I am currently a Ramon y Cajal group leader at CSIC-ICMM working on time-resolved X-ray absorption in biological and chemical catalysis . I received my Ph.D from Purdue University, U.S.A, (2008-2013). After my thesis, I worked in 3 world-wide leading centres for artificial photosynthesis, and X-ray spectroscopy applied to photocatalytic complexes at Argonne National Laboratory, U.S.A (ANL, 2013-2016), Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ, 2017), and at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI-CEC, 2017-2018) as an Alexander Von Humboldt fellow.
During my career, I worked in a range of research areas in the development and application of synchrotron-based X-ray spectroscopies as probes of electronic and geometric structure in chemical catalysis for energy applications. I am interested in novel spectroscopic methods enabling the characterization of catalytic intermediates in solar fuel catalysts, and providing insights into metal oxidation, spins, and structural configurations. I have 32 peer-reviewed articles, including 10 JACS, 1 PNAS, 1 Angew.Chem, 1 Nat.Commun, 1 Adv.Energy.Mater. 1 IScience, 1 Nat.Chem, and 1 Optica journals. Among these works, I was corresponding author in 10 journals, published 10 articles during my group leader position, and has led the first ultrafast X-ray spectroscopy study on a cobalt catalyst down to the picosecond (10-12 s) time resolution. This work revealed a complete mechanistic pathway followed by a hydrogen-evolving catalyst with spectroscopic characterization of the intermediates towards H-H bond formation step (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138). The learning for these studies led us to investigate water oxidation photosynthetic complexes enabling the publication of a Nature Chemistry (Nat.Chem, 2020,12, 1060), where the role of X-ray spectroscopy by my group was disseminated on the front page of ICIQ news, MPI Institute for Eisenforschung, and ALBA.
- 01/2022- Present : Ramon y Cajal Group Leader, IMDEA Nanoscience Institute, Madrid, Spain
- 07/2018- 12/2021 :Severo Ochoa Group Leader, IMDEA Nanoscience Institute, Madrid, Spain
- 10/2017 - 07/2018: Alexander Humboldt fellow, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion, Mulheim, Germany
- 01/2017 - 09/2017: Postdoctoral Appointee, Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia, Tarragona, Spain.
- 09/2013 - 09/2016: Postdoctoral Appointee, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, U.S.A.
- 08/2008- 09/2013: Ph.D, Purdue University, Indiana, U.S.A
- Ayudante de Investigacion Grant through the Communidad de Madrid (2020-2022) Project Title: Development and Application of Advanced Spectroscopic Tools for the Design of Artificial Photosynthetic and Methane Oxidizing Complexes
Role: Principle Investigator
Reference: PEJ-2019-AI/AMB-13038 - Acciones de Dinamizacion "Europa Investigacion" Grant (2020) Project Title: Designing Rational Schemes for Solar Fuel and Methane Oxidizing Catalysts
Role: Principle Investigator
Reference: EIN2019-103399 - Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades Grant (2020-2022) Project Title: Understanding the Electronic and Atomic Requirements in Earth-Abundant Catalytic Water Splitting Reactions
Role: Principle Investigator
Reference: PID2019-111086RA-I00 - Ramon y Cajal Fellowship in Inorganic Chemistry and Spectroscopy (2022-2026)
Role : Principle Investigator
Reference: RYC2020-029863-I
