Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Amaia Zurutuza, scientific director of Graphenea

Graphene-related research is developed at Graphena.It is a business initiative between private investors and the CIC nanoGUNE cooperative centre.

Hello, I am Amaia Zurutuza and I am the scientific director of Graphenea.

Graphenea is a business initiative between private investors and the CIC nanoGUNE cooperative centre, which is why we are part of nanoGune. I develop graphene-related research at Graphena and lead the local scientific team. Graphene was first isolated in 2004, and last year, in 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to scientists who discovered graphene. Graphene is not a new material. For example, we can find it in graphite, which is one of the layers of graphite. Where do we find the graphite? Well, on the tip of the pencils. Graphene, by definition, consists only of carbon atoms and is very thin: it has the thickness of an atom. It is a million times smaller than a sheet. Here we enter the nanoscale and the world of nanotechnology.

One of Graphene’s initial goals is to sell samples or samples of graphene to existing research laboratories around the world. At this time, there is no graphene-containing product on the market. They advertise their use in electronics, transistors; energy, solar energy; batteries, for example for electric cars; and touchscreens on mobile phones... What makes graphene such an interesting material with so many applications? Because of its properties. It has very special properties: it has a very high electronic mobility, which is why they say it will replace silicon in the future; it has been shown to be harder than steel; and it has a very high thermal conductivity.

I studied chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry in San Sebastian and then I went abroad as an Erasmus in Scotland. And in it, the opportunity arose to do my doctorate abroad, and I thought it would be positive, enriching for my professional career, and I stayed abroad doing my doctorate. Then I did two postdoctoral studies within two European projects. And at that point, I started to think that college research was fine, but I wanted to have experience with something more practical, something more practical. So I started working in a pharmaceutical company. By changing the composition of the polymer or macromolecule that we made there, we controlled the release of the drug or drug, both the time and the amount of administration. There I helped to create three patents, and the publications were not relevant, they were not accepted. So I ended up with that industrial profile. After six years there, and twelve years abroad, I decided it was time to go back to the Basque Country, and I went into research on graphene. There's been a big change of terrain. It wasn’t an easy choice, but overall it was worth it.
I would define my work as a vocation or a hobby. In the end, science or scientists don’t have a fixed schedule. You should always be responding quickly, especially if you want to develop things earlier than others. Although graphene is in the research stage, it is an area that moves very quickly and we have to move quickly or respond to challenges.

The best part about my job is that you have the opportunity to see new things all the time, meet people from all over the world and travel a lot to attend conferences or meetings. And the worst part is that you want the day to have more hours so that you have the opportunity to do more things. But since we like the work, we do it with enthusiasm.