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 22 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.

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 unique control over composition and crystal phase at the nanometer scale and high versatility in the development of cost-effective technologies. From an application point of view, I have centered 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.