I graduated in Physics in 1998, and in 2003 I received my PhD from the University of Barcelona. I then worked from 2004 to 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of California at Berkeley and in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, under Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos' guidance. I returned to the Electronics Department of the University of Barcelona in 2007, and in 2009 I joined the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research - IREC to create the Functional Nanomaterials Group. Now, as ICREA Research Professor, I lead a team of approximately 15 people devoted to the preparation and characterization of metal and semiconductor nanostructures, the assessment of their functional properties and their bottom-up assembly to fabricate high efficiency and cost-effective energy conversion and storage devices.

Research interests

My research focuses on the design, production and manipulation of nanocrystals and nanomaterials, their functional characterization and their technological application in the energy field. I use solution-based processes to produce these nanocrystals and to assemble them to the macroscale. Solution-based methods allow both a unique control over composition and crystal phase at the nanometer scale and a high versatility in the development of socially and economically-relevant technologies. From an application point of view, I have centered my work in the development of materials for energy conversion and storage. In particular, my group develops solution-processed solar cells using spray deposition technologies, thermoelectric nanocomposites from the bottom-up assembly of colloidal nanocrystals and multi-metallic and metal-metal oxide nano-heterostructures for catalysis, including photo and electrocatalysis.