Advanced materials for additive manufacturing

My research interests lie in the interface between chemistry and chemical engineering in the area of Sustainable Engineering and Chemistry. My primary research interests are based on the development of innovative catalytic solutions for a variety of processes aiming to tackle the grand challenges that humanity is facing. My research aims to develop Sustainable Manufacturing Processes (SMPs) integrating process intensification, additive manufacturing (3D-printing), heterogeneous (bio)catalysis, real-time analytics and feedback optimisation. This integrative approach will lead to transformative systems for the discovery and processing of new materials, products and chemicals with applications in diverse fields, including waste valorisation and in the fine and pharmaceutical industry. Another area of interest is the development of engineering solutions for the processing of complex chemical systems (e.g. supramolecular chemistry, nanotechnology).

Advanced Materials

Development of advanced materials structured across the scales with a primarily focus on chemical catalysis and secondarily sensing, energy harvesting and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The materials are structured in a bottom-up fashion, ranging from the molecular, nano and microstructure up to structured solid and active devices manufactured by 3D printing.

Novel Manufacturing Methods

Exploring the employment of 3D printing to develop active devices with applications in catalysis, reactor engineering, biocatalysis, energy harvesting, etc. Novel materials with molecularly tailored functionalities are synergistically combined with 3D printing to manufacture active and smart devices.

Advanced Reactor Engineering

Development of integrated and intensified platforms for high added value manufacture under continuous-flow. In-line analytics, including spectroscopic techniques (UV-Vis, NMR, IR, Raman, etc.) are included for rapid an efficient data generation about the processes studied.

Data Driven Processing

The employment of intelligent algorithms, design of experiments and tailored data acquisition mechanisms enables rapid feedback optimisation, the generation of knowledge from the advanced materials and reactors, and the discovery of new materials and processes.

Short Biography of Dr. Víctor Sans

Victor Sans graduated in Chemical Engineering at the University Jaume I in 2003, followed by a MSc and a PhD in Sustainable Chemistry (2007). After he took a post-doctoral appointment at the University of Bath and later Warwick under the supervision of Prof. Alexei Lapkin. In 2011 he moved to Glasgow to work in the Cronin group as a PDRA and since 2013 as a Research Fellow in the same group. In 2014 he was appointed Assistant Professor and promoted to Associate Professor in 2018 at the University of Nottingham. From May 2019, he took an appointment as a CIDEGENT Fellow and group leader at the Institute of Advanced Materials (INAM) at the Universitat Jaume I. He has published 41 papers in top scientific and engineering journals (e.g. Nature Chemistry, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials). He has 1591 citations and an 19 h-index. Dr. Sans is an expert in Reactor Engineering, 3D-printing, advanced materials, sustainable chemical processing and process automation.

Websites

https://sansresearchgroup.wixsite.com/home

Publications

2023

  1. Journal of CO2 Utilisation, 2023,
    Sánchez-Velandia, J.E.; Esteve, F.; Maireles, M.; Iglesias, D.; Martín, N.; Zanatta, M.; Sans, V.; Cirujano, F.G.; García-Verdugo, E.         One-pot growth of metal-organic frameworks on polymers for catalytic performance enhancement in the CO2 cycloaddition to epoxides.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212982023002470
  2. Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 2023, 7, 100386.
    Palmara, G.; Carvajal, D.; Zanatta, M.; Mas-Marzá, E.; Sans, V.         Additive manufacturing technologies applied to the electrochemical valorization of biomass.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666086523000322?via%3Dihub
  3. Green Chemistry, 2023,
    Iglesias, D.; Tinajero, C.; Marchetti, S.; Roppolo, I.; Zanatta, M.; Sans, V.         Multi-step oxidative carboxylation of olefins with carbon dioxide by combining electrochemical and 3D-printed flow reactors.
    Article page: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/GC/D3GC03360K
  4. Nanoscale, 2023, 15, 4962-4971.
    Miralles-Comins, S.; Zanatta, M.; Gualdrón-Reyes, A.F.; Rodríguez-Pereira, J.; Mora-Seró, I.; Sans, V.         Polymeric ionic liquid-based formulations for the fabrication of highly stable perovskite nanocrystal composites for photocatalytic applications.
    Article page: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2023/NR/D2NR07254H
  5. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2023, 11, 9613–9619.
    Zanatta, M.; García-Verdugo, E.; Sans, V.         Direct Air Capture and Integrated Conversion of Carbon Dioxide into Cyclic Carbonates with Basic Organic Salts.
    Article page: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c00890
  6. ChemTexts, 2023, 9, 4.
    Salas, A.; Zanatta, M.; Sans, V.; Roppolo, I.         Chemistry in light-induced 3D printing.
    Article page: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40828-022-00176-z
  7. Catalysis Today, 2023, 418, 114128.
    Podrojková, N.; Oriňak, A.; García-Verdugo, E.; Sans, V.; Zanatta, M.         On the role of multifunctional ionic liquids for the oxidative carboxylation of olefins with carbon dioxide.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0920586123001529

2022

  1. Advanced Functional Materials, 2022,
    Recalde, I.; Gualdrón-Reyes, A.F.; Echeverría-Arrondo, C.; Antolí, A.Villanueva; Simancas, J.; Rodríguez-Pereira, J.; Zanatta, M.; Mora-Seró, I.; Sans, V.         Vitamins as Active Agents for Highly Emissive and Stable Nanostructured Halide Perovskite Inks and 3D Composites Fabricated by Additive Manufacturing.
    Article page: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.202210802
  2. Polymers, 2022, 14, 5121.
    Miralles-Comins, S.; Zanatta, M.; Sans, V.         Advanced Formulations Based on Poly(ionic liquid) Materials for Additive Manufacturing.
    Article page: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/23/5121#
  3. Chemistry - Methods, 2022,
    Iglesias, D.; Haddad, D.; Sans, V.         Recent Developments in Process Digitalisation for Advanced Nanomaterial Syntheses.
    Article page: https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cmtd.202200031
  4. Green Chemistry, 2022, 24, 3300-3308.
    Valverde, D.; Porcar, R.; Zanatta, M.; Alcalde, S.; Altava, B.; Sans, V.; García-Verdugo, E.         Towards highly efficient continuous-flow catalytic carbon dioxide cycloadditions with additively manufactured reactors.
    Article page: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2022/gc/d1gc04593h
  5. Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, 2022,
    Amin, S.; Cameron, J.M.; Cousins, R.B.; Wrigley, J.; Liirò-Peluso, L.; Sans, V.; Walsh, D.A.; Newton, G.N.         Redox-active hierarchical assemblies of hybrid polyoxometalate nanostructures at carbon surfaces.
    Article page: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/qi/d2qi00174h/unauth
  6. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2022, 10, 2388–2396.
    Alvarez, E.; Romero-Fernandez, M.; Iglesias, D.; Martinez-Cuenca, R.; Okafor, O.; Delorme, A.; Lozano, P.; Goodridge, R.; Paradisi, F.; Walsh, D.A.; Sans, V.         Electrochemical Oscillatory Baffled Reactors Fabricated with Additive Manufacturing for Efficient Continuous-Flow Oxidations.
    Article page: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06799

2021

  1. Biomaterials Science, 2021, 9, 5397-5406.
    Wales, D.; Miralles-Comins, S.; Franco-Castillo, I.; Cameron, J.M.; Cao, Q.; Karjalainen, E.; Fernandes, J.Alves; Newton, G.N.; Mitchell, S.G.; Sans, V.         Decoupling manufacturing from application in additive manufactured antimicrobial materials.
    Article page: 5397-5406
  2. American Journal of Biomedical Science & Research, 2021, 244-253.
    Macko, J.; Echeverría-Arrondo, C.; Podrojková, N.; Barrera, Y.Angelina B.; Kindi, H.; Sisáková, K.; Gorejová, R.; Jendželovsky, R.; Buľková, V.; Mora-Seró, I.; Sans, V.; Oriňaková, R.; Groth, T.; Oriňak, A.         Carbonyl Iron Foam Surfaces Modified with Poly (L-Lysine) As Smart Surface for Bone Implant.
    Article page:
  3. Advanced Optical Materials, 2021, 202101024, 1-9.
    Adhikari, S.Das; Masi, S.; Echeverría-Arrondo, C.; Miralles-Comins, S.; Sánchez, R.S.; Fernandes, J.Alves; Chirvony, V.S.; Martínez-Pastor, J.P.; Sans, V.; Mora-Seró, I.         Continuous-Flow Synthesis of Orange Emitting Sn(II)-Doped CsBr Materials.
    Article page: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adom.202101024?af=R
  4. Nature Communications, 2021, 12, 231.
    Weilhard, A.; Argent, S.P.; Sans, V.         Efficient carbon dioxide hydrogenation to formic acid with buffering ionic liquids.
    Article page: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-20291-0
  5. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2021, 3, 200–208.
    Sen, S.; Goodwin, S.E.; Barbará, P.Verdía; Rance, G.A.; Wales, D.; Cameron, J.M.; Sans, V.; Mamlouk, M.; Scott, K.; Walsh, D.A.         Gel–Polymer Electrolytes Based on Poly (Ionic Liquid)/Ionic Liquid Networks.
    Article page: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsapm.0c01042

2020

  1. Journal of Catalysis, 2020, 385, 1-9.
    Weilhard, A.; Salzmann, K.; Navarro, M.; Dupont, J.; Albrecht, M.; Sans, V.         Catalyst design for highly efficient carbon dioxide hydrogenation to formic acid under buffering conditions.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021951720300828?via%3Dihub
  2. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2020, 59, 14331-14335.
    Martin, C.; Kastner, K.; Cameron, J.M.; Hampson, E.; Fernandes, J.A.; Gibson, E.K.; Walsh, D.A.; Sans, V.; Newton, G.N.         Redox‐active hybrid polyoxometalate‐stabilised Au nanoparticles.
    Article page: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.202005629
  3. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 2020, 25, 100367.
    Sans, V.         Emerging trends in flow chemistry enabled by 3D printing: Robust reactors, biocatalysis and electrochemistry.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452223620300560
  4. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2020, 260, 118110.
    Cano, I.; Martin, C.; Fernandes, J.A.; Lodge, R.W.; Dupont, J.; Casado-Carmona, F.A.; Lucena, R.; Cardenas, S.; Sans, V.; de Pedro, I.         Paramagnetic Ionic Liquid-Coated SiO2@ Fe3O4 Nanoparticles-the Next Generation of Magnetically Recoverable Nanocatalysts Applied in the Glycolysis of PET.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926337319308574?via%3Dihub

2019

  1. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2019, 377, 120123.
    Bracconi, M.; Ambrosetti, M.; Okafor, O.; Sans, V.; Zhang, X.; Ou, X.; Da Fonte, P.; Fan, X.; Maestri, M.; Groppi, G.; Tronconi, E.         Investigation of pressure drop in 3D replicated open-cell foams: coupling CFD with experimental data on additively manufactured foams.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1385894718319983
  2. Reaction Chemistry and Engineering, 2019, 4, 1682-1688.
    Okafor, O.; Robertson, K.R.; Goodridge, R.; Sans, V.         Continuous-flow crystallisation in 3D-printed compact devices.
    Article page: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2019/re/c9re00188c#!divAbstract
  3. Molecular Systems Design and Engineering, 2019, 4, 995-999.
    Amin, S.; Cameron, J.M.; Watts, J.; Walsh, D.A.; Sans, V.; Newton, G.N.         Chain length effects on the size, stability, and electronic structure of redox-active organic-inorganic hybrid polyoxometalate micelles.
    Article page: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2019/ME/C9ME00060G#!divAbstract
  4. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2019, 7, 11691-11699.
    Delorme, A.E.; Sans, V.; Licence, P.; Walsh, D.A.         Tuning the Reactivity of TEMPO during Electrocatalytic Alcohol Oxidations in Room-temperature Ionic Liquids.
    Article page: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b01823
  5. ChemPlusChem, 2019, 84, 7, 786-793.
    Cot, S.; Leu, M.K.; Kalamiotis, A.; Dimitrakis, G.; Sans, V.; de Pedro, I.; Cano, I.         An Oxalate‐Bridged Binuclear Iron(III) Ionic Liquid for the Highly Efficient Glycolysis of Polyethylene Terephthalate under Microwave Irradiation.
    Article page: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cplu.201900075
  6. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2019, 245, 240-250.
    Leu, M.K.; Vicente, I.; Fernandes, A.; de Pedro, I.; Dupont, J.; Sans, V.; Licence, P.; Gual, A.; Cano, I.         On the real catalytically active species for CO2 fixation into cyclic carbonates under near ambient conditions: Dissociation equilibrium of [BMIm][Fe(NO)2Cl2] dependant on reaction temperature.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926337318312153

2018

  1. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30, 26, 1800159.
    Wales, D.; Cao, Q.; Kastner, K.; Karjalainen, E.; Newton, G.N.; Sans, V.         3D Printable photochromic molecular materials for reversible information storage.
    Article page: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adma.201800159
  1. ChemCatChem, 0,
    Podrojková, N.; Sans, V.; Oriňak, A.; Oriňaková, R.         Recent Developments in Heterogeneous Catalysts Modelling for CO2 Conversion to Chemicals.
    Article page: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cctc.201901879
  2. Fuel, 0,
    La Rocca, A.; Ferrante, A.; Haffner-Statona, E.; Cairns, A.; Weilhard, A.; Sans, V.; Carlucci, A.P.; Laforgia, D.         Investigating the impact of copper leaching on combustion characteristics and particulate emissions in HPCR diesel engines.
    Article page: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016236119320733#f0005