Dr. Molina is a world-renowned expert in micromechanical and nanomechanical testing, having pioneered the implementation of these tests under extreme conditions (high temperatures) and/or in situ within electron microscopes. He has applied these techniques to understand the relationships between processing, microstructure, and properties across a wide range of structural materials, including composites, lightweight metal alloys, high-temperature metal alloys, intermetallics, nanomaterials, hard coatings, and, more recently, metal alloys produced by additive manufacturing for applications in energy, transport, and biomedicine.

Some of his main contributions in this field include the understanding of deformation mechanisms, the implementation of high-throughput characterisation techniques, and the development of experimental strategies that feed multiscale, microstructure-based models of material behaviour, thus enabling virtual testing strategies within the framework of Computational Materials Engineering.

In 2020, he redirected part of his research activities towards the development of metamaterials and smart materials through additive manufacturing for biomedical applications, including devices based on Ti, Mg, Zn, and TiNi. Examples of this research line include the additive manufacturing of biodegradable metallic scaffolds with shape-changing capabilities for tissue engineering and the development of a new generation of smart, personalised stents for cardiovascular applications.