Joselyn Del Pilar Albaladejo, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Webpage: https://sites.google.com/view/del-pilarlab/home
Phone: (787) 832-4040 ext. 2228
Email: joselyn.pilar@upr.edu
Office: Q-142
Lab: Q-112

Research Interest: Materials Chemistry for Energy and Environmental Solutions

Research in the Del Pilar group centers on designing materials to understand—and control—how structure governs function. We are especially interested in modulating structure–property relationships in functional materials for energy and environmental applications. Current interests include nanostructured metal oxides and spinel ferrites for electrocatalysis and electrochemical H₂O₂ production, defect and interface engineering to control catalytic activity and selectivity, and multifunctional materials for the capture and degradation of emerging contaminants such as PFAS. The group combines inorganic synthesis, solid-state chemistry, electrochemistry, spectroscopy, and advanced materials characterization to connect atomic- and nanoscale structure with macroscopic function, with the broader goal of developing materials-based solutions to energy and water challenges.
Contact us if you are interested in;

  • Structure: composition, defects, interfaces, morphology, oxidation state
  • Function: adsorption, catalysis, electrochemical activity, charge transfer
  • Impact: clean energy, sustainable chemical production, water remediation

Selected Publications

  • Escorcia, O.; Ávila, H.; Medrano, Óscar; Valle, A. D.; Rodríguez, D. J.; QuiñonesD, C. A.; Santiago, M. B.; Vázquez, R. J.; Nenadich, A. A.; Del Pilar, J. Phase-Dependent Electrocatalytic H2 O2 Selectivity of Fe-Based Spinels. ACS Omega 2026, acsomega.6c02151. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.6c02151.
  • Avila, H.; Escorcia, O.; Tarafa, P.; Cabrera, C.; Santana, J.; Rodriguez, A.; Del Pilar, J. Urea-Mediated Nitridation of La2Ti2O7 via Carbodiimide Formation. Solid State Sci. 2026, 108381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solidstatesciences.2026.108381.
  • Del Pilar Albadalejo, J.; Alonso-Sevilla, S.; Cintrón, N. I.; Feng, X.; García, Á. D.; Martínez-Torres, D. D.; Rodríguez, A. M.; Román-Montalvo, N. I.; Torres, J. I.; Yang, Y.; Peña-Duarte, A.; Singhal, R.; Debefve, L. M.; Pollock, C. J.; Cabrera, C. R.; Abruña, H. D.; Santiago-Berríos, M. B. Ex Situ and In Situ Analyses of the Mechanism of Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production by CoxZn1–xO (0 < x < 0.018) Materials in Alkaline Media. ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2022, 5 (6), 6597–6605. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.1c04030.
  • Peña-Duarte, A.; Vijapur, S. H.; Hall, T. D.; Hayes, K. L.; Larios-Rodríguez, E.; Pilar-Albaladejo, J. D.; Santiago, M. B.; Snyder, S.; Taylor, J.; Cabrera, C. R. Iron Quantum Dots Electro-Assembling on Vulcan XC-72R: Hydrogen Peroxide Generation for Space Applications. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2021, 13 (25), 29585–29601. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.1c05649.
  • Morales Cruz, A.L., Del Pilar Albaladejo, J., Díaz Vázquez, L.M, Rivera González, U., López-Mejías, V. Remote Pandemic Teaching in Quantitative and Instrumental Chemical Analysis Courses at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 2021.
  • Del Pilar Albaladejo, Joselyn; Santiago, Mitk’El B.; Cabrera, Carlos R. Non-Precious Metal-Based Electrocatalytic Cathode Materials for Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells (AMFC). ECS Transactions, Volume 92, 2019.
  • Del Pilar-Albaladejo, J., Wang, B., Dutta, P. K. Anchoring of Cobalt Hydroxide Catalyst on Nanozeolite Crystals for Photocatalytic Water Oxidation. Microporous and Mesoporous Materials, 2015, pp. 125-132.
  • Del Pilar-Albaladejo, J., Dutta, P. K.  Topotactic Transformation of Zeolite Sup- ported Cobalt (II) Hydroxide to Oxide and Comparison of Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution. ACS Catalysis, 2013 4(1), pp. 9-15.

Recognitions

  • PR Research Trust: 2022 Catalyzer Research Program Grantee
    Puerto Rico Science and Technology Trust, San Juan, PR, USA
  • NSF-PREM Postdoctoral Research Associate
    NSF-PREM: Center for Interfacial Electrochemistry of Energy Materials
    University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, PR, USA                                                       
  • DOE- Visiting Faculty Program Grantee
    Ames National Lab, Ames, Iowa, USA  
  • 2015 Linton-Poodry SACNAS Leadership Institute Fellow
    Washington, DC, USA
  • NSF-AGEP Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA    

Education

  • Ph.D in Chemistry
    The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio USA                                                                              
    Dissertation: Hydrothermal and Ambient Temperature Anchoring of Co(II) Oxygen Evolution Catalyst on Zeolitic Surfaces.
    Advisor: Prabir K. Dutta, Ph.D
  • M.Sc. in Chemistry
    The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio USA                                                                    
    Thesis Topic: Zeolite-supported Cobalt Catalysts for Water Oxidation in Artificial Photosynthetic Systems.
    Advisor: Prabir K. Dutta, Ph.D
  • B.Sc. in Chemistry
    University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico USA                                                               
    Research Experience: Design and Construction of Electrochemical Biosensor for the Detection of Salmonella.
    Advisor: Ana R. Guadalupe, Ph.D