Maritta Lira received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil). During her bachelor’s degree, she worked with tungstates in a lab of nanomaterials for catalytic reactions. During that time, she received a grant to study Chemical Engineering for a year and a half at the University of Hull (England), where she worked with magnetic inks. During her master’s, she focused on nanomaterials for catalysis and developed a process to obtain a nanocatalyst (molybdenum carbide) from a raw mineral (molybdenum sulfide). After graduation, she decided to continue her research on materials for renewable energy applications. She then joined the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) as a PhD student.
