Prof. Vladimir Fal’ko is condensed matter theorist responsible for several advances in the theory of electronic and optical properties of atomically thin two-dimensional crystals and fundamentals of nanoelectronics. His current research interests include graphene-based electronic and optoelectronic systems and electronic and optical properties of various atomically thin two-dimensional crystals and their heterostructures. He is one of the initiators of the European Graphene Flagship Project, founder of Graphene Week Conference series and Editor-in-Chief of the IoP Journal ‘2D Materials’. Falko is currently Director of the National Graphene Institute and Professor of Condensed Matter Theory at the University of Manchester.
Dr. Raul Arenal received his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Univ. Paris-Sud (Orsay, France, 2005) and in 2013, he obtained his Habilitation (HDR) also at this University (now, Paris-Saclay University). He joined the Electron Microscopy Center in Argonne National Lab. (ANL, USA) as post doctoral fellow. In 2007, he became research scientist (Chargé de Recherches) at the CNRS (France; LEM, ONERA-CNRS). From 2010 to 2011, he was visiting scientist (sabbatical position) at the Laboratorio de Microscopias Avanzadas (LMA) at the Instituto de Nanociencia de Aragon (INA) of the Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). Since 2012, Dr. Arenal is on leave from the CNRS, and he is currently ARAID senior research scientist at the LMA, INMA, CSIC-U. Zaragoza. Since 2018, he is the Director of the TEM area of the LMA-INA. Dr. Arenal has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals (http://www.raularenal.com) and edited one book (Springer).
Arenal’s broad area of research interest lies in electron microscopy focused on materials science and nanoscience: TEM (EELS, HR(S)TEM, electron diffraction, electron tomography). These studies are mainly focused on the growth mechanism, structural and physical properties of low dimensional materials based on carbon, boron and nitrogen as well as other nano-structures (in particular, metallic nano-objects for plasmonic/photonic interest). Among his scientific activities, Dr. Arenal is the chair of the HeteroNanoCarb conference series (http://heteronanocarb.org) focused on graphene, NT and related 1D-2D nanomaterials
Emilio M. Pérez obtained his BSc (2000) and MSc (2001) in Chemistry from the Universidad de Salamanca. He then joined the group of Prof. David A. Leigh at the University of Edinburgh (UK) where he obtained his PhD in 2005. He joined the group of Prof. Nazario Martín at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid as a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellow in 2005. In December 2008 he joined IMDEA Nanociencia as a Ramón y Cajal researcher. In 2013 he was promoted to Senior Researcher, and since December 2015 he is also Executive Director for Scientific Outreach.
Dr. Pérez has received several awards, including the 2006 IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists, the 2009 RSEQ-Sigma-Aldrich Award for Novel Researchers, and the 2013 Miguel Catalán Award for Scientists <40 yeras old.
Dr. Emilio M. Pérez was awarded the prestigious ERC Starting Grant support for research with the project "MINT" (Mechanically Interlocked Carbon Nanotubes) and in 2018 he has been awarded a ‘Proof of Concept’ grant for his project entitled "PINT" (Ultrastrong Composites through Polymers Interlocked with carbon NanoTubes).
The group has varied interests in the chemistry of low dimensional materials. In particular we are active in: 1) Novel methods for the chemical modification of carbon nanotubes: We have developed methods for the synthesis of rotaxane-type derivatives of SWNTs, the first example of mechanically interlocked derivatives of SWNTs (MINTs, see Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 12681 for a review). MINTs show fundamentally different properties from other types of SWNT derivatives, which might have implications in the reinforcement of polymers (ACS Nano 2016, 10, 8012), catalysis (Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 2671), and sensing. 2) Chemistry of 2D materials: We are developing improved methods for production of ultrathin 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures through liquid phase exfoliation from their bulk sources (Nat. Commun. 2017, 8, 14409). From these suspensions, we build functioning (opto)electronic devices using dielecrophoresis (Nanoscale 2018, 10, 7966). Finally, we are interested in fundamental problems in the chemistry of 2D materials, such as chemoselectivity (Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 355). 3) Fundamental principles of supramolecular chemistry: Lastly, we are very interested in measuring and understanding noncovalent forces, which underlie all the results of the previous two lines. For example, we have developed a method for the determination of association constants of small molecules towards SWNTs and unveiled the different contributions to the stability of the complexes (Chem. Sci., 2015, 6, 7008-7014 and Chem. Eur. J. 2017, 23, 12909-12916). Optical tweezers (OT) are one of the most successful single-molecule force spectroscopy techniques, to the point of Arthur Ashkin being awarded with the Nobel Prize for Physics 2018, for their use to study biophyisics. In these two papers, we use OT to study synthetic supramolecular systems for the first time (Chem. Sci. 2017, 8, 6037-6041 and Nat. Commun. 2018, 9, 4512).
Dr. Andres Castellanos-Gomez is a Research Professor in the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC). He explores novel 2D materials and studies their mechanical, electrical and optical properties with special interest on the application of these materials in nanomechanical and optoelectronic devices. Among other recognitions has received in 2022 the Felisa Martín-Bravo National Research Award for young researchers and the Miguel Catalán Research Award (under 40 years category) from the Community of Madrid. He received the Young Innovator Award from Nano Research journal in 2021. In 2020, he was selected as one of the Emerging Leaders by the Journal of Physics: Materials. In 2018, Chemical Society Reviews named him one of the Emerging Investigators. He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate and ISI Web of Science from 2018 to 2023. In 2017, he was selected as one of MIT Technology Review's 10 Spanish Talents. He received the Royal Spanish Society of Physics Novel Researcher in Experimental Physics Award in 2016. Lastly, he received the Joseph Wang Award in 2014 from the Cognizure Publishing Group.