Dr. Adriana Santamaria Padilla

Dr. Adriana Santamaria is an Energy Engineer and holds a PhD in Energy and Environment from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa (UAM-I), Mexico, completed in October 2024 with the support of a four-year CONACYT scholarship (2020–2024). During her doctoral studies, she carried out a research stay at the Institute of Materials Science of Seville, working with the Reactivity of Solids group, which strengthened her expertise in advanced thermochemical energy storage (TCES). Her research focuses on developing and optimizing TCES materials for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) applications, with an emphasis on doping strategies to mitigate sintering and agglomeration in solid–gas reaction systems. She aims to enhance cycle stability and energy density in the 900–1200 °C range. Since February 2025, Dr. Santamaría has been a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Iberian Center for Research in Energy Storage (CIIAE) in Cáceres, Spain, within the Thermochemical Energy Storage Department. Her current work includes the synthesis of novel TCES materials via sol–gel methods, improving calcination and carbonation performance through doping, and extensive material characterization (TGA, DSC, XRD, SEM, N₂ ad-/desorption). She is also actively engaged in preparing scientific publications and conference presentations to disseminate her findings. Outside of her academic career, Adriana enjoys playing the guitar, hiking, cycling, and having thoughtful conversations with friends about how to make the world a better place.