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Semitransparent organic photovoltaics (OPV) possess unique properties that make them highly appealing for their integration into semitransparent architectonic elements such as windows or glazings. In order to provide sufficient transparency, non-opaque electrodes and thin photoactive layers are typically used, thus limiting the light-harvesting capacity.

If you are considering to carry out Postdoctoral Research, come to the ICMAB with one of "la Caixa" Postdoctorate Junior Leader Fellowships! It's the opportunity you're looking for!

UNDER AND POST-GRADUATE STUDENTS

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Hi! I’m Anna from Barcelona and I’ve joined the ICMAB to do an internship in the laser processing group with Dr. Angel Pérez del Pino. Currently I am an undergraduate Physics student at UB and a basketball player. I like sports, nature and travelling. I hope I can learn a lot

The future Neutron Difractometer at Institut Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, Frane, is looking for a Doctor and a Senior Technician to work in its installations. Deadline to apply: 20 July 2020.

Raman spectroscopy is one of the most extended experimental techniques to investigate thin-layered 2D materials. For a complete understanding and modeling of the Raman spectrum of a novel 2D material, it is often necessary to combine the experimental investigation to density functional theory calculations.

The Institute of Electrical Engineering, Slovak Academy of Sciences, is offering four postdoctoral job offers in the fiels of High-Temperature Superconductors! Take a look here if you are interested!

Web of Science has published the 2020 Journal Citation Reports, showcasing the data they have gathered across thousands of journals in 2019. Organized by the academic research analysis company Clarivate, this report promises to provide a thorough, publisher-neutral, multifaceted view of journal performance.

The project to improve the rechargeability of zinc-air batteries, led by ICMAB researchers from the Solid State Chemistry group, has been featured this week in R+D CSIC news. These batteries have more capacity than the lithium-ion ones, and are made of cheap materials, which are widely available in nature as well as safe.

A review of the present status, recent enhancements, and applicability of the Siesta program is presented. Since its debut in the mid-1990s, Siesta’s flexibility, efficiency, and free distribution have given advanced materials simulation capabilities to many groups worldwide.

Researchers from the Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group will be joining researchers from 13 other countries in the development of a network with the intention to push for the implementation of Hight Temperature Superconductors (HST) to all the different parts of the electrical energy chain, in the framewor of a European COST Action.

We report an investigation of the combined structural and electronic properties of the bronze ${\mathrm{Na}}_{1.5}{\left({\mathrm{PO}}_2\right)}_4{\left({\mathrm{WO}}_3\right)}_{20}$.

The SIESTA methodology and program, first described in 2002, is a simulation paradigm that has allowed for extensive and precise theoretical research in the properties of materials based on first principle electronic-structure methods. Almost two decades later, a new publication details the improvements made to the paradigm and how this new tools can be applied.

Amanda Muñoz, a PhD researcher from the Nanoparticles and Nanocomposites (NN) group, joined the Biorender Graphical Abstract challenge with a visualization of her group’s work with C. elegans and nanoparticles. Her figure has become one of the finalists in the contest, and it has already opened new opportunities for learning. 

The Seminars & Training Committee would like to invite you to the following Online ICMAB Invited Seminar: 

Science, Technology and Innovation after Covid: Challenges and Opportunities

by Xavier Ferràs, Associate Professor of Operations Management, Innovation and Data Sciences, ESADE Business School

Monday, 13 July 2020 @ 6 pm
Online Invited Seminar. Register here to attend the seminar via Webex. 

Two anthracenyl–styrenyl-m-carborane triads (one non-iodinated on B, 3, and one iodinated, 4) were synthesized and characterized to be further linked to octavinylsilsesquioxane (OVS) via cross-metathesis, giving rise to the corresponding hybrid materials 5 and 6.

Face masks are still one of the key factors helping us face the current COVID-19 pandemic, and have been part of the conversation since the first responses to the virus started to appear. The other key factor is physical distancing. In this Online ICMAB Seminar, Jan Grzelak, from the Nanoparticles & Nanocomposites (NN) Group, presents the current knowledge we have on the materials used to create the masks and their reusability.

Recent advances in nanowire synthesis have enabled the realization of crystal phases that in bulk are attainable only under extreme conditions, i.e., high temperature and/or high pressure.

ICMAB Researcher Riccardo Rurali, from the Materials Simulation and Theory (MST) group, has found two of his theoretical predictions to be confirmed through experimental approaches, regarding the use of hexagonal SiGe alloys for optoelectronic applications and the use of domain walls as switches for phononic devices.

As part of the celebration of the European Sustainable Energy Week, the Vice-presidency of International Relations of the CSIC has organized a campaign that aims to raise awareness about sustainable energy and its efficient use through the promotion of CSIC's European projects. Next Thursday 25 June at 1 pm the online round table will take place: "Accessible, clean and sustainable energy in the future: connecting the ODS and the European Green Deal", in which M. Rosa Palacín, ICMAB researcher, will participate.

Spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) is a fundamental concept in neurobiology. Briefly, the relative timing of two neuron spikes reinforces or weakens the synapse between them, so that events caused by another should trigger spikes in a particular time order.

Near any phase transition order parameters of materials are strongly coupled to materials’ properties. Metamagnetic materials show phase transition between two magnetically ordered phases.

As response to the COVID-19 pandemic starts to take shape, the field of research places its eyes in the future. What they see is less than comforting. Spanish researchers start organizing to show the precariousness they face in their careers under the hashtag #SinCienciaNoHayFuturo #NoScienceNoFuture. At the same time, two major initiatives demand more funding for research all across Europe, already trying to stop the next crisis that will happen. All of these events, happening on the same day (17 June 2020), point out the difficulties that have been affecting the scientific area and that will keep existing unless action is taken. 

In its 15th edition, the L'Oréal-UNESCO "For Women in Science" awards five prizes of 15,000 euros each to support research projects carried out by Spanish women scientists in the area of Physical Sciences, Mathematics and/or Computer and Information Sciences. The deadline for application will remain open until 13 September 2020. These should be done through the official website "For Women in Science".

this year, Science is Wonderful! will take place online – through an array of innovative, interactive digital activities. The event will highlight some of the solutions Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and other EU-funded research and innovation projects are developing to address the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath, as well as the priorities that are at the core of both European and Global recovery efforts. The call for applications is now open! If you have an EU-funded project, you should be interested!

The insidious effects of gender disparity affect all the facets of our society. In times of crisis, all forms of inequality -including those based on gender, but also race, or sexuality- are often aggravated. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Unidad de Mujeres y Ciencia of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación establishes a series of actions that the scientific community must consider in order to both track this disparity and minimize its effects. The report highlights that the gender gap in scientific productivity, exacerbated in this crisis, will have consequences for women researchers' careers.

A jury formed by specialists in science and dissemination will decide on the contest winners, who will be announced on Thursday, June 25, 2020, at a ceremony where the finalist nanostories will be read. The contest is part of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Festival, 10alamenos9, which aims to bring this science closer to young audiences. Register here to attend to the final event to discover the winners! 

Strongly correlated perovskite oxides are a class of materials with fascinating intrinsic physical functionalities due to the interplay of charge, spin, orbital ordering, and lattice degrees of freedom.

The Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera develops the program "Bojos per la Ciència" to open the doors of the most relevant research institutes to the most excellent secondary school students. The ICMAB joined in 2017 the initiative "Bojos per la Física" coordinated by the ICN2, and the IFAE. This year the session had to be online, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and finally the 25 students could join researchers Ignasi Fina and Jordi Faraudo and Anna May, coordinating the event, on an online session during more than 4 hours on Saturday, 13 June 2020, in the morning. 

Organic semiconductor materials exhibit a great potential for the realization of large-area solution-processed devices able to directly detect high-energy radiation. However, only few works investigated on the mechanism of ionizing radiation detection in this class of materials, so far.

Job openings in the framework of the MSCA-ITN “Coordination Chemistry Inspires Molecular Catalysis”  to carry out your PhD! Take a look at the offers here. The UAB is a partner of this ITN. 

The ALBA Synchrotron has released its Annual Report 2019. The document covers the most remarkable activities of 2019, a selection of scientific highlights, technology reviews and facts & figures of the facility last year. Three research studies in which the ICMAB researchers have collaborated with the ALBA Synchrotron are featured in the Report. 

Gaudeamus Igitur is a traditional anthem for students all over Europe, played in many graduations and commemorative events. This tradition is kept alive in our institution thanks to the ICMAB Choir, who sings this hymn to all of their members once they become doctors. Do you want to know its origin?

o-C₂B₁₀H₁₂ isomerizes to m-C₂B₁₀H₁₂ upon heating at 400 °C. Deboronation in o-C₂B₁₀H₁₂ is a relatively easy process, whereas it is more difficult in m-C₂B₁₀H₁₂. These two experimental facts indicate that m-C₂B₁₀H₁₂ is thermodynamically more stable than o-C₂B₁₀H₁₂.

This year the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Festival 10alamenos9 was cancelled, due to the coronavirus. However, another initiative in the framework of the festival appeared: the short talks (around 20 minutes) about nanoscience and nanotechnology through YouTube, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12 pm, called "Vermut de Nanociència" (Nanoscience Vermouth). On 3 June 2020 Irene Anton made her contribution, explaining the curious facts of one day of a PhD researcher in this field. 

Stefania Sandoval participated during two weeks in May in the initiative We are Scientists, get us out of here! in which she answered questions from primary and secondary school students eager to learn more about the job of a scientist and science itself. Stefania had a great experience, which she wants to share with us all. Read here what she has learnt from it and has taken as a take-home message!

The 15th edition of the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities has been published, ranking researchers in Spain as well as Spaniards doing research abroad, and the list features more than a hundred ICMAB researchers. This initiative developed by CSIC intends to boost online publication of research.

Ferroelectric HfO₂ is a promising material for new memory devices, but significant improvement of important properties is necessary to reach applications. However, precedent literature shows that a dilemma between polarization, endurance and retention exists.