From molecules to atomically precise low dimensional materials

This year, ICMAB will be present at EXPOMINER (9-11 November, Palau 1, Fira Barcelona), with more activities than ever! Come and listen to the amazing talks by our researchers on the color of minerals, boron for nanomedicine, quarts along our history, synchrotron radiation and magnetism! And in our stand, you will have the opportunity to play with cyrstals and diffraction, and visit the exhibiton "Matheroes: Supermaterials, the heroes of the future". Don't miss it!

We announce the forthcoming 2019 E-MRS Spring Meeting and Exhibit, that will be held in Nice, France (Congress & Exhibition Centre Acropolis) from 27-31 May 2019. Alexander Ponrouch and Florencio Sánchez, ICMAB researchers, participate in the organization of some symposia in the fields of "materials for energy" and "nano-functional materials":

On Monday, 19 November 2018, the Vall d'Hebron hosts the seminar entitled "Lysosomal disorders, a focus on Fabry Disease", from 8:30 am to 6 pm. The NANOMOL group co-organizes the event, through the CIBER-BBN and the project Smart-4-Fabry, coordinated by Dr. Nora Ventosa. This seminar is organized within the framework of the project Smart-4-Fabry. 

This week, from October 22 to October 28, we celebrate the International Open Access Week 2018, organized by the SPARC* (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), with the slogan "Setting the Default to Open". The idea is to share the idea that Open Access is the most effective way to disseminate research!

High temperature nanostructured superconductors: a tool for new technologies

ICMAB researchers Gervasi Herranz, Blai Casals and Rafael Cichelero, from the MULFOX group, have contributed to a study led by the group of Manuel Bibes, from Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/Thales (France), published in Nature Physics on October 15, 2018. The study, entitled "Giant topological Hall effect in correlated oxide thin films" describes the discovery of a giant topological Hall effect arising from the topology of spatial distribution of spin textures. 

The Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) Group offers three PhD fellow positions in the following topics: Ultrafast growth of thick superconducting epitaxial layers from transient liquids; Atomic structure imaging and analyses of YBa₂Cu₃O₇-x thin films and nanocomposites, and Superconducting properties and vortex pinning mechanism of layers prepared by ink jet printing combinatorial chemistry. 

The recruitment process will be closed when a suitable candidate is found.

Hi! My name is Sergi, I'm from Mallorca and I'm a Physics student at UAB. I'll be studying ferroelectric materials at ICMAB as part of my final project in the Multifunctional Oxides and Complex Structures group, under the supervision of prof. Josep Fontcuberta. I hope to learn some interesing things in here! I'm a music freak, I love playing the piano and I really enjoy reading (mostly Philosophy), although most of the time I just do non-interesting stuff that I've learned to appreciate. I would be at ICMAB this whole year, so see you around!

From Monday 22 October the exhibition MATHEROES: Supermaterials, the hereos of the future will be at the ICMAB hall. During the days that the five Matheros will be here with us, some activities are organized: we will present the project to the UAB students, we will carry out a roundtable about the image of women in audiovisual content, and some of our researchers will offer guided visits for our support staff. 

We would like to congratulate our colleagues from the UABDIVULGA, with whom we collaborate to disseminate the results of our research, for the National Award on Science Communication (Premi Nacional de Comunicació Científica), which they received last night, Monday, 15 October 2018, at the TNC. 

Toward the development of aqueous batteries: mastering the electrochemical interfaces

by Alexis GRIMAUD,Chimie du Solide et de l’Energie, Collège de France, Paris / Réseau sur le Stockage Electrochimique de l’Energie (RS2E)

Monday, 26 November 2018 @ 12 pm
ICMAB - Sala d'Actes Carles Miravitlles

On Thursday 11 October 2018, the programme "Els Matins de TV3", directed by Lídia Heredia, interviewed researcher Teresa Puig about the superconducting materials, in their section devoted to science, and presented by Daniel Arbós. The section, of more than 18 minutes long, explains what superconducting materials are, what are their main applications, and shows the levitation experiment. 

Jike Lyu,  Ignasi Fina,  Raul Solanas,  Josep Fontcuberta  and  Florencio Sanchez. CrystEngComm, 2018, 

The SoftLab, run by Amable Bernabé, has hosted from Monday, 8 October, to Wednesday, 10 October a course on "Characterization techniques for particulate matter". The course has counted with 12 participants from different CSIC centers (including ICMAB, IBM-CNM, ICM, IQAC...) and has introduced the participants to different techniques to characterize nanoparticles, including the basic fundamentals, sample preparation, practical examples and results interpretation. 

I am Amanda from Fuenmayor (La Rioja, Spain). I am a graduate in Biotechnology from Univeristat Autònoma de Barcelona. This year I have started a master’s degree in Advanced Nanoscience and Nanotechnology also in this university. I will be here doing my master thesis thanks to Severo Ochoa fellowship. I am glad to enter the Group of Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites under the supervision of Dr. Anna Laromaine. I will be focused on the effects of cellulose on C. elegans.  About me… I like traveling, outdoor sports (especially rolling skate and bicycle) and spending time with friends and family. I’m looking forward to meeting you!

The last issue of the Revista Española de Física (RdF) of the RSEF contains five articles written by the winners of the XII edition of the Research Awards "For Women in Science" from L'Oréal-UNESCO. The Editorial Committee decided to invite them to write an article about their research for the section "Temas de Física". Mariona Coll, from the ICMAB, has written the article "Oxides and low-cost chemical methods: New perspectives for photovoltaics".

Watch here the video of the e-GAMES project, the ERC Starting Grant project awarded to Marta Mas-Torrent, explained here in plain words for everyone to understand! 

Hello Everybody! I'm Raùl from México, and i'll be synthesizing and characterizing catalyst for renewable energy applications in the crystallography group as a postdoc. I enjoy engineering and science. I love rock music and open air activities.

Claudia Fasolato*, Marta De Luca, Doriane Djomani, Laetitia Vincent, Charles Renard, Giulia Di Iorio, Vincent Paillard, Michele Amato, Riccardo Rurali, and Ilaria Zardo*  Nano Lett., Article ASAP

In the framework of the Science Week (Setmana de la Ciència) celebrated between 9-18 November, there will we a whole bunch of scientific outreach activities throughout the territory. 86 CSIC research centers and institutes have programmed more than 360 activities, and other research centers, universities and institutions have organized plenty of things, including a great variety of activites: workshops, open days, live experiments, scientific tours, talks and seminars, theater, guided visits, exhibitions... At ICMAB we have prepared a bunch of activities. Do you want to join us?

Hello! My name is Zhen Li. I have obtained the master degree in Shanghai University of Engineering Science. Now I have joined the group of Functional Molecular and Nanostructured Inorganic Materials to pursue my Phd. In the next four years, I will contribute myself to the investigation of carborane-based Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Considering that this is my first time to go abroad, there may be many challenges in my following life. However, I believe that, with the help of Pepe (my Phd supervisor) and my friends, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Good luck for all of us!

Hey everyone!! I'm Oscar from Montmelo, a town near Barcelona and UAB. Currently I'm in my last semester to finish Physiscs at UAB. I'm going to do my graduation project here under the supervision of Gervasi Herranz on the MMFO group. I'm really motivated to learn as much as I can and enjoy the experience. My main hobbies are sports, books, tv shows and films. See you around!! :)

The paper Direct and converse piezoelectric responses at the nanoscale from epitaxial BiFeO₃ thin films grown by polymer assisted deposition published this October in the Nanoscale journal, has received funding from the EU-H2020 research and innovation programme, having benefitted from the access provided by the ICMAB-CSIC in Barcelona, within the framework of the NFFA-Europe Transnational Access Activity. 

Pedro D. Ortiz*, Judith Castillo-Rodriguez, Ximena Zarate,Rudy Martin-Trasanco, Mónica Benito, Ignasi Mata, Elies Molins, and Eduardo Schott*  Langmuir, 2018, 34 (32), pp 9402–9409

I am Cristina Romo from Durango (A town near Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain). I am a graduate in Biomedical engineering from the University of Mondragon. This year I have started my master´s degree in Biomedical Engineering in the University of Barcelona (UB) and thanks to the JAE fellowship given by the CSIC, I will be here doing my master thesis. I will be involved in Smart4Fabry project under the supervision of Dr. Nora Ventosa. 
About me, I enjoy playing the saxophone (playing with different big bands and in jazz&blues groups) and practising team sports, basketball specially.
See you around!!

Roberta Verrelli, granted with a Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación fellowship, will work in the group of Solid State Chemistry, with M. Rosa Palacín, in the field of next-generation batteries. On the other hand, Elzbieta Pach, granted with a Juan de la Cierva-Formación, will work with Albert Verdaguer, in the SURFACES group.

Xavier Obradors, ICMAB Director and researcher at the Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group, inaugurated on Thursday, 18 October 2018, the academic year 2018-2019 of the RACAB, at RACAB building in Les Rambles. Xavier Obradors, member of the RACAB since 2001, presented the report on "Nanomaterials for the energy transition". 

ACS on Campus is excited to be at the Universitat de Barcelona on October 18, 2018, for an exciting day around science communication, publishing tips, and career talks! You’ll learn from ACS editors and local professionals tips and tools for publishing your research and sharing it with the public. You’ll hear from Prof. M. Rosa Palacín (ICMAB-CSIC) an Associate Editor of Chemistry of Materials, Prof. Juan Bisquert (INAM) a Senior Editor of Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, and more!

The ICMAB has published its Annual Report 2017. The document covers the most remarkable activities of 2017, a selection of scientific highlights, and the main outcomes of the actions supported by the Severo Ochoa project. You can download the PDF here and check out the website version following this link: https://resources.icmab.es/annualreport2017/

Postdoctoral researcher offer entitled: Atomic structure imaging and analyses of YBa₂Cu₃O₇-x thin films and nanocomposites in the Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group. 
Position offered: Postdoctoral researcher (2 years contract). The recruitment process will be closed when a suitable candidate is found.

Hello, I am Duan Wenchao, from Shandong University. Now I have joined the group of nanoparticles and nanocomposites to do my PhD work on sensor.

uSEE: the quest for transforming super-resolution imaging into an everyday lab-tool

On Thursday, 18 October, the inaugural session to inaugurate the RACAB academic course 2018-2019 will be given by Prof. Xavier Obradors, which will present the report entitled "Els nanomaterials per a la transició energètica" (Nanomaterials for the energetic transition). The conference will take place at the RACAB at 7 pm. 

Dr. Bernat Mundet defended his PhD thesis on "Atomic-scale characterization of structural distortions in perovskite oxide thin films" Monday, 9 October 2018, with great success, surrounded by his friends, family and colleagues! Congratulations! 

Hello, I am Xiao Long, from Shanghai University. Now I have joined the group of Multifunctional Oxides and Complex Structures to do my PhD work on ferroelectric films.
See you around!

Tom Homewood, James T. Frith, J. Padmanabhan Vivek, Nieves Casañ-Pastor, Dino Tonti, John R. Owen and Nuria Garcia-Araez*.  Chem. Commun., 2018,54, 9599-9602  

Hello! My name is Mercè and I am from Barcelona. I am studying physics at the UAB, and as it is my final year I have to present the final degree project. That's why I will be the whole course in ICMAB working with superconductors and ferromagnetic materials. In my free time I like practicing sports and singing in the choir of my town. I think my stay at ICMAB will be a new experience, I am looking forward to starting working!

On  Thursday, November 15, 2018, from 9:30 am to 7 pm, 100xCiencia.3, the meeting of the Severo Ochoa Centres and María de Maeztu Units Alliance (SOMMa) will take place at CNIO (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas) in Madrid. 

Recent advances in the synthetic growth of nanowires --rod shaped semiconductors of nanometric size-- have given access to crystal phases that in bulk are only observed under extreme pressure conditions. In this study, hexagonal germanium (Ge) crystal domains are found in cubic Ge nanowires. The electronic, phononic, and crystalline properties of these phases has been studied by Raman spectroscopy and through theoretical calculations. The study has been published in Nano Letters and selected for a cover of the issue!

On 17-20 September 2018, ICMAB hosted the Severo Ochoa Summer School on Materials for Energy (MATENER 2018) with 12 highly-talented invited speakers, 4 in-house speakers, and more than 40 participants from around the world. The school was centered on the big topic "materials for energy" and focused materials for photovoltaics, batteries, supercapacitors, batteries and superconducting applications.