Researcher’s portrait
Fernando Lepre
Fernando is originally from Brazil. After studying chemistry, he completed his master’s and doctoral degrees at the Molecular Spectroscopy Laboratory (LEM) at the University of São Paulo. During his thesis, he did an internship at the Thermodynamics and Molecular Interactions Laboratory (TIM) at the Clermont-Ferrand Institute of Chemistry. His research topic at the time was the absorption and separation of CO2 by ionic liquids. He continued his study of structure-property relationships in ionic solvents with a first post-doc at the Chemistry Laboratory of ENS Lyon, followed by a second at the Polymer Materials Engineering Laboratory (IMP) in Lyon, focusing on dynamic ion gels (DIGs).
In March 2024, Fernando joined CEA-Liten in Grenoble for a postdoctoral fellowship under the supervision of Pierre Piluso and Hakima Mendil-Jakani. As part of the PEPR program, he resumed work on two theses on the use of ionic liquids to recover platinum and Nafion from fuel cells via a Nafion swelling mechanism. His work aims to understand and develop a process for recycling Nafion from fuel cells that is viable for industry.
In addition to the scientific interest in studying pollution caused by fluorinated polymers, which are potential eternal pollutants, it is the multidisciplinary aspect that interests Fernando in the PEPR Recycling program. On the one hand, within the NTE axis, with the rest of the team scattered across the country, but also on the other hand, with other axes and disciplines. Composites and strategic metals, ionic liquids are used in the recycling of other materials studied within the program. The young researcher is aware of the global nature of the pollution caused by this waste, a very pressing issue in Brazil. This is therefore an opportunity for him to meet scientists working on other aspects of the issue, including through the prism of the humanities and social sciences.
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