Joyce Cavalcante, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Postdoctoral fellow

Social Profile:

Research Interests

Dr. Cavalcante is passionate about sustainable engineering, focusing on developing green alternatives for conventional separation systems. She specializes in materials processing and characterization, utilizing renewable materials as the primary source of her work. She is also an expert in upcycling, mycomaterials, and bio-based interpenetrating polymer networks.

Selected Publications

  • Surface engineering of a superamphiphilic, self-growing fibrous Janus membrane prepared from mycelium. Cavalcante, J.; Szekely, G.  Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1039/D3TA05220F
  • Antipathogenic Upcycling of Face Mask Waste into Separation Materials Using Green Solvents. Cavalcante, J.; Hardian, R.; Szekely, G.Sustain. Mater. Technol. 2022, 32, e00448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2022.e00448
  • Crude algal biomass for the generation of thin-film composite solvent-resistant nanofiltration membranes. Yang, C.; Cavalcante, J.; Freitas, B. B.; Lauersen, K. J.; Szekely, G.  Chemical Engineering Journal. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2023.144153
  • Development of mesoporous ceramic membranes of Diatomite/TiO2/Nb2O5 nanocomposites for the treatment of contaminated water. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering. Fernandes, Y.L.R. L., Silva, M.C. L., Raimundo, R.A., Cavalcante, J., Mashhadikarimia, M., Morales, M. A., Mota, F.V., Acchar. W., Gomes, U.U.  2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2023.111161

Education

  • Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering, KAUST, Saudi Arabia, 2023
  • MSc in Materials Science and Engineering, UFRN, Brazil, 2020 
  • BSc, Materials Engineering, UFRN, Brazil, 2019

Professional Profile

  • ​2023- Present: Postdoctoral fellow, Water Desalination and Reuse Center, KAUST, Saudi Arabia
  • 2019-2019: Researcher, Brazilian National Laboratory of Nanotechnology, Campinas, Brazil
  • 2018-2019: Researcher, UFRN, Natal, Brazil
  • 2015-2016: Researcher, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary

Awards

  • ​2019 Academic Excellence Award (granted by UFRN)

KAUST Affiliations

  • Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC)
  • Division of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE)​​

Research Interests Keywords

Polymer science Separation Renewable materials Sustainable Engineering