I graduated in Physics in 1998 and completed my PhD in 2003 from the University of Barcelona. From 2004 to 2007 I was a postdoctoral researcher at 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, synthesis and manipulation of nanocrystals and nanomaterials, their functional characterization and their application in the energy field. I use mostly solution-based processes to produce these nanocrystals and to assemble them to the macroscale. Solution-based methods allow for both a unique control over composition and crystal phase at the nanometer scale and a high versatility in the development of cost-effective technologies. From an application point of view, I have centred my work on the development of materials for energy conversion and storage. In particular, my group develops solution-processed thermoelectric nanocomposites from the bottom-up assembly of colloidal nanocrystals, (photo, electro)catalysts to accelerate energy-related chemical reactions and electrodes for next-generation batteries.