Ginesa Blanco Montilla

My research activity began in January 1994 with the start of my PhD thesis titled " Alternativas al CeO₂ como componente de catalizadores de tres vías: Óxidos mixtos de La/Ce, Y/Ce y Tb/Ce" which I defended in July 1997, receiving the highest grade of “Apto Cum Laude por unanimidad”. The research work I have developed since 1994 has focused on the field of Heterogeneous Catalysis, particularly on the Chemical and Nanostructural Characterization of Lanthanide Oxides and related materials, as well as the applications of Catalysts with Lanthanide Oxides for Environmental Protection. I have completed two medium-length postdoctoral research stays to further my training in Photoelectron Spectroscopy techniques. As a result of these, since March 2007, when the equipment was acquired, I have been responsible for the Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) system, which until 2016 was part of the Institute of Electron Microscopy and Materials (IMEYMAT) and, since then, the Central Science and Technology Services (SCICYT) at the University of Cádiz. I currently serve as the scientific head of the Photoelectron Spectroscopy Division in SCICYT.
Since 1997, my research in the field of heterogeneous catalysis and lanthanide materials has been complemented by XPS spectroscopy studies on a wide range of materials of academic, technological, and industrial interest. I have collaborated with other research groups at UCA, as well as with national and international universities and companies, through these studies. Additionally, I have conducted research stays at various synchrotron facilities (DESY in Hamburg, BESY in Berlin, and Alba in Barcelona) for high-energy XPS studies and reaction condition studies.
I have participated in around twenty research projects and contracts, serving as principal investigator in five of them. As a researcher, I would like to highlight my involvement in the Type C Project of the National Materials Program called NANOLANCAT and the CEZIRENCAT Project. The latter project, coordinated by the Solid State Chemistry and Catalysis Group to which I belong, is especially noteworthy. So far, I have supervised two PhD theses, two Bachelor's theses, and three Master's theses. I have been the responsible of several key scientific infrastructure projects aimed at enhancing the XPS Division, including the acquisition of a Gas Cluster Ion Source (GCIS) for organic and inorganic sputter depth profiling, and the installation of the first up to this moment “Versatile and fully automated XPS spectrophotometer for surface analysis under environmental in-situ/operando conditions”, the EnviroESCA from Specs, the first of its kind to be installed in Spain.
During this time, I have co-authored 96 papers published in indexed journals, with a current h index of 34 in the Elsevier Scopus database (Author ID: 35387568900). I have also co-authored over a hundred presentations at national and international conferences, and several book chapters, including one in "Binary Rare Earth Oxides," published by Kluwer Academic Press, and another in the second edition of "Catalysis by Ceria and Related Materials," published by Imperial College Press. I maintain collaborative relationships with research groups from various countries (France, Portugal, Belgium, Austria, Italy).
In 2017, I achieved the professional rank of Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Cádiz. From November 2019 to February 2022, I served as the Director of the Central Services for Scientific and Technological Research (SCICYT) at the University of Cádiz.