General Information

German MONTES HERNANDEZ has received a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Strasbourg in October 2002. He was a post-doctoral fellowship from 2003 to 2009 at the universities of Strasbourg, Nancy and Grenoble in Earth Sciences departments for each university in France. From October 2009, he was hired as researcher (CR1) in the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Additionally, in the same year, he has received a HDR habilitation (July 2009) from University of Grenoble to conduct research work in France, i.e. official recognition to supervise Ph.D students.

  • His experience includes developing experiments related to nucleation, growth and transformation of mineral nano- to micro-particles under mild and hydrothermal conditions, preferentially monitored in real-time by infrared and Raman spectroscopy and by atomic force microscopy (AFM). In summary, he has a consolidated experience on the nucleation and growth of minerals, synthesis of mesocrystals and nanostructured materials, capture and mineralization of CO2, removal of pollutants from wastewater, reactive transport in porous media and osmotic swelling of clays.
  • From October 1999 (including PhD thesis) to January 2024, he has published 81 international publications with peer review (43 as first author) on Earth and Planetary Sciences, Material Sciences and Chemical Engineering areas, 5 contributions to books and 5 patents as first inventor. His current citation metrics (up to 15/01/2024) are summarized by more of 3700 citations with a H-Index of 35 (see for example its Google Scholar).
  • He has supervised 7 PhD students than have strongly contributed to its research production in the last 10 years :
    1. Romain Lafay, PhD defended in 2013 (topic :Experimental serpentinization in CO2-rich systems) Key Publication/Report
    2. Alexandre Garenne, PhD defended in 2014 (topic :Aqueous alteration of extraterrestrial objects) Key Publication/Report
    3. Ayumi Koishi PhD defended in 2017 (topic :Water dynamic in amorphous calcium carbonates) Key Publication/Report
    4. Afef Hamdouni PhD student in Tunisia defended in 2017 (topic :Removal of iron from groundwater by portlandite carbonation) Key Publication/Report
    5. Sabah Hajji PhD student in Tunisia defended in 2018 (topic :Removal of As and Cr from drinking water using nanostructured minerals) Key Publication/Report
    6. Imrana Chaibou Ousmane PhD student in Niger defended in 2021 (topic :Removal of iron (FeII) and Mn (II) from groundwater by using calcite and/or portlandite) Key Publication/Report
    7. Felipe Marti Montava PhD student in Spain defended in 2023 (topic :Synthesis and applications of cement phases : case of Xonotlite) (Confidential Report)

He has also supervised 15 graduate and undergraduate students (L2, DUT, BUT, M1R and M2R) :
1. Nicolas Concha-Lozano (M2R, Grenoble) (topic :Removal of toxic ions from water by portlandite carbonation) Key Publication/Report
2. Alexandre Garenne (M2R, Nancy) (topic :gas-solid carbonation monitored by time-resolved FTIR measurements) Key Publication/Report
3. Mahaut Di Girolamo (M1R, Lyon) (topic :In-situ formation of AgNPs onto textile fibers) Key Publication/Report
4. Mamadou BAH (M2R, Grenoble) (topic :Magnesite as an useful engineered mineral to mitigate CO2 industrial emissions) Key Publication/Report
5. Alix Tordo (3rd year ENS program, Lyon) (topic :Removal of As from water using nanostructured minerals) Key Publication/Report
6. Manon Revol (DUT and M1, Grenoble) (topic :Removal of Ag, Cr and As from water using nanostructured minerals) (Topic in Developing)
7. Clara Vernier (DUT, Grenoble) (topic :Removal of amoxicillin from water using nano-magnetite) Key Publication/Report
8. Michelle Garcia Salinas (International M1, Phelma, Grenoble) (topic :Precipitation of Mg-Fe-Ca Carbonates from indirect carbonation of Mg-Fe-Ca-rich minerals) (Confidential Report)
9. Elodie David (DUT, Grenoble) (topic :Optical real-time monitoring of salts and calcite crystallization) (Topic in Developing)
10. Noémie Bouchard (DUT, Grenoble) (topic :Capture of carbon dioxide using NaOH and lysine) (Confidential Report)
11. Lola Feugueur (DUT, Grenoble) (topic :Removal of As(III) and antibiotics from groundwater using nanominerals and mineral nanoparticles) Key Publication/report
12. Sarah Clavier (M2R, Lille) topic : Indirecte carbonation of peridotite and use of synthesized Fe-magnesite (Confidential Report)
13. Amethys Brioudes (BUT, Grenoble) topic : Optical real-time monitoring of calcite crystallization on hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces (Topic in Developing)
14. Jules Collion (BUT, Grenoble) topic : Removal of ammonium and nitrate ions from water : real-time monitoring by using an multi-ionic probe (Topic in Developing)
15. Suzanne Marchaland Le Bihan (L2, Paris) topic : Optical real-time monitoring of CO2 capture from air using µ-drops of NaOH and Ca(OH)2 solutions Very Good Report

Current students :

- Sihem Rmili (invited PhD student from Tunisia) Topic : Mineral and 2D elemental caracterization of natural samples from Bahloul and Fahdène formations in Tunisia and experimental Pb-Zn mineralization (PbS and ZnS formation) under hydrothermal conditions using batch mini-reactors

Lab. Hosting of Carlos Pimentel : CARS-CO2 project financed by Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action

  • Main collective activity : scientific supervisor of geochemistry group at ISTerre from 2017 to 2019 (3 years in total).
    Main task : Coordination and redaction of geneneral items of five-year summary (2015-2019) and project and strategy for the next five years (2020-2024)