10/11/2022. In the ceremony of the Margarita Salas Research Awards 2022, the PhD Thesis of Alba María Fernández Sotillo was awarded the second prize in the area of Environmental Science. The laureates selected by the jury and the winners in the different categories were revealed at the Contemporary Culture Centre “Condeduque” on 10 November 2022 during the live ceremony and livestreamed on YouTube. These awards organized by the City of Madrid are intended to promote and strengthen the scientific research in Madrid, favoring the knowledge transfer between University and Society.

The research work of her PhD Thesis entitled "Graphene oxide solution processing strategies for innovative fuel cell technology components " (UCM, 2021), supervised by Paloma Ferreira (PI1 of the ELHYPORT project), analyses thoroughly the synthesis of continuous graphene films with interesting applications in many fields, and in particular for fuel cells. This research has led to the optimization of an easy and cost-effective solution processing procedure for the anticorrosion coating of copper substrates (ES2893957 (B2)). Efficient, durable and cost-effective copper based current collectors have been developed for fuel cells, using a sustainable environmentally friendly procedure free of organic solvents.