Top Science Results

Bacterial nanocellulose is an emergent biocompatible natural polymer with increasing applicability in the healthcare sector. A potential innovative application can be found in the design of surgical meshes for the treatment of abdominal hernias. Researchers from ICMAB-CSIC and B. Braun Surgical, a leading manufacturer of medical devices for wound closure, have collaborated to develop a bio-based surgical mesh with this biomaterial. First results from an in vivo animal study yield promising outcomes.

Researchers Rosario Nuñez and Gerard Tobias: “The therapeutic approach proposed here has the potential to be the basis of a more efficient, less aggressive and less toxic cancer treatment.”

The study of metal-insulator transitions in VO₂ through atomic scale imaging has allowed to uncover a periodical tweed structure: a weaving of vanadium dimers acting like the threads of an actual tweed at the atomic level. This research, led by ICMAB researcher Felip Sandiumenge and ICN2 and ICREA researcher Gustau Catalan, and published in Advanced Materials, provides relevant information for the understanding of transitional states in specific classes of materials.

ICMAB researchers from the LMI group have collaborated in a study to design minimalist biostructures that imitate natural enzymes, capable of carrying out two differentiated and reversibly regulated activities thanks to a unique combination of structural and functional properties. The strategy used opens the door to the creation of “intelligent” nanomaterials with tailor-made combinations of catalytic functions.

The journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces published the cover of the article "Combinatorial Screening of Cuprate Superconductors by Drop-On-Demand Inkjet Printing".

The production, preparation, and use of bacterial nanocellulose as corneal bandages could be the key to help delicate stem cells to migrate to the cornea and heal the eye from a range of ocular disorders.

In this study, researchers have demonstrated that by feeding machine-learning algorithms with high-throughput experimental datasets, it is possible to retrieve predictive models for the performance of organic solar cells.

Researchers have used a combination of cerium oxide nanoparticles and manganese metal organic precursor in the laser targets for the synthesis of a hybrid material. The used laser deposition technique allowed the versatile fabrication of high-performance supercapacitor electrodes.

Collaboration is a key part of research. Whether it be collaboration with similar researchers with different skill sets or perspectives, or collaboration with researchers in others fields for an interdisciplinary approach, joining efforts with other institutions is a solid way to improve ICMAB’s work. Here are the institutions that have collaborated more with ICMAB in 2020:

International research partnerships are a key factor to improve our collective knowledge. Not only does it allow everybody to share access to different scientific installations and techniques, it also gives research a more diverse viewpoint that ensures every possibility is considered. These are the countries that ICMAB has collaborated more with during 2020:

Scientific dissemination is clearly dependent on journals to help spread the word about research done all around the world. Many specialized journals, in fields like materials science or nanotechnology, have helped ICMAB Researchers get eyes on their research. These are the journals that have shared more of our research in 2020:

The Clarivate journal Impact Factor metric system gives a yearly numeric indicator of how much has an article been cited and how much impact has it had. This year, ICMAB’s average IF has been at 7.42, with an 18 % of all publications having an IF higher than 10. These are the ICMAB articles that have had a higher IF during 2020:

Citation is one of the key factors to understand the effect an article has had on a particular field. This year, ICMAB Researchers have published articles across many fields, like energy storage, thermoelectrics, or nanomedicine. From all this research, two of ICMAB’s articles have become highly cited pieces. Do you want to know which articles have been the most cited this year?

More than 216 articles have been published this year by the many researchers that form ICMAB. Some researchers have been able to publish multiple articles in the same year. These are the researchers that have published most articles during 2020 (Source: Web of Science-Core collection, as of 14/12/2020):

The rapid characterization of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has allowed researchers at the Soft Matter Theory Group to learn more about how it interacts with surfaces through extremely precise simulations. The results have been published in the scientific journal Biointephases.

"Our colleagues at ICN2 studied a range of ferroelectrics using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and discovered that 180-degree domain walls – regions separating ferroelectric domains with opposite polarization – are mechanically softer than the surrounding material" says Konstantin Shapovalov, ICMAB researcher and co-author of the now published article in Physical Review X Mechanical Softness of Ferroelectric $180°$ Domain Walls, in which he contributed with the theoretical interpretation of this unexpected phenomenon. 

A joint collaboration between the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB) and The University of Manchester has succeeded in mapping the electrical properties of organic biosensor/electrolyte interfaces at the nanoscale by measuring local electric forces. Electronic biosensorsbased on organic materials could make soon a reality the dream of low-cost, disposable, flexible and biocompatible electronic devices for the interaction with biological systems.

Research on room temperature superconducting materials has been one of the biggest challenges of condensed matter physics in the last century. Let's see how we started and where are we now, after the recent results obtained by researchers at the University at Rochester and published in Nature. 

The first article of the joint project between ICMAB and MIT in the framework of the collaborative project MIT-SPAIN "la Caixa" Foundation SEED FUND is now published in Physical Review Materials. The project is focused on the investigation of new materials for photovoltaic applications. Ignasi Fina is the ICMAB researcher involved in the study. 

A study published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science has combined experimental and theoretical approaches to study the passivation layers formed on calcium metal electrodes and their influence on the reversible operation of calcium-based batteries. The work is led by researchers from the ICMAB-CSIC, who have collaborated with the ALBA Synchrotron (MIRAS beamline) as well as with other international laboratories and universities. 

The treatment and cure of all kinds of cancer is still one of the key issues science has to face. On the occasion of the World Cancer Research Day, we want to highlight the ways in which ICMAB Researchers are currently working to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this illness.

A route to control the conductivity in the functional oxide Er(Mn,Ti)O₃ through the use of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) could allow for an improvement of conductivity that is not detrimental to other materials’ properties like magnetism or multiferroicity, as demonstrated in a new Nature Materials article that counts with the collaboration of ICMAB Researcher Konstantin Shapovalov from the Electronic Structure of Materials (LEEM) Group.

ICMAB and ICREA researcher, Alejandro Goñi, from the NANOPTO group, is author of an article in the News & Views section in Nature Materials, in which he was asked to review one publication from Laura Herz and co-workers from the University of Oxford, published in Nature Materials about hybrid halide pervoskites and some of their fascinating properties. 

The journal Materials Horizons (RSC) includes in its last "Emerging Investigator Series" collection, an interview to ICMAB researcher Ignasi Fina, for his recent publication "Local manipulation of metamagnetism by strain nanopatterning". 

The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has defined new recommendations for the nomenclature of boranes and other related species, a field in constant change, in order to include the great diversity of new specialized composites that have appeared since the last time a standard was instituted.

The CSIC Annual Report 2019 showcases the current state of the 120 research centers that are part of the council. The 2019 edition of this publication shares some of the top research done through the year, including some of the work being done at ICMAB.

A recent publication in Nature Nanotechnology in which Massimiliano Stengel, ICREA scientist, and Konstantin Shapovalov, postdoctoral researcher at ICMAB, participated, show how Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM) is an effective tool to visualize and characterize moiré patterns in a wide range of twisted bilayer systems including twisted bilayer graphene. The publication is a collaboration between researchers from Columbia University in USA, the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan, Nanjing University in China, Stony Brook University in USA, the Flatiron Institute in USA and the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona.

A new publication in Scientific Reports by researchers of the Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group at the ICMAB, the ALBA Synchrotron, the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and CERN, has studied the surface resistance and vortex properties of seven superconducting coated conductors at microwave frequencies, high magnetic fields and low temperatures (mimicking the expected conditions of the Future Circular Collider at CERN) to study how they respond.

Low-gradient magnetic separation (LGMS) is a complex phenomena with a behaviour so contradictory with classic magnetophoresis models that it was considered to be almost paradoxical. An Editor’s Choice feature article at the Langmuir journal, co-authored by ICMAB Researcher Jordi Faraudo, proposes a unified theoretical framework to understand and control this helpful separation technique.

Scientists have managed to draw at high resolution and speed, local patterns in organic semiconductor films used in optoelectronic and photonic applications. The new method enables the patterning of material characteristics and concomitant final properties, including molecular conformation, orientation, crystallinity and composition. The technique, published with open access in Nature Communications, has also been patented and industrial partners are sought for further co-development.

Metamaterials have revolutionized the field of photonics because of their exotic optical properties absent in natural materials. Made from the arrangement of subwavelength units, the properties of metamaterials do not derive from their chemical composition but rather from their physical structure. Therefore, properly designing the geometry, size and media involved in a metamaterial, it is possible to engineer the overall electromagnetic response beyond the conventional behaviors. 

The SIESTA methodology and program, first described in 2002, is a simulation paradigm that has allowed for extensive and precise theoretical research in the properties of materials based on first principle electronic-structure methods. Almost two decades later, a new publication details the improvements made to the paradigm and how this new tools can be applied.

ICMAB Researcher Riccardo Rurali, from the Materials Simulation and Theory (MST) group, has found two of his theoretical predictions to be confirmed through experimental approaches, regarding the use of hexagonal SiGe alloys for optoelectronic applications and the use of domain walls as switches for phononic devices.

Researchers from the Nanomol group at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), the CIBER-BBN network and the ICTS Nanbiosis U6, and members of the TECNIO technology transfer network ACCIÓ-Generalitat de Catalunya, together with the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT, USA) and the University of Parma (UNIPR, Italy) have developed a new nanomaterial for bioimaging. The results of the study are the result of the TECNIOspring PLUS project co-financed by ACCIÓ and the European Commission.