Advanced Functional Materials and Surfaces

Bio

Born and brought up in India, studied Materials Chemistry at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi (India) and finished his Ph.D. (2006) from National Physical laboratory in the field of Materials chemistry. Subsequently he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, as Alexander von Humboldt Fellow to work on surface and interface studies of electrodeposited layers in ionic liquids by scanning probe microscopy. He was a regular visitor at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, where he developed nanoporous films for metal-free electro-catalysis and new redox shuttle. In 2011 he accepted the offer as program head of new concept in photovoltaics and advanced materials and was the strategic hire for the Abengoa Research, a corporate research center of multinational energy based conglomerate Abengoa. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, and recently his work was endorsed by European research council consolidator grant (2016). He is the inventor of 7 patents, his work has been summarized in >100 articles, along with many popular science artilces, and the publications list reflects his diverse field of interest in the domain of physical chemistry, nanotechnology and materials science. In summer 2017, he accepted the call from Ikerbasque to work as senior professor at Basque center for materials, applications and Nanostructures.

Interests and objetives
His research targets are advanced materials development for energy conversion, conservation and storage materials application.

— Google Scholar — ResearcherID

Kaiyuan Chen received his M.S. degree of Materials Science and Engineering at Guilin University of Technology in 2020. His research focused on the local structure and dipole-glass-like relaxor behavior of the functional ceramics.

Kaiyuan is currently pursuing his Ph.D. under the supervision of Prof. Qi Zhang and Prof. Senentxu Lanceros-Méndez, focusing on Designing, Recovery and Re-manufacturing of Electroceramic Components. Moreover, he is interested in the relation of local structure and physical property in oxide materials.

Expertise
Responsible for research line of BCMaterials: Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys as  Active (smart) multifunctional materials. Preparation of national and EU projects. Supervising PhD students.

Bio
Prof. Volodymyr A. Chernenko graduated Moscow State University in 1975. He has got his PhD degree in Chemical Physics from the same University in 1980. He has 35 years of research experience in centres in Ukraine, Germany, Japan, Italy, United States, France, Switzerland, Australia, Spain, Hong Kong and Russia. He is currently holding a permanent position as Ikerbasque Research Professor at BCMaterials & University of Basque Country. Professional interest is in solid state physics, physics of phase transitions in solids, magnetism, high pressure physics, functional materials, metallurgy and, in particular, focused on research and development of the multifunctional magnetic shape memory materials, magnetomechanics of martensites, thin films and nanotechnologies of the ferromagnetic martensites.
Author and co-author of 260 original papers in ISI scientific journals and book chapters with about 6000 citations and h-index equal to 37. He is author of 14 patents. He is International Fellow Awardee of the Helmholtz Association (Germany) in 2014. He is world-wide known as one of the founders of the new research area “Ferromagnetic shape memory alloys” being organizer and/or invited speaker of many International conferences and symposia on this subject.

Interests and objetives
Currently Ikerbasque Research Professor ascribed to BCMaterials.
Professional interest  includes research and development of the ferromagnetic shape memory materials, magnetomechanics of martensites, thin films and nanotechnologies of the ferromagnetic martensites.

Curriculum Vitae — Google Scholar — ResearcherID — ResearchGate

Daniel Doménech graduated in Physics in 2020 at the University of València (UV). He first became involved in Particle Physics, with his bachelor thesis regarding particle track reconstruction with machine learning techniques at LHCb. In 2021 he finished his master’s degree in Advanced Physics at UV with a specialization in Theoretical Physics.

During his period in València he has collaborated in large experiments associated with CERN, such as LHCb, AMS-02 and RD50. He also enjoyed a research stay in Quantum Optics at the Johannes Guttenberg University (JGU) of Mainz, Germany, performing optical super-resolution microscopy of single trapped ions.

However, his interest changed during his master thesis, focused on the static characterization of monolithic radiation-hard active pixel sensors -the new generation of silicon particle detectors-. There he discovered the important role of Materials Science in the development of new technologies. His work received the Xavier Gómez i Font award for the best master’s thesis written in English at UV.

He is now pursuing a PhD at BCMaterials and the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) on the control of current induced magnetic domain wall motion in nanostructures and thin films under the supervision of Prof. Rafael Morales and Dr. José Maria Porro. His research focuses on the characterization of magnetotransport processes and the fabrication of nanopatterned magnetic thin films for spintronics applications.

Juan Pablo Esquivel is currently an Ikerbasque Research Associate at BCMaterials. He holds a BSc in Mechatronics Engineering (2005) from Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), MSc in Micro and Nanoelectronics Engineering (2008) and a PhD in Electronics Engineering (2010) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). He has performed research stays at the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, Germany, and was a Senior Fellow at the Bioengineering Department of the University of Washington, USA, under a Marie Curie Fellowship. In 2016, he obtained a Tenured Scientist position at the Instituto de Microelectrónica de Barcelona, IMB-CNM (CSIC). He is also co-founder and Scientific Advisor of the spin-off companies Fuelium and Sweanty.

His work is focused on the development of sustainable power sources, such as fuel cells and batteries, and their integration in autonomous portable devices. His multidisciplinary research combines materials science and engineering, electrochemistry, paper microfluidics and printed electronics technologies with sustainability principles and a product oriented approach. He has authored more than 60 ISI scientific contributions, is inventor in 12 patents and has presented his work in 70+ conferences, including several invited talks.  He has received numerous fellowships, international prizes and distinctions for his work, such as the Catalonia Ecodesign Prize and the TR35 award from MIT Technology Review, as one of the top 10 mexican young innovators. He is recognized as SNI level I from Conacyt, Mexico. He has obtained competitive founding at regional, national and European levels as well as from private organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has mentored and supervised research work from 30+ researchers including postdoc, PhD, MSc and undergraduate students.

Research interests

Biodegradable batteries | Micro fuel cells | Materials engineering | Paper microfluidics | Organic electronics | Ecodesign | Circular Economy

Google Scholar –  ORCID – Scopus ID – ResearcherID

Expertise
Single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction.

Crystal structure solution and refinement.

IR and Raman spectroscopies.

Thermal properties of materials.

Catalytic activity measurements.

DFT calculations.

Bio
Arkaitz Fidalgo-Marijuan is graduated in Environmental Science in 2009 and Master in New Materials in 2010. In March 2014 he obtained his PhD degree on material science and technology at the University of the Basque Country. His research is focused on the synthesis and characterization of new metalloporphyrin MOF materials as heterogeneous catalysts and gas adsorption and separation. He has specialized on single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, thermal characterization, catalytic activity studies and DFT calculations. He is currently working in collaboration with the Crystallography group in UPV/EHU on the synthesis and characterization of MOF@LI composites for CO2 capture.

Interests and objetives
Design of metalloporphrin based MOF materials for heterogeneous catalysis and gas adsorption.
Currently, I am involved in LISOL (Soluciones basadas en líquidos iónicos para diversificar las oportunidades de la industria vasca) project, funded under the ELKARTEK program of the Basque Government for the design of new composite materials based on ionic liquids supported on MOFs for CO2 capture and separation.

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Expertise
Structural, Magnetic and Biological techniques, including Cell Manipulation, Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopies (SEM and TEM), Vibrating Sample and SQUID Magnetometry (VSM and SQUID), and Magnetic Hyperthermia.c

Bio
I obtained my Degree in Physics from the Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU) in 2016, and afterwards I enrolled in the Interuniversity Master of New Materials, offered by the Universidad de Cantabria (UC) and the Universidad del País Vasco(UPV/EHU). In my Bachelor`s Final Year and master`s Degree Projects I have been working with the Group of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, collaborating with the Inmunology, Microbiology and Parasitology department, in an interdisciplanary research project related to Magnetotactic Bacteria for Enhanced Applications. In this project I have developed a method to create 2D and 3D arrays of magnetotactic bacteria for data storage applications and theoretical studies, and in addition, I have also analyzed the viability of these bacteria as nanorobots for Magnetic Hyperthermia mediated Cancer Treatment.

Interests and objetives
I plan to continue my research in the areas of Novel Cancer Treatment Therapies such as Drug Delivery and Magnetic Hyperthermia.

Curriculum Vitae

Andrés García Franco graduated in Chemistry in 2020 at the University of Murcia (UMU). His final grade work was the study of the electrocatalytic capacity of gold nanoparticles in the oxygen reduction reaction using square wave voltammetry.

He finished the Master in New Materials in 2021 at the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Cantabria (UC). He development his final master work at BCMaterials with the title of “Fabrication and Characterization of ThMn12-type compounds for his applications as permanent magnets”.

Currently, he is developing my PhD studies in the area of advanced functional materials at the BCMaterials.

Interest and objectives

• Development in new magnetic materials without critical raw materials with optimal magnetic properties.
• Recycling and reutilization of existing magnetic materials.

Expertise
Transmission Electronic Microscopy

Bio
Izaskun Gil de Muro received the diploma and the doctor degree in Chemistry from the University of the Basque Country in 1993 and 2001, respectively. In 1993, she joined the Inorganic Chemistry Department where she has carried out most of her research career. Her thesis project was about characterization and study of magnetic properties of coordination compounds and metallic oxides. Now, her labour is focused in characterization by Transmission Electronic Microscopy (TEM) of nanostructured materials with interesting technological and biomedical applications. Dr. Gil de Muro has published about 35 scientific papers. She is teacher in the Inorganic Chemistry Department of the University of the Basque Country from 1999.

Interests and objetives
Today, I am mainly implicated in the characterization by Transmission Electronic Microscopy of Nanostructured Materials of Energetic and Biomedical Interest.

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Dr. Paula González Saiz received her M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Cantabria (Spain) in 2016 and her Ph.D. in Science and Technology of Materials from the University of the Basque Country in 2020. She joined BCMateriales in 2016 to do her Master Thesis on Materials and after that she did a PhD on the development of environmental sensors based on magnetoelastic resonators functionalized with Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) porous materials. She has broad experience in the preparation and characterization (XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, FTIR, VSM, …) of different materials since she has always done experimental works in that field since her final degree project. She has written over 10 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, and she is also co-author of a book chapter in the field of MOFs materials. Moreover, she has presented his research in more than 15 conferences and workshops both national and international and has attended several courses on materials characterization techniques (like microscopy, thermal analysis, or X-ray diffraction techniques) and summer schools (in MOFs and in magnetism). Besides, Paula is very passionate about science dissemination for what she has participate in different outreach events like talks in scientific café, radio interviews, science week, scientific events organization or talks in schools, among many others.

Currently, she is involved in MULTI-FUN (Enabling multi-functional performance through multi-material additive manufacturing) project support from the European Commission.

• ResearchGate: (3) Paula Gsaiz (researchgate.net)
• Google Schoolar: ‪Paula G. Saiz – ‪Google Académico

Naveen Harindu Hemasiri holds BSc (Hons.) in Materials Science and Engineering, and MEng (Hons.) in Printed Electronics Engineering. He received his BSc in Engineering degree with excellent honors from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka in 2015 and completed his Master of Engineering degree with the best achievement (both academic and research) award from Sunchon National University, Korea in 2018. His undergraduate project examined metal oxide-based solid-state gas sensors and NiTinol based smart shape memory alloys. In 2016 he started working with Prof. Ji-Myon Lee and his master research focused on the improvement of electronic properties of the thinnest known material, graphene and hybrids of it for printed electronics and optoelectronics applications.
One of his graphene projects was awarded as the best project in Brain Korea (BK) 21Plus program in 2017 and obtained a Korean patent in the same year. He joined with the Advanced Functional Materials group in BCMaterials in February 2019 as a pre-doctoral researcher where he is reading for his Ph.D. Currently, he is working on 2D materials beyond graphene and TMD based hole/electron transport materials for perovskite solar cells and temperature-dependent electrical behavior of those materials on solar cell devices.

Google Scholar –  Research Gate  – Linkedin

Dr. Peng Huang received M.S. degree from Beijing Institute of Technology in 2015, under supervision of Prof. Haizheng Zhong and his research focused on synthetizing CdS-based quantum dots and preparing high efficient white light emitting diode. Thereafter, he joined the Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials at Soochow University, China and received his PHD degree under the guidance of Prof. Yongfang Li in 2018. During PHD program, he focused on interface engineering of perovskite solar cells with 2D transition metal dichalcogenides.

Interests and objectives
High efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells.

The website of my researchgate:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peng_Huang32

Expertise
Soft chemistry routes for preparation of inorganic materials.
Thermogravimetry. X ray diffraction. Electronic Microscopy.

Bio
Maite Insausti received the doctor degree in chemistry in 1994 from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and from 1996 she is professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the Faculty of Science and Technology. She has been involved in the development of solid state chemistry laboratory in the research group of Prof. Teófilo Rojo, being working in the preparation of superconducting oxides and magnetoresistive manganites by soft chemistry methods. She has been secretary of the Spanish Group of Solid State Chemistry from 2000 to 2010. From 2005 until now her research is focused on the preparation and characterization of metallic nanoparticles as Au, Cu, Ag or FePd and magnetic oxide nanoparticles as Fe3O4 or Fe1-xNixO4 with controlled sizes. This research is aimed at the proper functionalization and recovering of the nanoparticles in order to obtain biocompatible nanostructures, which are being tested ‘in vitro’ and ‘in vivo’ experiments for hyperthermia applications and drug delivery. Dr. Insausti has published over 70 articles and 1 patent and has supervised 5 PhD Thesis.

Interests and objetives
“Magnetic nanoparticles for biological applications”. Mainly I am involved in the preparation and characterization of magnetic metals and oxides, properly functionalized with biomolecules, and with controlled sizes which yield high magnetization values for hyperthermia applications.
Actually I am also interested in the preparation of core-shell nanostructures to deposit on a photovoltaic material in order to increase the absorbed light and to study the efficiency of photovoltaic cells.

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Expertise
Ferromagnetic shape memory alloys; neutron and x-ray scattering; magnetic properties and electrical transport

Bio
Patricia Lázpita graduated in physics and received her doctor degree in applied physics from the Basque Country University (UPV/EHU) in 2003 and 2008, respectively. Since 2004, she is a member of the Group of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials at UPV/EHU. Her research work is mainly focused on the characterization and analysis of fundamental properties of magnetic shape memory alloys. She has over 40 published works in international peer reviewed journals in the fields of materials science, applied physics.

Interests and objetives
Currently, I am involved in FUNSAFE (Functional properties and non-equilibrium processes in shape memory alloys and ferroic materials) project, funded under the MINECO.

Curriculum Vitae

Expertise
UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence (steady-state and time-correlated) spectroscopy, linear-polarized light spectroscopy.

Bio
Prof. Dr. Fernando López Arbeloa obtained his Ph D Degree in Science in 1987 at the Latholieken Universiteit van Leuven (Belgium) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. F.C. De Schryver. He became Full Professor at the University of the Basque Country in 2002. He is an expert in optical spectroscopy, mainly in the characterization of the photophysical properties of fluorescent dyes and photosensors. New photosensitive materials, included materials with optical anisotropy response, have been developed by the incorporation of fluorescent probes in ordered nanostructured materials. He has published over 120 papers in scientific journal with high impact index (h index = 33) and has supervised 6 PhD Thesis. He was Vicepresident of the Spanish Photochemistry Group during 2005-2009 and has participated in the organization of several conferences in Photochemistry.

Interests and objetives
Development of Photoactive System in the Design of Advanced Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage (research project supportting by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad).
Aromatic Molecules as Direct Agents for the Synthesis of Mesoporous Materials (collaboration with the Instituto de Catálisis y Petroquímica, CSIC, Madrid)

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Expertise
Nanopatterning (electron beam and interference lithography), thin film deposition, magnetic nanostructure characterization.

Bio
Rafael Morales received his Ph. D degree in Physics from the University of Oviedo, Spain, in 2002. He was awarded with a Fulbright and a Marie Curie fellowship to work at the University of California, San Diego. He joined University of Oviedo and Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Center, CINN, Spain, in 2007. Since 2010, he works at the University of the Basque Country as Ikerbasque Research Professor. He has experience in the fabrication of magnetic heterostructures by physical vapour deposition techniques, magnetic analysis by magnetometry and magneto-optical methods and nanopatterning lithography procedures. His research interests are focused on dimensionality effects in nanoscale magnetic structures, exchange coupled systems with in-plane and out-of-plane anisotropy and the potential of magnetic nanostructures in biomedical applications.

Interests and objetives
Research on magnetic properties of magnetically coupled heterostructures: thin films and nanostructures.
Biomedical application of magnetic nanostructures.

Curriculum Vitae

Muhammed Usman Haris has received his Master Degree in Chemistry from Mahatma Gandhi university Kottayam- India in 2017. His master´s thesis was focused on Synthesis of Graft-Polymers and its applications at National Institute of Technology Calicut(NIT-C)- India. Then he joined National Chemical laboratory, Pune as a research assistant to work in the field of Low Dimensional Perovskites for LED application. He has experienced in synthesis, structural and optical characterizations of hybrid halide perovskite materials. Then He joined with the Advanced Functional Materials group in BCMaterials in August 2019  as a pre-Doc and working towards his PhD under  Prof.Shahzada Ahmad.

Meenakshi Pegu has received her Master Degree in Chemical Sciences from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-G), Guwahati- India in 2015. On her Master thesis she worked on developing a new Fluorescent Chemo sensor and its Application in the group of Prof. G. Krishnamoorthy. She then moved to Bangalore and joined Indian Institute of Science, as a Research assistant to work under Prof. P. Thilagar in the Ministry of Science and Technology funded project from 2016-2018. She has gained knowledge on the synthesis and characterization of smart molecules. Currently, she is working towards her PhD in the group of Prof. Shahzada Ahmad at BCMaterials, working in Europe excellence project within the European research council framework.

J.J. Rosero-Romo, received the title of Physical Engineer in 2016, and his M.Eng. in Materials and Process Engineering in 2019 from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellìn and candidate to a student of the PhD. in science and technology in 2021 in the Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea. From 2016 to 2020, he worked for the Facultad de Minas, laboratory of Biomaterials in the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellìn. His research interests include Biosensors, methods electrochemistry and technique characterization of materials.

“Currently, I am involved in MULTI-FUN project, to the development of novel materials and progress of Additive Manufacturing, my other interest lies in the field of surfaces modification and development of biosensors.”

Areas of action

• Engineering and Technology – Nanotechnology – Nanomaterials (Production and Properties)
• Medical and health sciences – Biotechnology in health – Biomaterials (related to implants, devices, biosensors)

Expertise

• Research and development

Operation of: The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Carl zeiss, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Park System NX 10, microRaman confocal spectrometer HORIBA and Knowledge in Electrochemical Techniques.

o Documentation

o Material characterization

CvLAC

https://scienti.minciencias.gov.co/cvlac/visualizador/generarCurriculoCv.do?cod_rh=0000054418

Expertise
Information not supplied

Bio
Dr. José Javier Sáiz Garitaonandia received his PhD from University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 1998. His PhD thesis based on the use of the Mössbauer spectroscopy for the study of magnetic phase transitions and transformations. He received the extraordinary prize for PhD thesis for that thesis dissertation in 2000. Together with Prof. Fernando Plazaola he founded the Nuclear Techniques Laboratory of UPV/EHU. His areas of interests are centred on the study of the magnetic nanostructures and magnetic mesoscopic systems using element selective techniques such as Mössbauer spectroscopy and synchrotron and neutron techniques. He has published 98 articles in scientific journals, receiving around 1000 citations with a current h-index of 18 (source: web of science core collection February 2015).

Interests and objetives
Information not supplied

— ResearchGate

Expertise
Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-Ray difractogram (XRD), Optical measurements (J-V curves, Quantum efficiency (QE), Impedance Spectroscopy (IS), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fabrication of solar cell devices (pervoskite based).

Bio
Manuel Salado Manzorro received his PhD in Material Science in 2017, from Abengoa Research (www.abengoa.com) along with Pablo de Olavide University (www.upo.es), under the supervision of Prof. Shahzada Ahmad. He was recognized as the first PhD student to be awarded with the Industrial mention by the Pablo de Olavide University. The main goal of his PhD was the study and development of hybrid perovskite interfaces for the improvement in stability and efficiency of photovoltaics solar cells. His background as a Chemical Engineer and his subsequent Master degree in Nanomaterialsand nanostructures (www.unizar) were beneficial to assess and improve the processes related with the fabrication (scale-up) and development on products based on perovskites. He has written over 15 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, 2 Book chapters and he is also co-inventor of 2 patents in the field of perovskite solar cells.”

Interests and objetives
One of the key points of my PhD was the improvement in device performance and stability of perovskite based solar cells; Working on MOLEMAT (Molecularly Engineered Materials and process for Perovskite solar cell technology) project will give me the oportunity to keep understanding the kinetics of the devices, improving their stability and undertaking new techniques to elucidate the role of the different compounds in perovskite material.

Curriculum Vitae — ResearchGate

Expertise
Single-crystal growth by floating zone method, magnetic properties and electrical transport, instrumentation design and engineering.

Bio
Daniel Salazar Jaramillo is an electronic engineer from the Universidad del Quindío (2007) who received the doctor degree in physics and mathematics from the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in 2012. He started his research on nanostructured and granular magnetic materials, transition metal oxides, magnetic properties and electrical transport in nanocrystalline oxides, magnetic, structural and thermal properties in strongly correlated electron systems during his PhD. Since late 2013 he is joined to the BCMaterials in a postdoctoral position and currently is focused on the study of the magnetocaloric effect and their physical features on single crystals of magnetic shape memory alloys and on the coercivity enhancement of nanostructured hard magnets by grain boundary engineering.

Interests and objetives

• Study of the magnetocaloric effect and their physical features on single crystals of magnetic shape memory alloys.
• Coercivity enhancement of nanostructured hard magnets by grain boundary engineering.

Curriculum Vitae — Google Scholar — ResearcherID

Rubén Teijido Fernández received his Chemistry graduate (2019) and his Master´s degree in New Materials (2020), both from “Universidad del País Vasco (UPV/EHU)” in Leioa, Spain. In 2017 h started to collaborate with the Chemistry Physics department in its macromolecular chemistry research group under the supervision of associate professor Leire Ruiz Rubio and department director Jose Luis Vilas Vilela. Since then he has followed diverse investigation lines gaining experience with the most commonly employed methodologies and techniques in polymer science. Once a proper initial experience was achieved, he focused his work in hybrid biopolymer-inorganic hydrogel systems, developing both his grade and master’s thesis in developing and studying chitosan-polyoxometalate hybrid hydrogels. In September 2020 he joined BCMaterials as predoctoral researcher to develop his thesis in the developing of alginate-based anticorrosion coatings for metallic pieces under the supervision of Qi Zhang (BCMaterials) and Leire Ruiz Rubio (UPV/EHU).

Currently, besides his recently started predoctoral research, he is still involved with macromolecular chemistry department at UPV/EHU, following the research line of developing new multifunctional hybrid hydrogels with applications in biomedicine.

His abilities include the synthesis and characterization of hybrid hydrogels, including: thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), diferential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle, among others.

ATTENDED SCIENTIFIC CONGRESSES:

Jovenes Investigadores en Polimeros (JIP 2019) in Universidad de Burgos (UBU). Oral Communication. Title: ESTRUCTURAS HÍBRIDAS POLÍMERO POLIOXOMETALATO: INTERACCIONES, PROPIEDADES TÉRMICAS Y COMPORTAMIENTO DE AUTO REPARACIÓN.

Mikel Undagoitia received his bachelor degree in chemistry from the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 2018 with a thesis about the development of fluorophosphate cathodic materials for sodium ion batteries and its application in high scale stationary batteries. Later, he obtained his master´s degree in New Materials in 2019 from the University of Basque Country. His master´s thesis degree was on the development of cathodic fluorophosphate-phosphate cathodic composite materials, also for sodium-ion batteries. Subsequently, he joined Leartiker (BRTA, Mondragon Corporation) as researcher and manager of Relicario project (Recycling of end-of-life carbon fibre reinforced plastics), an international project founded by EIT Raw Materials (European Institute of Innovation and Technology), collaborating with many companies as Extracthive, French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Veolia, MAIER and University of Ghent (Ugent). His work was focused on the characterisation of recycled carbon fibres by solvolysis and their compounding with different thermoplastics for automotive applications. During this research stage, he had the opportunity to work with Professor Wim Van Paepegem, world-renowned expert in composite behaviour. After almost two years, in 2021, he decided to join BCMaterials to start his PhD in the field of sustainable batteries under the direction of Juan Pablo Esquivel and Verónica Palomares.

Maitane Urgoiti Rodríguez graduated in Chemistry in 2020 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Her degree thesis based on “Synthesis and electrochemical characterization of molybdenum chalcogenides as Na-ion battery electrodes” carried out in the Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry of the Faculty of Science and Technology of Leioa.

Subsequently, she finished her master´s degree in New Materials in 2021 at the University of Basque Country and the University of Cantabria with a thesis based on “Study of solid solutions of type Mo₆Se_(8-x)S_x (x=0,2,4,6,8) as electrodes in sodium ion batteries” carried out in the Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry of the Faculty of Science and Technology of Leioa.

She is currently starting his PhD in development of new materials for energy applications at BCMaterials.

Yifeng received his bachelor’s degree of manufacturing in Hunan University in China in 2013.

And then he worked as an engineer for a company producing aeroengine parts until 2019. During his work, he was sent by the Chinese Scholarship Council to UK for a master’s degree. He finished his master of materials in Cranfield University in UK in 2018. The master thesis project was about ZnO gas sensing films and was under the supervision of Professor Jose Luis Endrino and Dr. Christopher Shaw.

In the year 2020, he started to pursue his PhD title and the program is about the recycle of lithium-ion batteries under the supervision of Professor Qi Zhang and Dr. Eider GoiKolea.

Amaia Zarandona Rodríguez graduated in Chemical Engineering in 2017 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Her bachelor thesis was on “Regeneration of the catalyst for hydrogen production” and it was carried out in the department of Chemical Engineering (Leioa). Afterwards, she finished her master’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2019 at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the University of Cantabria (UC). Her master thesis was on “Improvement of the thermal conductivity of different types of elastomers through the modification of the loads” with a fellowship in FLEXIX.

After that, she worked at VITO, an independent Flemish research organization in the area of cleantech and sustainable development, during 1 year. Her main work consisted in developing a novel electrochemical process for the transformation of glucose into added-value chemicals.

Nowadays, she is working on her PhD in the area of active and smart materials at the BCMaterials.

Q. Zhang graduated in physical chemistry at Wuhan University, Wuhan, China in 1982. He received his MSc in inorganic materials at Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China in 1986. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in chemistry at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia in 1995. He is now an Ikerbasque research professor in BCMaterials. Before that, he worked in Cranfield University, UK as a research fellow in 1996, a senior research fellow in 1998, a senior lecturer in 2007, and now a visiting academia. He has been a visiting professor in Wuhan University of Technology, China since 2012.
Zhang’s work is focused on the areas of functional materials for sensors, actuators and electrocaloric cooling, as well as on energy materials for electrochemical energy storage and on coatings for surface engineering. He has published more than 200 ISI papers and 4 chapters in books with a total citation of ~ 4000 and H-factor of 32. Some of his publications appeared in journals with high impact factors, such as, Science, Energy & Environ. Sci., Mater. Sci. and Eng. R: Report, Adv. Funct. Mater., Nano Energy and Nano Lett., among others. In addition, he co-edited the book entitled Electrocaloric Cooling (EC). He received Brian Mercer Feasibility Award, 2009, The Royal Society, UK.