Dr. Victor M. Castaño, Professor, Department of Molecular Engineering of Materials, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México(UNAM), Mexico

Victor M. Castaño (Mexico City, 1960) received M.Sc and Ph.D. degrees from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and spent 2 years as a postdoctoral fellow at IBM´s Thomas J. Watson Research center (New York). He has authored and co-authored over 700 peer-review papers, is member of the Editorial Board of over 40 international journals and has received several awards in Mexico, the US and Europe. His interests are in the area of Materials Science, particularly in developing nano-sized materials for a number of uses, including water treatment technologies and nanomedicine. Has received several awards in Mexico, the US and Europe. He is full-professor and founding Director at the Centro de Fisica Aplicada y Tecnologia Avanzada (CFATA) of the UNAM. His work has received over 10,000 citations and is one of the most cited Latinamerican scientists in his area.

Speech Title: Graphene bionanocomposites: challenges and opportunities

Abstract: A review of the advances on composite materials that include graphene and related structures will be presented, with an emphasis on the main limitations to produce readilly-available industrial-scale products. Then, an analysis of the methods to chemically and physically tailor the surface of graphene to enable it to be effectively incorporated into a composite, will be discussed. Several examples of bionanocomposites, including keratin, chitosan, starch, etc., along with applications to energy storage, aerospace materials, biomedical devices and additive printing will be offered.