Team Company: PDT

Hilmar Guzmán, Assistant Professor at POLITO, holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering specializing in electrochemical CO₂ reduction and sustainable energy conversion. Her expertise includes designing, optimizing, and scaling up gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs), catalyst–electrode interfaces, and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) for CO₂ and H₂O electrolysis. She has contributed to EU-funded projects such as SunCoChem. In recognition of her work in the field, Hilmar was awarded the Eni Award – Young Researcher of the Year in 2023. In ENDURION, she serves as Leader of Work Package 4 (WP4) and Tasks 4.1 and 4.5, coordinating the development and integration of MEAs at the 10 cm² scale. She also guides experimental work in the lab, training PhDs and future MSc thesis students, and actively contributes to project meetings and strategic planning.

Simelys Hernández got the degree in Chemical Engineering, with highest honors (Lode) at both Politecnico di Torino (Polito, Turin, Italy) and at Universidad Central de Venezuela (Caracas, Venezuela) in 2004 and completed her PhD in Chemical Engineering at Polito in November 2009. She has been Assistant Professor (RTD-B) of the courses of Catalysis for the Energy and the Environment, Industrial Chemistry, Green Chemistry Products and Processes, and Photo-Electro-Catalytic Technologies for a Sustainable Chemical Industry at the DISAT department (Polito) and, from February 2021, she will Associated Professor leading a course on Petroleum Technology. She is responsible of the research team: CO2 reduction for a low-carbon economy (CREST group). She is collaborator at the CSFT of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT@Polito), member of the RSC, MRS, ISE and SCI (Electrochemical Division). She is technical coordinator of the EU H2020 project SunCoChem (https://suncochem.eu/), principal investigator of the H2020 project OCEAN (https://www.spire2030.eu/ocean), vice-coordinator of the EU H2020 project RECODE (https://www.recodeh2020.eu/) and has worked in the coordination and scientific teams of other EU Projects (CELBICON, SOLHYDROMICS, MCWAP, ArtipHyction, ECO2CO2 and TERRA) related to the development of Novel Sustainable Photo-Electro-Chemical Processes for the capture and conversion of the CO2 from lab-scale (TRL2/3) to Pilot scale (TRL5/6). She is Associate Editor of the Journals Frontier in Chemistry (section Catalysis and Photocatalysis) and Nanomaterials (mdpi). She is currently co-author of > 76 papers (>2100 citations) in international peer-reviewed journals, 14 book chapters and her H-index is 27. She is reviewer of high-level international scientific journals such as Nature Catalysis, Appl. Cat. B: Environm., Adv. Energy Mat., ChemSusChem and Green Chemistry, among others.

Fehad Nabi Khan is a first-year PhD student (40th cycle) at Politecnico di Torino developing efficient OER and HER catalysts. His research harnesses DFT screening to identify task-specific ionic liquids that, when immobilized on catalyst surfaces, enhance ion conductivity, modulate hydrophobicity, and lower activation barriers for water-splitting intermediates—and he validates top candidates in membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) and zero-gap electrolyzers. He holds an M.Tech. (CPI 9.44/10) and B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering—graduating top of his class—and has expertise in electrochemical characterization, materials synthesis, and process modeling. His core interests lie at the intersection of ionic-liquid and catalyst development for sustainable hydrogen production.