We focus on the study of the physical properties of single and complex nanostructures, involving nanoparticles, nanowires and nanomebranes, based on semiconductor oxides. By doping / morphology / defects engineering we pursue improvement in performance of devices with applications in optoelectronics, solar cells, batteries or sensors. 

Staff:

Bianchi Méndez Martín (Full Professor)

Bianchi Méndez is a Full Professor at the Material Physics Department since 2007, after being Associate Professor (1997-2007). Currently, BM is the Head of the UCM research Group of Physics of Electronic Nanomaterials and the Head of Department of Materials Physics. Her field of interest has been the study of optical and electronic properties of semiconductors, being, recently, the oxide nanomaterials the main subject of study. In particular, BM is one of pioneers in Ga₂O₃ based nanomaterials with about 30 publications in JCR journals. Up to date, BM has co-supervised 8 PhD theses (4 of them in progress), has coauthored more than 120 articles in JCR journals (2 Nano Lett. in the last 5 years). BM has been granted with 5 research projects as principal investigator, with an overall budget of almost 1M€. BM has participated actively in conferences and workshops, with 22 invited talks, and have been part of the organizing committee in SPIE and E-MRS Conferences. BM has been Visitor Academic at the Warwick University (2014-2015), and she also has a Visiting professorship at the University of Bologna (2019).

Ana Cremades Rodríguez (Full Professor)

Ana Cremades is a Full Professor at the Material Physics Department (Complutense University of Madrid) since 2016. She became Associate Professor in Material Science at the UCM in 1997. Since 1993, she belongs to the research group “Physics of electronic nanomaterials”, and her activity deals with the characterization of structural, optical and electronic properties of functional electronic materials. Ana Cremades has a large experience in the characterization of materials such as diamond, GaN and related alloys, porous silicon and transparent conducting oxides (TCO) with applications in energy related fields, by means of microscopy related techniques such as SEM, STM, AFM, confocal Raman/PL microscopy and photoelectron microscopy (XPS/ESCAmicroscopy). She carried out several stays abroad for more than 27 months (Siemens, Munich (Germany), 9 months in 1993; Universidade de Aveiro (Portugal) 3 months, and Walter Schottky Institut, (Technical University of Munich, (Germany), 15 months in 1997-98). She is co-supervisor of 7 Ph Thesis (2 of them on progress). Ana Cremades has a demonstrated regular participation/coordination of funded national and international research projects since 1993 (31 Projects and 19 short research stays at Elettra Syncrotron (Trieste, Italia)). She is co-author of 115 indexed publications, most of them in JCR journals (J.Mat Chem A, 2D Materials, Nano Research, J. Phys. Chem. C, Appl. Phys. Lett., Nanotechnology, J. Mat. Chem. C, etc.) and is author and/or editor of 11 books. She is and co-inventor as well of 4 patents, 2 of them finalist at the Emerging Technologies Competition 2015 (London). She has been co-organizer of 9 International Conferences and workshops on functional materials and related subjects, recently the Symposium “Functional Nanomaterials for Novel Applications” at the international Conference EUROMAT 2017 (Thessaloniki, Greece), Symposium on “Widebandgap Oxide Nanomaterials”; Collaborative Conference on Materials Research (CCMR) (2019 Seoul, Korea); and Symposium M “Metal oxide- and oxyhydride-based nanomaterials for energy and environment-related applications”, E-MRS Fall Meeting 2019, Warsaw (Poland).

Emilio Nogales Díaz (Full Professor)

Dr. Emilio Nogales is Full Professor in the Department of Materials Physics of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid since 2021. He obtained his PhD in Physics in 2003. Since 2004, his research has been mainly focused on growth and characterization of transparent conductive oxide nanostructures with potential applications in optoelectronics. The material on which he has been more focused is gallium oxide, now emerging for high power applications. Several goals have been achieved, such as effective doping for efficient luminescence, effective Li doping into gallium oxide, nano-heterostructure-based architectures and functionalization of the nanostructures for photonic-cavity applications. He is co-author of 2 book chapters and 80 scientific papers (75 of them included in ISI Web of Science) in journals such as Nano Letters (2), Small, J. Mater. Chem. C, J. Phys. Chem. C, Appl. Phys. Lett., Nanotechnology, etc.

Pedro Hidalgo Alcalde (Associate Professor)

Pedro Hidalgo is Associate Professor at the Material Physics Department (Complutense University of Madrid). Since 1996, he belongs to the research group “Physics of electronic nanomaterials”, and his activity deals with the characterization of structural, optical and electronic properties of functional electronic materials. He has a large experience in the characterization of materials such as silicon, germanium, III-V, II-VI semiconductors and transparent conducting oxides (TCO), by means of microscopy related techniques such as SEM, STM, AFM, confocal Raman/PL microscopy and photoelectron microscopy (XPS/ESCAmicroscopy). Pedro Hidalgo has a demonstrated regular participation of funded national and international research projects since 1996 (23 National and International Projects). He is co-author of 58 publications (4 book chapter and 51 of them included in ISI Web of Knowledge) and over 85 conference communications to international congresses He is co-organizer of 2 International Conferences and workshops on functional materials and related subjects.

David Maestre Varea (Associate Professor)

David Maestre is Associate Professor at the Materials Physics Department (UCM)) since 2015. His main research lines are focused on the fabrication and characterization (structural, optical and electronic) of micro- and nanostructures of transparent conductive oxides (SnO₂, TiO₂, In₂O₃, NiO), as well as the effects caused by doping, and their implementation in hybrid composites. David Maestre worked for 3 months at the Bergische Universität of Wuppertal, (Germany), 12 months at IM2NP Univesité Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III (France), and 12 months at Technische Fakultät, Christian Albrechts Universität zu Kiel (Germany). He also carried out 14 short stays at the Elettra Synchrotron (Trieste, Italy), 8 of them as main researcher. David Maestre has participated in 18 funded national and international research projects and is co-author of 2 book chapter, 60 scientific papers, and 4 patents, with more than 100 conference contribution. He is co-supervisor of 2 Ph.D thesis on TCO materials, for energy-related applications (2 more in progress). David Maestre has been also awarded with the Fonda-Fasella award (2010) and the FEMS Lecturer award (2016).

Ruth Martínez Casado (Assisstant Professor UCM)

Dr. Ruth Martinez-Casado is Assitant Professor at UCM, being previoulsy gained a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Materials Physics Department (Complutense University of Madrid) since 2018. The purpose of her research career is the development of efficient, widely applicable and highly competitive models to describe technologically important compounds. She is presently an expert in the Density Functional Theory (DFT) and in particular in the use of the widely used CRYSTAL code. Her leading position on her research lines can be evaluated by the fact that she is the first author in 22 out of 27 publications. The relevance of her work has attracted the attention of industrial companies, such us the Australian Rio Tinto Mining company or the Italian Automobile Factory of Turin (FIAT). Her high mobility can also be stated with long stays abroad (7 years in total). Her work recognition has come obtaining very competitive fellowships (Newton International Fellowship, Juan de la Cierva). In this regard, she was principal investigator of the Newton Fellowship project (£ 102.000). She has also been invited speaker in 5 international conferences.

Post-doctoral researchers

Javier Bartolomé Vílchez (Talent attraction - CM) - currently at UAM since 2021

Javier Bartolomé is a postdoctoral fellow at the Materials Physics Department (UCM). His research activity is focused on the characterization of bulk and low-dimensional (nanowires/thin films) optoelectronic materials, including transparent conducting oxides (In2O3 and IZO), III-V materials, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites and graphene based heterostructures, and the study of the interplay between the morphology and defect structure of these materials, and their macroscopic physical properties by means of electron microscopy (SEM/(HR)TEM), CL/PL, Raman spectroscopy, XPS, XRD, EDS and EBSD (electron backscattered diffraction). He worked 3 months at the Fraunhofer Institute of Freiburg (Germany) on (low-dimension) semiconductor resistive sensors, 18 months at the Paul-Drude Institute of Berlin (Germany) on (In,Ga)N/GaN quantum wells embedded in GaN nanowires (TEM) and 17 months at the ICMM-CSIC (Spain) on Raman spectroscopy of graphene, and on hybrid perovskites for solar cell applications. He has authored 21 scientific publications and 33 congress contributions.

PhD students 

• Beatriz Rodríguez Fernández, FPI fellowship linked to RTI2018 project, started 2019/20
• Javier García Alonso, hired under Horizon2020  project (Bat4ever), started 2020/21
• Daniel Carrasco Madrigal, hired under AFOSR project, started 2021/22.

Former PhD students

• María Taeño González, (PhD 2020) - postdoc position at Energy Gune, Vitoria (Spain)
• Manuel Alonso Orts, (PhD 2020) - postdoc position at University of Bremen, Bremen (Germany)
• Jaime Dolado Fernández, (PhD 2021) - postdoc position at ESRF, Grenoble (France)
• Marina García Carrión, (PhD 2021) - currently at Seprona i+D
• Antonio Vázquez López, (PhD 2021) - postdoc position at IMDEA-Materiales, Madrid (Spain)

Granted projects 

• PCI 2023-143388 "p-n heterojunctions of emergent wide band gap oxides for self-powered UVC sensing" MICIN project, M-era.net 3 cofund 2022 (2023- 2026). Coordinator UCM, PI: Bianchi Méndez. Participants: Nanovation (París, France) and Technical University Dresden (Germany)
• AFOSR project: “Exploring optical cavities based on gallium oxide nanomaterials”. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (2023-2026). PIs: Bianchi Méndez and Emilio Nogales.
• TED 2021- 

  130139B-I00 "Gallium oxide nanostructures for energy saving and telecommunications" MICINN project (2022- 2024). PIs: Emilio Nogales and David Maestre

• PID 2021-122562NB-I00 "Light-matter interaction in nano-membranes of wide bandgap metal oxides for self-powered devices" MICINN project. (2022 - 2025). PIs: Bianchi Méndez and David Maestre
• Project BAT4EVER: “Autonomous Self-Healing polymer based Components for high performant Lithium Ion Batteries” H2020 project. (2020 – 2023) Cooperative project 10 partners. Coordinator: VUB Belgium, UCM-PI: Ana Cremades/Bianchi Mendez (UCM). 
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BAT4EVER is one of the six projects in the frame of BATTERY2030+ - the large-scale initiative in Europe which aims are:

– to invent ultra-high-performance batteries 
– to provide new tools and breakthrough technologies to the European battery industry
– to enable long-term European leadership in both existing markets and future emerging applications

• RTI2018-097195-B-I00: Novel paradigms on functional wide band gap nano-oxides. In situ-characterization and correlative microscopy. National project. MCIN. (2018 – 2021) PIs: Bianchi Méndez and Ana Cremades.
• AFOSR project: “Exploring light-matter interaction in gallium oxide micro- and nanostructures”. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (2020-2023). PIs: Bianchi Méndez and Emilio Nogales.
• PCIN-2017-106: Hybrid materials for Si surface passivation and their applications in batteries. M_era.net, Co-fund. (2017 – 2020) Participants: Insitute for Energy, Kjeller (Noruega), UCM (PI: Ana Cremades), Enwair (Turquía).
• Project to initiate research collaboration with theTechnical University Dresden (TUD) granted by DFG (2019). TUD and UCM (PI: Bianchi Méndez).
• 008-ABEL-CM-2013: Sustainable oxide materials and nano-structures for energy related applications. NILS Program (EAA Grants) (2015 – 2016). Participan UCM (IPs: Ana Cremades and Bianchi Méndez) and Institute for Energy, Kjeller (Noruega).
• Bilateral action Hispano-Portuguesa: Comparative study of different doping processes in semiconductor nanowires (HP-2008- 0071) (2008 – 2009) Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Entidades participantes: UCM (PI: Bianchi Méndez) – ITN Portugal.

Colaborators

• Jaime Dolado, ESRF-Grenoble, member of the research team in PID2021 and TED2021 projects.
• Manuel Alonso-Orts, Univ Bremen, Germany, member of the research team in TED2021 project.
• Gema Martínez-Criado, ICMM-CSIC. Colaboration with the ESRF-Grenoble, FRANCE and member of the research team in RTI2018 and PID2021 projects
• Katharina Lorenz, Instituto Tecnológico Nuclear, PORTUGAL: Ion implantation of rare earth ions and transition metals. Bilateral project. Member of the research team in TED2021 project.
• Ana Sánchez, University de Warwick, UK: TEM y HRTEM of nanostructures, partner in submitted ITN and COST proposals. Host for students secondments.
• Smagul Karazhanov, Insitute for Energy (IFE), Oslo, NORWAY: Materials simulation and applications in solar cells and Li-batteries. Joint projects: NILS (2015), PCIN-2017-106, partner in submitted ITN and COST proposals. Host for students secondments, co-editors of special issues of journals and co-chair of symposia (E-MRS-2019). 
• Neslihan Yuca, Enwair, TURKEY: Aplication in Li-batteries, project PCIN-2017-106.
• M Luisa No, JM Sanjuan, Univ Pais Vasco. Collaboration with FIB experiments.
• Dorcas Torres, Univ. Interamericana, PUERTO RICO: Elongated nanostructures of Cu doped SnO2. Stays of staff and students. Our group is advisor of their research projects. 
• Luca Gregoratti, Sincrotrón Elettra (ITALY): Regular users since more than 10 years to characterize chemical and electronic properties of oxides nanostructures developed in the group. 
• Adriana Herrera, Universidad de Cartagena, COLOMBIA: Synthesis of nanoparticles by green chemistry. Síntesis de nanopartículas mediante química verde. We have been host for their students in short stays. 
• Jose M González Calbet, UCM-Dpto Química Inorgánica, M Luisa No, J M Sanjuan, University Vasque Country: Excellence Research Network granted since 2012.
• Pawel Nanores, POLAND: Recent collaboration, FIB techniques, and partner in submitted ITN and COST proposals. 
• Pooi See Lee, University Singapur: SINGAPUR: Recent collaboration, Colaboración reciente, stay of PhD student in 2019. Research in multifunctional oxides. 
• Rafael Gutierrez, Technical University Dresden (TUD) GERMANY, Theoretical study of electronic properties in wide band gap oxides. Project funded by DFG to initiate research collaboration in 2019. 

Socio-economic impact 

• Patents: Publication in 2016 of PCT from patents P201400759 and P201400722 granted with previous ex. in 2015. Application in 2016 of Patents P201600562 and P20160115.
• Fiberco: following-up of the project results on optical fibers and resonatores, participant in COST proposals.
• IK4 - CIDITEC: following-up of the MAT2015 project. 
• ONYX solar: first contacts in 2018
• Group of Engineering PG S.A. (art.83-2016): Analysis of optical layers. 
• Asing (art.83-2016-2019): Characterization of samples from electrical transformers. 

Dissemination to general public and outreach

• Blogs of Nanotechnology and Women in Science (Fundación Telefónica by art.83-in the period 2016-2017). Currently in the Fundación madrimasd  website: http://www.madrimasd.org/blogs/mujeryciencia/
• Participation in the "Science week" every year. In 2019: The music of science
• Complutense Summer School on "Sustainable functional materials and nanotechnology", 6 - 24 July 2020 (Directors: Bianchi Mendez and Ana Cremades)