Every month, we welcome new members of the IMDEA Materials team. Here, you can find a short profile of our most recent additions, including their upcoming role with IMDEA Materials and their educational and professional background.

My name is Juan Guillermo Santos Macías. I am from Spain. I obtained my engineering degree from the Carlos III University in Madrid before carrying out my master thesis at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium). I got my Ph.D. in engineering and technology sciences from Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) with a thesis entitled ‘Laser powder bed fusion AlSi10Mg damage and fatigue resistance improvement by post-processing’.

I did my postdoc at Ecole Polytechnique (France), where I had the opportunity to continue working in the field of metal additive manufacturing (AM), mainly on a novel coupling between a continuous wave laser and an environmental scanning electron microscope, but also on synchrotron experiments.

At IMDEA Materials, I have started working on a project that aims to achieve production of AM alloys that are difficult to manufacture. We intend to do this by process parameter optimisation and alloy development among other techniques.

I hope to be able to put my experience in microstructure-mechanical properties relationship, metal AM, tomography and calphad to good use in my work, and to foster fruitful and enriching collaborations with the other researchers at IMDEA Materials.

Outside of work, I also like metal (the music). I like reading, the beach, swimming, calisthenics, martial arts.

I am Dr. Zahid Ali Zafar, a Pakistani-born researcher who boasts a diverse academic background with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Charles University in Prague, Czechia, an MSc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Jinan in China (as a recipient of the Chinese Government Scholarship), and a BSc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Gujrat, Pakistan.

I have joined the Multifunctional Nanocomposites Group at IMDEA Materials as a Research Associate where I will be developing “Nanostructured Si-based anodes for high-performance, high-energy 3b/4a Li-ion batteries”. Before my current role at IMDEA Materials, I was a Doctoral Researcher at the FZU-Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy for Sciences.

My work was pivotal in establishing a cutting-edge battery research lab at FZU and my research focuses on understanding electrolyte-electrode interfaces for metal-ion and dual-ion batteries using advanced spectroscopic and diffraction techniques.

I hold two EU patents, one already granted, and have published in prestigious journals such as RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Carbon, ACS Nano, and Electrochimica Acta. 

Outside of work, I enjoy quality family time, nature walks, and watching documentaries spanning various scientific and societal topics.

My name is Marta María Hidalgo and I am from Madrid. I graduated in Materials Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid and I also studied a master’s degree in Evaluation, Inspection and Quality Control of Materials through non-destructive testing.

I started my career at IMDEA Materials as a laboratory technician, with the desire to grow professionally.

Outside of work, I enjoy dancing and cooking, as well as spending time with my friends, going to the mountains or taking care of an urban garden.

My name is Franck Lopes Ferreira, and I am from Pau, France. I graduated in Physics and Chemistry from the University of Pau, then I pursued a Master’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Poitiers.

During my master’s studies I had the opportunity to do two internships, one at Charles University, Prague, and the other at INSA-Toulouse. Those experiences led me to develop a strong appeal for research in nanomaterials, which led me in turn to begin my journey at IMDEA Materials in October, 2023. At IMDEA Materials, I will complete my Ph.D. in Inorganic Nanowires synthesis by Floating Catalyst Chemical Vapor Deposition (FCCVD).

In my free time you can find me exploring new places, spending time with friends and socialising but also playing sports and enjoying a broad range of arts.

My name is Yunhuan Liu, and I am from China. I received my master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2022 from Central South University, China.

My research interest is heat-resistance and flame-retardant materials. I am pleased to join IMDEA Materials Institute.

I enjoy spending time with friends, traveling, and cooking.

Profile to come.

Profile to come.