Ignasi Burgués-Ceballos, PhD
Common sense, Critical thinking, Cooperation
short bio
Experimental scientist with a strong commitment to Chemistry and Materials Science for energy-related applications. My main research contributions pivot around the development and application of solution-processed organic/hybrid semiconductors for thin film optoelectronic applications, with a special focus on photovoltaics. My areas of work include both fundamental as well as applied studies, spanning from material design and synthesis of advanced materials to device engineering and advanced processing methodologies.
I am a chemist from the IQS School of Engineering (2007) and have been awarded a PhD in chemistry from the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC (2014), and a Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral fellowship (2018). My career has been carried out at 7 different research groups in 4 European countries, including an academic career break in a world-class industrial environment (Merck Group, UK). The rest of my academic experiences have taken place in 2 research institutes (ICMAB-CSIC and ICFO – The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Spain), 3 universities (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya UPC, Spain; Cyprus University of Technology, and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany), and 1 centre of technology (Eurecat, Spain). Currently, I am a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow and lecturer of the Chemical Engineering Department at UPC. I have co-authored >20 peer-reviewed international journal publications, including one paper in Nature Photonics and one in Joule, as well as a variety of significant papers in excellent journals including Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Nano Energy and leading Chemistry journals. I am also co-inventor in 3 patents (Merck Group) and have given >10 invited talks and seminars at international conferences and advanced schools. Currently, I am the principal investigator in two projects of the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación and have participated in 7 European projects.
short CV
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
May 2024 - now
Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) - Spain
Chemical Engineering Department
May 2021 - Apr 2024
Senior Research Scientist
Eurecat, Technology Centre of Catalonia - Spain
Functional Printing and Embedded Devices Unit
Oct 2018 - Apr 2021
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
ICFO, The Institute of Photonic Sciences - Spain
Functional Optoelectronic Nanomaterials; Prof. G. Konstantatos
May 2016 - Jul 2018
Research Scientist II
Merck Group - United Kingdom
Chilworth Technical Centre. Performance Materials, Organic Photovoltaics Fundamentals
Nov 2014 - Apr 2016
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Cyprus University of Technology - Cyprus
Molecular Electronics and Photonics research unit; Prof. S. A. Choulis
May 2014 - Oct 2014
Research Scientist
Eurecat, Technology Centre of Catalonia - Spain
Functional Printing and Embedded Devices Unit
Nov 2012 - Feb 2013
Visiting PhD Student
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) - Germany
Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET); Prof. C. J. Brabec
Mar 2010 - Apr 2014
PhD Student
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) - Spain
Nanostructured Materials for Optoelectronics and Energy Harvesting (Nanopto); Prof. M. Campoy-Quiles
EDUCATION
2014
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Chemistry, cum laude distinction
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) - Spain
Supervisors: Prof. Mariano Campoy-Quiles, Dr. Paul D. Lacharmoise
2010
Master of Science (MSc) in Engineering and Management of Renewable Energies
Universitat de Barcelona (UB) - Spain
IL3-UB
2009
Master of Science (MSc) in Research in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
IQS School of Engineering (Universitat Ramon Llull) - Spain
Thesis: "Synthesis of 2,7,12,17-tetrakis(m-hydroxyphenyl)porphycene and related compounds for photodynamic therapy"
Supervisor: Dr. Santi Nonell
2007
Chemistry degree
IQS School of Engineering (Universitat Ramon Llull) - Spain
funded projects
as Principal Investigator:
12/22-11/25: SYNATRA, Synergistic architectures for next gen agrivoltaics incorporating transparent organic solar modules; Grant ref. PLEC2022-009323; Proyectos en Líneas Estratégicas 2022, Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
12/22-11/24: LEGATO, Laser-assisted digitalisation of organic photovoltaic module production; Grant ref. TED2021-129978A-I00; Proyectos Estratégicos Orientados a la Transición Ecológica y a la Transición Digital 2021, Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
10/18-01/21: Towards high throughput fabrication of solution-processed nanocrystal solar cells with high performance and stability; Grant ref. 2017BP00241; Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR).
as a Researcher in EU projects:
02/24 - 01/28: EIFFEL, EffIcient Fullerene-Free organic solar cELls; (101119780); MSCA; PI: Y. Vaynzof (IFW Dresden).
01/24 - 12/27: Unite!Energy, Doctoral Network in Energy storage; (1011198059; MSCA; PI: J. Llorca (UPC).
04/20-03/23: MADRAS, Advanced Materials and Processing in Organic Electronics; (862492); H2020 NMBP; PI: P. Lacharmoise (Eurecat).
01/16-04/21: SEPOMO, Spins for Efficient Photovoltaic Devices based on Organic Molecules (72651); H2020 MSCA ITN; PI: M. Pchenitchnikov (U. Groningen).
03/14-03/18: StableNextSol, Stable Next-Generation Photovoltaics: Unraveling degradation mechanisms of Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells by complementary characterization techniques (MP1307); MNPS COST ACTION.
11/13–04/17 PLASMAS, Fabrication of ITO-free OLEDs and OPVs based on inkjet printed Cu grids (604568); FP7-NMP-2013-SME-7. PI: E. List-Kratochvil (Humboldt U.)
09/12-08/16 ML2, MultiLayer MicroLab (318088); FP7-ICT-2011-8; PI: C. Baum (Fraunhofer IPT)
Awards/fellowships
2014 – PhD cum laude in Chemistry
2018 – Beatriu de Pinós Postdoctoral Fellowship
2018 - Tenure-eligible lecturer AQU
2021 - I3 Certification, Secretaría General de Universidades (Spain)
2021 – Front cover in Joule
2024 - Ramón y Cajal Fellowship
Peer review
Nature Energy
Joule
Advanced Materials
ACS Energy Letters
Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Applied Physics Letters
APL Materials
Journal of Applied Physics
AIP Advances
Selected publications
“Transparent organic photovoltaics: a strategic niche to advance commercialization”, Joule, 5 (2021) 2261. DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2021.07.004
“Towards photovoltaic windows: scalable fabrication of semitransparent modules based on non-fullerene acceptors via laser-patterning”, J. Mater. Chem. A, 8 (2020) 9882. DOI: 10.1039/D0TA02994G
“High-performing polycarbazole derivatives for efficient solution-processing of organic solar cells in air”, ChemSusChem, 8 (2015) 4209–4215. DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201501128
"Classification of Additives for Organic Photovoltaic Devices", ChemPhysChem 16 (2015), 1275-1280. DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201402734
"Solubility based identification of green solvents for small molecule organic solar cells", Adv. Funct. Mater., 24 (2014) 1449-145. DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201301509
“Embedded inkjet printed silver grids for ITO-free organic solar cells with high fill factor”, Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, 127 (2014) 50-57. DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2014.03.024
"Towards industrialization of polymer solar cells: material processing for upscaling", J. Mater. Chem. A 2 (2014), 17711-17722. DOI: 10.1039/C4TA03780D
Selected publications
“Cation disorder engineering yields AgBiS2 nanocrystals with enhanced optical absorption for efficient ultrathin solar cells”, Nat. Photon. 16 (2022) 235–241. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5733213
"Mixed AgBiS2 nanocrystals for photovoltaics and photodetectors", Nanoscale, 14 (2022) 4987-4993. DOI: 10.1039/D2NR00589A
“Colloidal AgBiS2 nanocrystals with reduced recombination yield 6.4% power conversion efficiency in solution-processed solar cells”, Nano Energy 75, (2020) 104961. DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.104961.
Selected publications
"Up-scalable ITO-free organic light emitting diodes based on embedded inkjet-printed copper grids", Flex. Print. Electron. 4 (2019) 025004. DOI: 10.1088/2058-8585/ab17a5
"Inkjet-printed embedded Ag-PEDOT:PSS electrodes with improved light out coupling effects for highly efficient ITO-free blue polymer light emitting diodes", Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, (2017) 101107. DOI: 10.1063/1.4978429
"High performance indium tin oxide-free solution-processed organic light emitting diodes based on inkjet-printed fine silver grid lines", Flex. Print. Electron. 1 (2016) 035004. DOI: 10.1088/2058-8585/1/3/035004
Selected publications
“Improved Performance and Reliability of p-i-n Perovskite Solar Cells via Doped Metal Oxides”, Adv. Energy Mater., 6 (2016) 1600285. DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201600285.
"The influence of additives in the stoichiometry of hybrid lead halide perovskites", AIP Advances 7 (2017), 115304. DOI: 10.1063/1.5010261