura QU0924 Química Inorgànica III mitjançant la introducció de rúbriques com a instrument d’avaluació. Clàssicament, l’avaluació en el laboratori químic es feia de manera subjectiva, és a dir, el professor tenia la intuïció de qui...

This manuscript reports the synthesis and characterization of the first organic-inorganic hybrid material exhibiting efficient multimodal spectral converting properties. The nanocomposite, made of Er(3+), Yb(3+) codoped zirconia nanoparticles (NPs) entrapped in a di-ureasil d-U(600) hybrid matrix, is prepared by an easy two-step sol-gel synthesis l...

Copper-doped titanium dioxide materials with anatase phase (Cu-TiO2, atomic Cu contents ranging from 0 to 3% relative to the sum of Cu and Ti), and particle sizes of 12–15 nm, were synthesised by a solvo-thermal method using ethanol as the solvent and small amounts of water to promote the hydrolysis-condensation processes. Diffuse reflectance UV–vi...

Up-conversion (UC) of infrared (IR) photons into visible radiation constitutes a promising strategy to enhance the light harvesting efficiency of photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices. In the present study, we integrate Er3+/Yb3+-codoped yttrium oxide (Y2O3) submicrometric particles with outstanding up-conversion properties into mesoporous...

Zirconia-mixed oxides can exhibit cubic fluorite and pyrochlore structure. Their discrimination is not easy in nanooxides with a crystal size close to that of a few unit cells. In this work, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) has been employed to provide key insights on the structural characterization of a nanometric and porou...

Every minute the sun delivers more energy to the surface of the earth than the entire world consumes in a year. Nowadays, the global climatic change makes necessary to develop renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuel supplies. It’s important to motivate students to these areas, so that, they can understand the importance of the chemistry in...

Every minute the sun delivers more energy to the surface of the earth than the entire world consumes in a year. Nowadays, the global climatic change makes necessary to develop renewable energy sources instead of fossil fuel supplies. It’s important to motivate students to these areas, so that, they can understand the importance of the chemistry in...