Raúl Hernández Sánchez

Abstract

As a young boy growing up in Chihuahua, Mexico, Raúl Hernández Sánchez was a fan of the iconic wrestler El Santo. In dozens of movies, the masked luchador battled multifarious foes, including evil scientists whose secret laboratories were filled with bizarre equipment and fuming beakers. Those scenes captured the boy’s imagination: “I was 8 years old, thinking, ‘I would like to be working there!’ ” he says with a laugh. Fortunately for us, the lab he now leads at Rice University is focused not on world domination but world preservation. “I’m trying to use supramolecular systems to tackle sustainability problems,” Hernández Sánchez says. His molecular assemblies are already showing promise in purifying water and helping generate hydrogen. Hernández Sánchez began studying chemistry at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education. But it was a summer internship at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked on a proton-conducting material used