Oumaima y Ricardo Jiménez en su laboratorio

Postdoctoral researcher Oumaima Amdouni is visiting the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC) to work on electrolytes for solid-state batteries. Her stay is part of an I-coop project of the CSIC with the University of Carthage in Bizerta, Tunisia.

"With this project, we aim to study the effect of heterovalent cationic substitution on the crystalline structure, lithium concentration, and the dimensionality of the conduction pathway in Li-NASICON solid electrolyte ceramics," explains Ricardo Jiménez-Riobóo, a CSIC researcher at the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid and leader of the cooperation project, in which ICMM-CSIC researchers Isabel Sobrados and Virginia Díez also participate.

With this visit, Amdouni has now completed three stays at the ICMM, which has been essential to her training as a PhD: the first time she stayed for one year, then three months, and on this occasion, the visit is limited to one month. The trips were made possible first through Tunisian funding and later through CSIC cooperation projects with this Tunisian university. "We began our relationship with the University of Carthage more than two decades ago," says Jiménez.

The researcher's work is focused on solid lithium-ion electrolytes for application in solid-state batteries. "In Tunisia I have already developed half of the work; here I come for the other half," explains the scientist, who defended her thesis a few months ago.

Thus, she has developed her ceramics at her university and now comes to Spain to characterize them using the techniques available in the ICMM-CSIC laboratories.

"Here we subject the ceramics to different treatments to characterize their properties," continues Amdouni. The goal is to advance the knowledge of ceramic solid electrolytes in order to achieve new batteries that are safer, more stable, and also offer improved performance.

Monday, September 7, 2026 - 12:29