Radjenović, Jelena
Ramon y Cajal Research Fellow at Institut Català de Recerca de l'Aigua (ICRA).
Engineering Sciences
Short biography
Graduated in Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology from the University of Belgrade´s Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, Serbia, in 2004. PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Barcelona in July 2009 with “cum laude” distinction. 2009-2014: Advanced Water Management Centre (AWMC), University of Queensland, Australia. November 2014-onwards: Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Girona, Spain. Awarded several prestigious fellowships: Queesland Early Career Smart Future Fellowship, Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship, Ramon y Cajal fellowship. 2017-2022: ERC Starting Grant ELECTRON4WATER.
Research interests
I am an expert in chemical and electrochemical advanced (waste)water treatment, with a focus on the fate of chemical contaminants. My research aims to increase the efficiency and resilience of water treatment and reuse through the development of sustainable, energy-efficient and renewable energy-driven technologies.Over the last years, I have been investigating electrochemical treatment systems and surpassing their major limitation - low current efficiency - by integrating them with engineered, low-cost carbon nanostructured materials in a nanoelectrochemical system (NES). In addition, I am developing a hybrid nano-biotreatment based on accelerating the redox microbial reactions in anaerobic respiration by the addition of low-cost carbon nanomaterials. Electron shuttling by graphene derivatives drastically enhances the removal of pollutants and may improve the quality and quantity of the produced biogas, thus generating a positive energy balance.