Carlos Pimentel

Carlos Pimentel

Assistant professor

Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Biography

I started my geology degree with the intention of studying volcanoes. However, minerals, and in particular carbonate minerals, crossed my path. Since then, my scientific interest has always been linked to the study of these minerals. During my thesis (UCM), I studied the formation of carbonates with structures analogous to dolomite and the reactivity of the dolomite surface in contact with solutions supersaturated in other mineral phases. In my first postdoc (UPM), I studied how calcite and dolomite particles could be used in foliar fertilisation of plants. During my second postdoc (IACT, CSIC-UGR), I studied, using computational mineralogy techniques, the structure of norsethite. During my third postdoctoral contract (ISTerre, UGA-CNRS), I studied how sulphate carbonation reactions occur. This research had received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 101021894 [CARS-CO2].

Although during all this time my curiosity has led me to research about several topics: the surfaces of other minerals (halite, kyanite), of synthetic materials (graphene and organic crystals) and even of plants (rose petals); chemobrionics; and the structure of other minerals using computational mineralogy methods.

Interests
  • Crystallography
  • Mineralogy
  • Crystal Growth
  • Computational Mineralogy
  • AFM
  • PXRD
  • PHREEQC
Education
  • PhD in Geology, 2017

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

  • Master Degree in training teachers for secondary and sixth-form teaching, vocational training and language teaching, 2017

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

  • MSc in Enviromental Geology and Geologic Resources, 2012

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

  • Licenciado (BSc+MSc) in Geology, 2011

    Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Assistant professor
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Feb 2024 – Present Madrid
 
 
 
 
 
MSCA Postdoctoral Researcher
ISTerre (UGA-CNRS)
Feb 2022 – Jan 2024 Grenoble
Study of carbonate and sulphate minerals
 
 
 
 
 
Juan de la Cierva Formación Postdoctoral Researcher
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra
Feb 2020 – Jan 2022 Granada
Computational mineralogy and chemobrionics
 
 
 
 
 
Postdoctoral Researcher
Fundación Conde del Valle de Salazar. E.T.S.I. de Montes, Forestal y del Medio Natural (UPM)
Dec 2018 – Jan 2020 Madrid
Mineralogy, geochemistry and foliar fertilization
 
 
 
 
 
Master thesis supervisor
Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)
Mar 2018 – Jan 2019 Madrid (online)

Projects

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MSCA project

MSCA project

CARS-CO2 project financed by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action

Cation ordering

Cation ordering

Theoretical and experimental research on cation ordering in minerals.

Observing mineral surfaces with AFM

Observing mineral surfaces with AFM

Study of the structure and reactivity of various mineral surfaces.

Chemobrionics Database

Chemobrionics Database

Database for curating of chemical garden experiments.

3D crystal models and 3D structures

3D crystal models and 3D structures

Crystal models and mineral structures in 3D.

Non-existent minerals

Non-existent minerals

Dissemination using fictitious minerals.

Minerals for foliar fertilization

Minerals for foliar fertilization

Application of minerals for foliar fertilization

Photogrammetry models

Photogrammetry models

3D models of real samples (synthetic and natural).

Contact