Heberton Wender Luiz dos Santos

Prof. Dr. Heberton Wender is currently an Associate Professor III at the Institute of Physics, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS), coordinator of the SisH2-UFMS (part of the National Hydrogen Laboratories Network/MCTI/CNPq), and researcher at Sisfóton-UFMS (part of the National Photonics Laboratories Network/MCTI/CNPq). He is a CNPq level 1D Research Productivity Fellow and participates in the Graduate Programs in Materials Science (PGCM) and Chemistry (PPGQ) at UFMS.He holds a Bachelors degree (UFMS, 2006), a Masters degree (UFMS, 2009), and a Ph.D. (UFRGS, 2011) in Physics/Condensed Matter Physics. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at LNLS/CNPEM (2011-2012), where he secured a regular FAPESP project (#2011/17402-9, R$ 400K) to establish a laboratory for colloidal nanoparticle synthesis via magnetron sputtering.Prof. Wender led the creation of the Masters and Doctoral Programs in Materials Science (PGCM-UFMS) with CAPES and served as PGCM coordinator during 2016-2018 and 2022-2023. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of California, Davis, in 2018/2019, and the internal coordinator and driving force behind an institutional international collaboration proposal (CAPES/PrInt 2019-2024) with researchers from the UK, Germany, and the USA. He maintains strong international collaborations, particularly with researchers in Portugal and the UK, resulting in several joint publications.He has delivered national and international invited talks (ICNMSME-2022, Euro Catalysis-2020), participated in organizing committees of international scientific events (ICNTRI 2023, B-MRS 2024, ICNMSME 2024, ICNTRI 2024, ICNTRI 2025), and recently undertook scientific missions in the UK (University of Nottingham in 2021, 2024, and 2025) and Portugal (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, in 2022).Prof. Wenders work focuses on solar energy conversion, developing minimum viable products and proof-of-concept devices for industrial applications. He has coordinated several research projects funded by CNPq, FUNDECT, FINEP, and CAPES, amounting to over 20 million reais in the last five years. He also has a close relationship with the private sector, leading or participating in RD projects funded by companies such as Instituto Mosaic (Mosaic Fertilizantes), Aegea/Águas Guariroba, Copa Energia, Green Fuel (MAI-DAI/CNPq), and Shell. He provides occasional consulting services in his field of expertise and is a founding partner of a startup (FotoGEE) funded by MCTI/CNPq (~ R$ 270K), which developed and is currently refining a greenhouse gas electroconverter (CO#8322; and CH#8324;).Prof. Wender has expertise in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, focusing on the synthesis, study, and control of the physicochemical, optical, electronic, and structural properties of semiconductor materials, and their applications in (i) photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation (artificial photosynthesis), (ii) CO#8322; photoreduction into alcohols and value-added products, (iii) photo-oxidation of pollutants and CH#8324; in photocatalytic fuel cells, (iv) (photo)electrolyzers for greenhouse gases (GHG), and (v) photocatalytic degradation of pollutants/pharmaceuticals/pesticides.He has served as a reviewer for prestigious international journals in his field (>130 certified peer-reviews) and for national funding agencies (FINEP, FAPESP, FAPEPI, CNPq). He has extensive experience in training and managing human resources at the undergraduate, masters, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels. He currently has an h-index of 28 and over 2400 citations. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)