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.
Research interests
My research focuses on the design and development of advanced nanomaterials, with particular emphasis on controlling composition, exposed facets, crystal structure, and surface chemistry, and on probing them at the atomic scale. A central goal of his work is to establish robust structure–property relationships that connect atomic-level features with macroscopic performance, particularly in electrocatalysis and energy storage devices such as batteries. More recently, I have been developing high-throughput synthesis and characterization strategies combined with AI tools to accelerate materials discovery and the identification of structure–property relationships. I am also especially interested in understanding how materials operate under realistic working conditions through in situ and operando techniques, enabling direct observation of phase transformations, redox processes, and surface reconstruction, and thus the rational design of more efficient, durable, and sustainable materials.
Selected publications
- Zhang CY, Yu J, Huang C, Sun GW, Balcells L, Li JY, Qi XD, Yi CZ, Herrero-Martín J, Simonelli L, Fauth F, He R, Pan XB, Li JS, Arbiol J, Zhou JY & Cabot A 2025, 'Metal Doping Activation of Anion-Mediated Electron Transfer in Catalytic Reactions', Journal of the american chemical society, 147 - 8 - 7070 - 7082.
- Li CH, , Arbiol J & Cabot A et al. 2025, 'Balancing Electronic Spin State via Atomically-Dispersed Heteronuclear Fe-Co Pairs for High-Performance Sodium-Sulfur Batteries', Journal of the american chemical society, 147 - 10 - 8250 - 8259.
- Shi CW, Jiang XM, Qi XQ, Xing CC, Fan XL, Chen Z, Wang X & Cabot A 2025, 'Enabling Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction with Pt Single Atoms on Carbide: A Phosphorus-Doped Mo2C Interface Strategy', Nano letters, 25 - 45 - 16187 - 16195.
- Zhang CY, Arbiol J, Zhou JY & Cabot A et al. 2025, 'Spin-modulated catalysis in sulfur cathodes for improved performance in lithium-sulfur batteries', Comm.Mat., 6 - 1 - 256.
Selected research activities
- Eight defended PhD thesis
- New project on AI-driven material discovery
- Organization of the 49th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC2025); Symposium 7
- Highly cited researcher 2025 Clarivate award
- Editorial Board member of Advanced Materials Joining