On 16-17 June the ICMAB participated at the Barcelona Maker Faire. Many members of the NANOMOL group presented their research on encapsulation and hydrogels for biomedical applications. They used the spherification concept as a metaphor for the nanoencapsulation, and the gelification of agar agar for the hydrogels. The stand, which was always full of families and kids, obtained the Maker of Merit award, given by the organization to the best Makers of this year's edition. 

Between 18 and 22 June 2018, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington (UK) hosted the 6th WMRIF Workshop for Early Career Scientists. From ICMAB, Roberta Verrelli, Francesca Leonardi and Ignasi Fina attended the workshop, which concentrated on exceptional early career scientists in World Materials Research Institute Forum (WMRIF) institutes with the goals of network building, and knowledge and experience exchange, along with the chance to examine facilities of the host institute. 

Fangchang Tan, Ana López‐Periago, Mark E. Light, Jordi Cirera, Eliseo Ruiz, Alejandro Borrás, Francesc Teixidor, Clara Viñas, Concepción Domingo, José Giner Planas. Adv. Materials. 30 May 2018.

The Seminars and Training Committee kindly invites you to the following ICMAB Periodical Lecture: 

Spin currents and the spin Hall effect

Monday, 25 June 2018 @ 12 pm
ICMAB - Sala d'Actes Carles Miravitlles

Blai Casals, Andrea Schiaffino, Arianna Casiraghi, Sampo J. Hämäläinen, Diego López González, Sebastiaan van Dijken, Massimiliano Stengel, and Gervasi Herranz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 217601. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.217601

The Association of Women Researchers and Technologists in Catalonia (AMIT-CAT), with the collaboration of the ICE/UAB and the sponsorship of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC) thanks to the "Premi Sant Jordi Creus Cases 2017", opens the call for the "STEM AMB TU" initiative, in which young women professionals will bring STEM to secondary schools to promote STEM among girls. 

• Researchers from the IBB-UAB fabricate 4 molecules of only 7 amino acids with the ability to self-assemble and rapidly and inexpensively form nanomaterials for biomedical and nanotechnological purposes.
• Four peptides were used to create one of the most resistant bionanomaterials described to date, nanocables and mini enzymes to act as a catalyst for the formation of nanomaterials.
• The study, publised in ACS Nano included the collaboration of Isabel Fuentes and Francesc Teixidor from the ICMAB-CSIC.

The Comfuturo program (“Un Compromiso público privado con la ciencia y el Futuro”) has granted the research project "NANOingeniería de ÓXIdos para el mayor aprovechamiento de la energía SOLar usando rutas no convencionales (NANOXISOL)" (Oxides nanoengineering for improvement of photovoltaic efficiency using non-conventional routes) presented by Ignasi Fina in this second edition.

Mauro Brotons-Gisbert, Alfredo Segura, Roberto Robles, Enric Canadell, Pablo Ordejón, and Juan F. Sánchez-Royo. Phys. Rev. Materials 2, 054602. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.2.054602

Hi! My name is Aleix and I come from Girona, i'm an engineer. I'm in the third year of electronic engineering, in the UdG. I'm here doing interships and I really want to start. My job here will be help in a project of an ALD reactor(Atomic layer deposition), i'm very excited!
When i have free time, i like to watch series, go out with friends and practice sports, like football. Football is my favourite sport.
I'm sure that i will meet very good people here, see you!

Hello! My name is İpek EFE and I am from Turkey. I have recently graduated from Materials Science and Nano Engineering in Sabanci University, Istanbul. Between June- August I will be doing my Erasmus+ internship at ICMAB, Nanostructered Materials Department (NANOPTENER). I like spending my free time with friends, by travelling, doing outdoor activities or visiting art galleries/museums. I am looking forward to meet everyone :-)

F. Vallès, A. Palau, V. Rouco, B. Mundet, X. Obradors & T. Puig. Scientific Reports, volume 8, Article number: 5924(2018). 

Iodine chemistry and applications

by Tatsuo KAIHO, Chiba University, Japan

Monday, 9 July 2018 @ 12 pm
ICMAB - Sala d'Actes Carles Miravitlles

Diamond Light Source, the UK’s national synchrotron, is looking for a Principal Beamline Scientist for the Microfocus Spectroscopy beamline at Diamond, I18. The successful candidate would be responsible for a polarised soft X-ray facility dedicated to X-ray magnetic circular and linear dichroism spectroscopy and imaging.

Three ICMAB researchers have been granted with a Ramon y Cajal grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

Ignasi Fina, from the MULFOX group, in the area of Materials Science; Arántzazu González, from the FunNanoSurf group, in the area of Chemistry, and Judith Guasch, from the NANOMOL group, in the area of Biomedicine. Congratulations to all three!

Are you ready for a weekend full of science in an amazing venue in Barcelona? On June 9-10, many ICMAB researchers participate at the Barcelona Science Festival at Parc de la Ciutadella (Barcelona). Come with us and participate with your friends and family to the many activities prepared.

From ICMAB, Jordi Rius and Ashley Black will give two microtalks on crystalline structure of minerals and lithium-ion batteries, Martí Gibert will participate on a debate on how nanotechnology affects our life, Javier Repetto will talk about nanomedicine and the film Fantastic Voyage, and Anna May will be challenging the participants with a photonic contest and coordinating some of the events. 

This article was published on May 28, 2018, in La Vanguardia, and is signed by Carina Farreras, Barcelona. We transcribe it here as it is. You can download here the paper version. SOMMa is the alliance of the Severo Ochoa and Maria de Maeztu research centers and units, formed by 41 research centers and units, and by more than 5,000 researchers. SOMMa wants to promote Spanish Excellence in research and enhance its social impact at national and international levels.

Respiro para la ciencia. Una enmienda a ley de Presupuestos desencalla la paralización de los centros.

Jinting Hang, Christian Hahn, Nahuel Statuto, Ferran Macià & Andrew D. Kent. Scientific Reports, volume 8, Article number: 6847 (2018) doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25134-zdoi:10.1038/s41598-018-25134-z

Pint of Science, the festival that gathers people together in bars to listen to scientific presentations instead of watching a football match, has been a great success, with more than 20,000 participants around Spain. In Barcelona, 10 bars were hosting scientific talks during the three days of the festival (14, 15 and 16 May 2018). ICMAB was also represented, as we explained in a previous post: Javier Repetto in Casa Orlandai on Tuesday 15 May, and Irene Antonin Alfa Bar on Wednesday 16 May. 

The "Bake your best cake" contest of our ICMAB party counted with 11 participants and 12 cakes or desserts (one participant baked 2). A jury formed by 6 experts in the field valued the originality, the aspect and the flavor of each one of them. The contest took place at 11 am in the morning, and caused a huge expectation among the ICMAB members, as you can see in the picture.

The winning cake was the "Superflavored 2D material" cake, from Marta Vendrell. This cake had some very special ingredients... Take a look at them:

  Anna May-Masnou,  Lluís Soler,   Miquel Torras,   Pol Salles,   Jordi Llorca and  Anna Roig, Front. Chem., 12 April 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2018.00110

Five ICMAB graduates from the PhD programme in Materials Science received the PhD Extraordinary Award for their doctoral thesis developed during the period 2014-2015. The award ceremony took place on May 18, 2018, at 6 pm, at the Hotel Campus UAB. Laura Cabana Jiménez, Pedro López-Aranguren Oliver, Nerea Murillo Cremaes, David Pesquera Herrero and Albert Queraltó López were recognised for their PhD dissertations.  

Researchers from ICMAB-CSIC and ALBA have analyzed the microscopic origin of the so-called "magnetic proximity effect" occurring at the interface between a magnetic material (CoFe₂O₄) and a nonmagnetic metal (Pt), which may induce a magnetic moment in the latter. The results are published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

The ICMAB reserarchers Gil Gonçalves and Gerard Tobias are the editors of one of the most recent Springer books, Nanooncology: Engineering Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapy and Diagnosis. 

Tina Tronser, Anna Laromaine, Anna Roig, and Pavel A. Levkin*. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2018, 10 (19), pp 16260–16269. 

On 9-10 June 2018, ICMAB participated at the 12th edition of the Barcelona Science Festival with lots of activities. The festival counted with more than 230 activities in 33 different spaces distributed along the Ciutadella Park. 160 institutions (research centers, entities, associations, universities, individuals) participated in the event, organized by BCNCiència (Institut de Culgura de l'Ajuntament de Barcelona), and more than 20,000 attendees joined the festival during the weekend. 

Reactions on positive electrodes of Li-ion batteries

by Prof. Zempachi OGUMI, Kyoto University, Japan

Operando analysis of reactions on graphite negative electrodes of Li-ion batteries

by Dr. Hiroyuki FUJIMOTO, Kyoto University, Japan

Friday, 29 June 2018 @ 12 pm
ICMAB - Sala d'Actes MATGAS M1.12

29 symposiums at the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) Spring Meeting 2018, one of the most important meetings in materials science research, which gathers together many professionals of Europe and the world. Many researchers from ICMAB are attending this week this meeting, held in Strasbourg (France), for 5 days (from 18 to 22 June, 2018).

The Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera has developed the program "Bojos per la Ciència" to open the doors of the most relevant research institutes to the most excellent secondary school students. ICMAB joined in 2017 ICN2, IFAE and UAB for the second edition of "Bojos per la Física" and continued this year within this program, which has been a real success.

Hannah Johnston, Ashley P. Black, Paula Kayser, Judith Oró-Solé, David A. Keen, Amparo Fuertes* and J. Paul Attfield*. Chem. Commun., 2018,54, 5245-5247 . DOI:10.1039/C8CC03462A

Hi everyone! My name is Brittany and I'm interning here at Nanomol Technologies this summer. This fall I will be entering in my third year at the University of Alabama. I'm very excited to be here for the summer and getting to meet everybody!

On June 7-9, 2018, Geneva (Switzerland) hosted the 29th edition of the Ecsite Annual Conference 2018. An event that gathered a record-breaking 1,182 professionals from 58 countries. The event was hosted by the Natural History Museum of Geneva in partnership with CERN, University of Geneva Scienscope, and Campus Biotech.

The study published in Advanced Materials "An Unprecedented Stimuli Controlled Single-crystal Reversible Phase Transition of a Metal-Organic Framework and its Application to a Novel Method of Guest Encapsulation" was featured in UABdivulga.

We are glad to announce that the 10^th International Symposium on Nitrides (ISNT2019) will be held in Barcelona, Spain on June 9-14, 2019. Early registration and Abstract Submission starts on September 15, 2018 (Deadline: 24 January 2019). 

The International Conference On Phosphorus, Boron and Silicon – PBSi 2018 will take place in Barcelona on 10-12 December 2018. From chemistry to catalysis, materials, biology, and medicine, from theory to application, the main target of this conference is to gather Researchers and Experts in Phosphorus, Boron and Silicon community in order to provide all participants with the latest progress and inputs recorded in each field.

Sensory (or afferent) nerves bring sensations of touch, pain, or temperature variation to the central nervous system and brain. Using the tools and materials of organic electronics, researchers led by chemist Zhenan Bao at Stanford University, and with the participation of Raphael Pfattner, now ICMAB researcher, but at that time Postdoctoral Fellow at Bao Research Group, have constructed an artificial sensory nerve that works in much the same way. 

Anna Laromaine,* Tina Tronser, Ivana Pini, Sebastià Parets, Pavel A. Levkin and Anna Roig. Soft Matter, 2018, Advance Article.

• These materials can have applications in selective gas separation or gas adsorption, as catalysts for chemical reactions, as encapsulation and drug delivery for active substances or hazardous waste adsorption.
• The strategy is based on the spherical shape of the boron-based linkers used as ligands.
• Look at this video, that explains the transformation:  https://youtu.be/eO9fMitBfFY

Every spring, ICMAB celebrates its anniversary with a party for all the members of the Institute. ICMAB was founded in 1986, so this year we celebrated its 32 anniversary! From early in the morning until mid-afternoon, a lot of different activities were organized by many volunteers, so that everybody could particiapate and enjoy the day. 

My name is Judit and I am from Tarragona, living nowadays in Sabadell. I am joining to the Nanomol Group as a Tecniospring Postdoctoral researcher. I got my Bachelor’s Degree in Biotechnology and the Nanoscience Master at University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona. On 2017 I obtained the PhD in Nanoscience, Materials and Chemical Engineering, working on the analysis of nucleic acids using nanoparticles, during that period I was 6 month at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore. From March 2017 I have been working as Innovation Manager at Beauty Cluster Barcelona. I like science dissemination, I've been collaborating with schools and participating in monolgue contests. I love travelling, reading and I like to enjoy my free time with friends.

Mahdi Chaari,Nerea Gaztelumendi,Justo Cabrera-González, Paula Peixoto-Moledo,Clara Viñas, Elba Xochitiotzi-Flores, Norberto Farfán, Abdelhamid Ben Salah, Carme Nogués*, and Rosario Núñez*. Bioconjugate Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.8b00204

Our traditional photo contest, FOTICMAB, is already a consolidated activity and receives every year a high participation. This year, we had three categories: scientific, artistic and "ICMAB moments". The artistic category was the one with the highest participation (48 photos), followed by our most favourite scientific category (19 photos) and the recovered "ICMAB moments" with 10 photos.

The winner of the scientific category is the photo you can see above; "Photonic leaf" by Cristiano Matricardi. "Rainbow", by Laia Soler won the artistic category, and "¡Con una sonrisa se trabaja mejor!" by Adriana Kyvik won the "ICMAB moments" category. The three winners are all PhD researchers at the Institute. The winner of each cateogory received a smartbox to enjoy a dinner for two. 

Let's see the story behind each one of the winning and finalist photos:

Hello! My name is Marc Monné and I'm right now in my last year of a double degree in Physics and Mathematics at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). I will be doing my final degree project here at ICMAB, studying and modelling transition-edge sensors. In my free time, I enjoy playing the piano, dancing and acting

A group of researchers from the NANOMOL group at ICMAB-CSIC has studied the behavior of an organic radical as a molecular cable formed through the covalent carbon-gold bond between the molecule and the electrodes. This linkage is more stable and geometrically better well-defined than its predecessors, in which other functional groups where used. This improvement opens the door to prepare novel electronic devices for Molecular Electronics applications.

The study has been featured in UABDivulga, and we transcribe here the text.