The Bioinspired Materials Group is a research group of the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, an institute of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) (Spanish National Research Council). The BMG’s main scientific interest has been the use of biomimetic and green chemistry for the preparation of hierarchically organized materials. It is obvious that, in sustainability terms, best lessons are provided by nature. Thus, the design of green processes inspired in nature is an interesting approach for the preparation of sophisticated materials with tailored chemical compositions and hierarchical structures (combining pores at different scales, from macropores to mesopores, up to micropores). Since 2006, the BMG has demonstrated the performance of these materials in the fields of energy – as electrodes in energy-related devices – and environmental sustainability – as CO2 adsorbents.
More recently, the BMG is exploring the use of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) in green chemistry and environmental sciences. Our interest in green chemistry resides in the significant relevance that is gaining in materials science. It is widely accepted that for scaling up and with increasing environmental status and regulatory pressure focusing on solvents, much attention must be paid to the use of green chemistry alternatives to traditional ones in not only fundamental research but also the chemical-related industry. Other applications of DESs and aqueous DES dilutions – e.g. CO2 absorption, liquid-liquid extraction for pollutant remediation, etc. – are also being studied by the BMG group.