Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a commonly used clinical imaging technique for noninvasive diagnosis and characterization of soft tissues. The technique provides images in excellent detail of tumors and related pathological conditions thanks to the contrast agents used in the procedure. Now, a group of researchers from the ICMAB led by José Vidal-Gancedo, from the Nanomol Group, have developed organic metal-free magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents based on dendrimers with a totally innovative synthesis procedure.

Mariano Campoy Quiles, Alex Ponrouch and M. Rosa Palacín participated in the meeting of the Royal Society about ‘Energy Materials for a Low Carbon Future’ held in September 2018, in the fields of "Organic Thermoelectrics" and "Post -Li batteries". The opinions were published then in the Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society in July 2019. 

Researchers at IBEC and ICMAB develop a flexible, cheap and biocompatible transistor platform able to record an electrocardiogram of cells and micro-tissues during long periods of time. The platform, based on organic transistor technology (EGOFET), can also measure the effect of drugs on beating cells, as cardiomyocytes, opening the door to several applications such as implantable devices for health.

• Researchers from the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) and the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) have shown that thermal conductivity can be tuned by an external applied electric field.
• If the material is mechanically deformed in a suitable way, the external applied electric field can be much lower to achieve the same thermal response.
• These advances allow envisaging a truly zero-power analogue of electronics, because phononics circuits would need no power supply.

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is a thin film deposition technique widely used in the synthesis of semiconductor devices and nanomaterials. The main characteristic is its atomic-scale control of the layer thickness and film uniformity. Now, Mariona Coll, researcher at the ICMAB, and Mari Napari, researcher at the University of Southampton, have published a review in the journal APL Materials to describe some of the major achievements and challenges of doped and complex oxides ALD.

Read this interview to Mariona Coll to know more about ALD and its applications!

The article and patent related to the preparation of Graphene Oxide Aerogels, using supercritical carbon dioxide, is featured in R+D CSIC, in the news post "Ultralight, elastic and highly porous graphene oxide aerogels". 

On Saturday, 5 October 2019, we could see in the programme ¡Qué animal! from La2 RTVE, the researcher Anna Laromaine, from the Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites group, talking about the "supermaterial" bacterial cellulose. The programme was about animals with superpowers, so our Matheroes: the supermaterials of the future, were also featured in it! Thank you to all the ¡Qué animal! team!

Teresa Puig was interviewed in the digital radio programme "Hablando con Científicos" by Ángel Rodríguez Lozano, to talk about superconducting materials and her recent ERC Proof of Concept Grant on the scale-up production of high-temperature superconducting tapes.

Researchers of the Nanomol group of the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), together with the company Nanomol Technologies S.L. have begun a consultation process with the Spanish Association of Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) to try and enter a new treatment in a clinical studies stage, to fight against venous ulcers in lower extremities. The study is carried out within the framework of the RIS3CAT NANONAFRES project.

• The new low-cost, environmentally friendly and scalable method, designed by ICMAB-CSIC researchers, represents a breakthrough in the production of superconducting materials
• A transient liquid phase is formed with the new precursors, from which the superconducting films grow at speeds of 100 nm/s
• This method is fully compatible with the incorporation of nanoparticles into the superconductor structure, essential for high magnetic field applications in wind generators, electric aviation or particle accelerators

The article published in Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. about boron-based amphiphiles without a head‐and‐tail design displaying surfactant behavior, by co-authors David C. Malaspina, Clara Viñas, Francesc Teixidor and Jordi Faraudo is now featured in Chemistry World. The question is: how can a molecule without the classic hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail of surfactants can behave like one? The atomistic simulations and experiments of this study can bring now an answer.

Carbon nanocapsules, filled with stable Samarium atoms, are activated with neutrons just before entering the body. This novel nanomaterial-based system is effective for both biomedical imaging and cancer radiotherapy. 

The article "Hydroxypropyl cellulose photonic architectures by soft nanoimprinting lithography" published in Nature Photonics in April 2018 appears in Nature Index as one of the main highlights of the year! Congratulations to Agustín Mihi and his team for this nice article on photonic nanocellulose!

M. Rosa Palacín and Alexandre Ponrouch, from the Solid State Chemistry Group at the ICMAB, are co-authors of a review on "Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects of Calcium Batteries" in a special issue about "Beyond Li ion batteries" of Chemical Reviews (ACS). Congratulations!

A collaboration project between the ICMAB (Elies Molins), ISGlobal (Krijn Paaijmans), and Biogents AG (Andreas Rose, Germany), has developed electrical barriers that avoid that mosquitos that can transmit diseases such as dengue, chikunguña, zika or malaria, get inside public spaces, such as schools, hospitals or workplaces.

The new developement of the Scanning Probe Microscopy Lab to measure the piezoelectricity of the materials has been featured in this month newsletter of the R+D CSIC under the title "A microscope to measure accurately the piezoelectric properties of materials". 

The article "A Solid‐State Aqueous Electrolyte‐Gated Field‐Effect Transistor as a Low‐Voltage Operation Pressure‐Sensitive Platform" from Marta Mas-Torrent and co-workers was highlighted in Advanced Science News. The work presents a proof-of-concept of a new transduction mechanism that can be exploited to fabricate pressure-responsive organic devices.

The journal "Superconductor Science and Technology" published the Viewpoint by Xavier Obradors entitled "High critical current nanocomposite REBa₂Cu₃O₇ (RE = rare earth) tapes: towards a new era of ultra-high field magnetism". The article is about the generation of high magnetic fields with the new superconducting materials that are being studied at the ICMAB, among other places. 

• The future circular collider (FCC), with a 100 km circumference ring, will extend the research currently being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the search for new physics.
• High-temperature superconductors, such as YBCO, are being studied to be used as coating for the FCC ring instead of copper. Researchers have found that these materials outperform copper by a factor of 40, which would greatly enhance the FCC efficiency and provide big energy savings.
• The Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group at the ICMAB-CSIC participates in this study as part of a consortium with the ALBA Synchrotron, the IFAE and the UPC.