Albert Tarancón Rubio

Albert Tarancón Rubio

Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya

Engineering Sciences

Albert holds M.Sc. and PhD in Physics from the University of Barcelona (2001, 2007) and M. Eng. in Materials Science from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (2007). He worked as research associate at the IMB-CSIC (ES) and as visiting researcher at the University of Oslo (NO), Imperial College London (UK) and Caltech (USA). In 2010, Albert gained a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship and joined the Catalonia Institute for Energy Research (IREC) as the Head of Group. Since 2018, he is ICREA Professor at IREC and leads a group of 40+ people devoted to alternative technologies based on solid state ionics and iontronics. He has been PI of 14 EU projects, including one ERC-CoG, one ERC-PoC and four coordinated actions, attracting a total amount of 25+ M€. He is editor of J. Phys. Energy (IoP), APL Energy (AIP) and J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. (Elsevier). Albert is included in the 1% top-cited scientists in the field of “Energy”.

Research interests

The research work carried out by Albert is in advanced materials for energy applications. In particular, he has been developing innovative concepts for improving the performance of different solid state energy devices such as Solid Oxide Fuel and Electrolysis Cells (SOFC/SOEC), ThermoElectric Generators (TEGs) or Li-ion batteries for energy storage and portable power applications. In the last years, Albert has been specifically developing new concepts for the unexplored field of Nanoionics and Iontronics. They are called to drive a new revolution similarly to Nanoelectronics, underlining the relevance of size effects and interfaces on mass transfer, transport and storage. Albert's group is pioneer in implementing interface-dominated nanomaterials in devices for radically new applications. In this direction, he was awarded with an ERC CoG to implement disruptive Nanoionics concepts in Si-integrated micro-SOFC technology and two FET Proactive projects on new microenergy technologies.

Selected publications

- Bozal-Ginesta* C, Pablo-García S, Choi C, Tarancón* A & Aspuru-Guzik* A 2025, 'Developing machine learning for heterogeneous catalysis with experimental and computational data', Nature reviews chemistry,  9601–616 (2025)
- Sojo-Gordillo* JM, Estrada-Wiese D, Rodriguez-Iglesias A, Duque-Sierra C, Fernandez-Regulez M, Martin-Fernandez I, Salleras M, Fonseca L, Morata* A & Tarancón* A 2025, 'Durable Dense Packed All-Silicon Micro-Thermoelectric Generator for IoT Applications', Advanced functional materials, 35, 2419639
- Kostretsova N, Pesce A, Hofmann C, Neuberg S, Babeli I, Nuñez M, Morata A, Kolb G, Torrell M & Tarancón A 2025, 'Enhanced CO2 methanation with ceramic 3D printed catalyst bed reactor', Chemical engineering journal, 511 - 161752.
- Sirvent J, Kreka K, Sha ZJ, Fearn S, Gonzalez-Rosillo JC, Liedke MO, Siebenhofer M, Hirschmann E, Wagner A, Chiabrera FM, Morata A, Fleig J, Skinner SJ, Kilner JA, Baiutti F & Tarancón A 2025, 'Blocking Sr-Segregation in Perovskite Cathodes for Solid Oxide Cells by Mn Codoping', ACS Appl. Energy Mater. 2025, 8, 11, 7022–7037
- Buzi F, Bernadet L, Orrit-Prat J, Bonet R, Caro J, Montinaro D, Ouweltjes JP, Baiutti F, Torrell M, Morata A & Tarancón A 2025, 'Advanced manufacturing for efficient GDC diffusion barrier layer by rapid thermal processing for large-area solid oxide cells', Journal of power sources, 652 -237629.

Selected research activities

  • President of the ICE society on Electroceramics
  • Symposium Organizer at MATSUS 2025
  • Coordinator of the EU-projects EpiStore (FET program) and HyP3D (Clean Hydrogen JU)
  • Coordinator of the COMECOCO2 Spanish project (7M€) and leader of the Consolidated Research Group (SGR) NANOEN
  • Associate Editor of the J. Eur. Ceram. Soc. (Elsevier) and Editorial Board Member of J. Phys: Energy (IoP) and APL Energy (AIP)
  • One plenary talk and six invited lectures in 2025
  • Holder of 8 active patents
  • Author of the Catalan chapter in 'Transforming the Energy Mix' for the European Parliament