Obradors i Berenguer, Xavier

Revistes Catalanes amb Accés Obert

forumCONTRIBUTIONS to SCIENCE, 4 (2): 239–242 (2008)Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona
ISSN: 1575-6343 
www.cat-science.cat
1.	 Introduction
The Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB) is a 
research centre which depends on the Consejo Superior de 
Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) which was set-up in 1987 
and subsequently, in April 1991 the main building was inau-
gurated on the campus of the Universitat Autònoma de Bar-
celona (UAB) in Bellaterra. In 1998 the surface of the centre 
was increased by adding a new floor to the main building, and 
finally in 2009 it is scheduled that a new clean room facility of 
190 m2, presently under construction, will be fully implement-
ed as a nanostructuring platform (Figure 1(a)). This platform, 
together with three additional services (Electron Microscopy, 
Proximity effect Microscopies and Thin film growth), are the 
heart of the ICMAB Nanotechnology unit (NTU) (Figure 1(b)). 
This Nanotechnology unit will be incorporated as a special fa-
cility to the Scientific and Technological Services (STS) of the 
ICMAB, which were created in 2004. Additionally to the NTU, 
the STS include the following laboratories: X-ray Diffraction, 
Low Temperatures and Magnetometry, Thermal Analysis, 
Molecular Beam Epitaxy and Spectroscopic Techniques. The 
STS have been strongly supporting the research and devel-
opment activities deployed the ICMAB, based on an open ac-
cess structure, for both the researchers of the Institute and 
for external users from academia or industry. Within the Insti-
tute Strategic Plan 2005-2009 it has been a priority to allo-
cate funds and specialized technical personnel to them. They 
must be considered, therefore, as a key infrastructure for the 
success of ICMAB in its mission of creating internationally 
recognized research activity. The strategic decisions con-
cerning the STS are being coordinated with the facilities avail-
able in the Nanocluster of Barcelona at Bellaterra (BNC-b, 
www.bnc-b.net), a cooperative partnership integrated in the 
UAB research park (PRUAB).
The aim of the ICMAB since its creation has been to gener-
ate new knowledge in Materials Science and transfer it to the 
society, particularly to industry. All aspects of materials sci-
ence, from the discovery of new materials to the development 
of new processes of practical interest have been widely culti-
vated during the 20 years of life of the Institute. To accomplish 
these objectives the Institute carries out very diversified re-
search activities, spanning a wide range of scientific and tech-
nological goals, with the mission of being at the forefront of in-
ternational knowledge in this field. 
2.	 Research	activity
The character of the Institute is very interdisciplinary with a 
wide know-how base in several scientific areas including 
Chemistry (Inorganic, Organic, Solid State), Physics (Con-
densed Matter, Applied, Theory) and analytical studies includ-
ing Crystallography, microscopy and spectroscopy. This inter-
disciplinary character must be considered a key aspect for the 
success of the Institute which has made possible that the re-
search at ICMAB covers a broad range of activities, including 
synthesis of new materials, processing and crystallization, 
structural and microstructural studies, characterization of 
physical (magnetic, transport, superconducting, optical) and 
chemical (electrochemical, catalytic) properties, theoretical or 
Nanoscience	and	nanotechnology	at	the	Institute	of	Materials	
Science	of	Barcelona	(ICMAB)*
* Xavier Obradors, Director.	Institut de Ciència de Materials de Bar-
celona (ICMAB-CSIC). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científi-
cas. Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. E-08193 Bel-
laterra, Catalonia, EU. Tel. + 34 935801853. Fax + 34 935805729. 
Website: http://www.icmab.es
Proximity
microscopies service
Physical Thin Film
Growth service
BNC-b
ICMAB
NANOTECHNOLOGY
UNIT
Clean room
Nano-scale charactNANOQUIMLithography
Electron Microscopy
EBL service
NANOESTRUCTURATION PLATFORM
a)
b)
Figure 1. (a) General view of the ICMAB building, as it will be after 
building the Nanstructuration platform in 2009 and (b) general scheme 
of the organization of the Nanotechnology Unit at ICMAB.
133-258 Contributions 4-2.indd   239 24/11/2009   16:27:31
240  Contrib. Sci. 4 (2), 2008 X. Obradors
simulation material studies, and finally, integration of materials 
into devices.
The speciality label of the Institute, however, is functional 
high-performance materials, which are very often the key factor 
for enabling, emerging new technologies in different sectors 
such as Information Science and Electronics, Energy, Environ-
ment and Healthcare.
Since its creation, a distinguishing characteristic of the In-
stitute has been also its willingness to integrate the high per-
formance materials being created into real demonstrators or 
prototypes, very often in collaboration with external engineer-
ing or industrial laboratories. This approach has been always 
very helpful to focus the research activities and to generate 
real technological breakthroughs. It has been also very ap-
pealing to raise industrial interest into the research activities 
being developed in the Institute with the help of the technolo-
gy transfer unit, unique in CSIC institutes. Overall, the Institute 
has a balanced research effort on long term and mid term 
activities.
The research interests of the scientific groups of the institute 
are broad and dynamic: they have been changing with to the 
international advances in Materials Science during the last 20 
years and, at present, a great deal of the scientific interests of 
the ICMAB is related to the field of nanoscience and nanotech-
nology, particularly in nanostructured materials. In Figure 2 we 
show a general scheme integrating the ICMAB´s scientific inter-
ests, with the material groups investigated and the relevant 
materials aspects and methodologies. All together, the know 
how in these areas has become the driving force for further 
development of the scientific disciplines indicated in the outer 
ring and the corresponding applicative areas where the Insti-
tute has influenced progress and innovations.
ICMAB researchers are very active in creating new knowl-
edge in Nanoscience and nanotechnology, new nanostruc-
tured materials and devices with enhanced performances and 
also novel experimental methodologies and theoretical analysis 
and simulation tools. As the most active areas of research to 
date in nanoscience and nanotechnology we can mention the 
following:
•  Methodologies to create isolated functional nanoobjects 
 —  Synthesis of nanoparticles, nanowires, nanotubes, 
nanorods, etc.
 —  Soft-chemical methodologies for inorganic and or-
ganic material preparation
•  Self-assembly and self-organization of nanostructures
 —  Oxide epitaxial nanostructures by chemical solution 
deposition (CSD) and physical vapor deposition (PVD)
 —  Organic molecular and supramolecular materials
 —  Epitaxial semiconductor nanostructures
•  Complex nanostructured materials
 —  Nanocomposite aerogels and ceramics
 —  Hybrid organic-inorganic materials
•  Thin films, multilayers and coatings
 —  Oxides by CSD and PVD
 —  Solution processed materials: organic and hybrid 
materials
 —  Coated textured metallic tapes
•  Structural and nanoscale materials properties characteri-
zation
 —  Crystal structure of materials: synchrotron X-ray and 
neutron diffraction
 —  Surface crystal structures and mesoscopic organiza-
tion
 —  Electron microscopy: atomic and nanoscale struc-
ture, defects and strains
 —  Scanning probe microscopies: nanostructure and 
physical properties
•  Theory and computer simulation of materials and proper-
ties
 —  Electronic structure and physical properties
 —  Nanostructure formation and materials processing
INTEGRATION
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Figure 2. General layout of the present R+D activi-
ties and interests of ICMAB. From the scientific core 
of nanostructured materials and assembling to their 
functionality, scientific disciplines and technological 
application sectors
133-258 Contributions 4-2.indd   240 24/11/2009   16:27:31
Nanoscience and nanotechnology at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB) Contrib. Sci. 4 (2), 2008  241
The materials which are investigated are strongly linked to 
their nanostructure and functionality and hence the focus is in 
searching for improved performances of materials and devices 
at reduced cost to promote its applicability in several techno-
logical sectors (Figure 2). The main technological areas which 
are covered are the following:
•  Materials for energy and environment
 —  Superconducting materials and systems
 —  Materials for energy storage: batteries, supercapac-
itors
 —  Hydrogen vector materials: fuel cells, H generation 
and storage
 —  Organic based devices: OLEDS, photovoltaic cells
 —  Chemical sensors and catalytic materials
•  Materials for electronics
 —  Oxide magnetoelectronics and devices
 —  Organic electronics materials and devices
 —  Nanomagnetic materials and devices
 —  Optoelectronic semiconducting materials
•  Materials for healthcare
 —  Electroactive and drug delivery materials
 —  Biosensors and materials for diagnosis and tissue en-
gineering
In summary, the type of materials which are being investi-
gated cover from ceramics and molecular compounds (inor-
ganic and organic) to hybrid materials, and most of them are 
fabricated in different shapes and dimensions: nanoparticles, 
thin films, single crystals, bulk materials, etc. The achievement 
of controlled nanostructures is a key issue to achieve enhanced 
performances and, hence, a big effort is devoted to correlate 
the observed nanostructures with processing issues and the 
achieved properties. The investigated properties are also very 
broad, but with special focus on magnetic, superconducting, 
electronic and optical properties. Finally, theoretical analysis of 
materials and processes have become invaluable support tools 
to achieve in depth understanding of the properties and to ad-
vance in the materials preparation and processing. Figure 3 
displays a few examples of nanostructured materials recently 
developed in the ICMAB.
It’s also worth to emphasize that final use of materials re-
quire integration into devices or systems and for this purpose IC-
MAB researchers strongly cooperative with polytechnical univer-
sities, technological centers, hospitals or industrial companies.
Figure 3b. Confocal microscope image of a self-assembled monolayer 
of a polychlorotriphenylmethyl organic radical patterned on a quartz 
surface. This multifunctional molecule behaves as an electroactive 
switch with optical and magnetic response.
Figure 3a. AFM image of CeO2 nanostructures grown on a LaAlO3 
substrate by chemical solution deposition.
Figure 3c. AFM image of carbon-induced self-assembled Ge quantum 
dots grown on Si(001) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
133-258 Contributions 4-2.indd   241 24/11/2009   16:27:32
242  Contrib. Sci. 4 (2), 2008 X. Obradors
3	 Indicators
At the end of 2007 the ICMAB was composed of 44 perma-
nent scientific staff, 38 contracted post-doc, 68 pre-doc (40% 
of them non-Spanish citizens) and a total of 45 permanent or 
contracted technical and administrative staff, leading to a total 
of about 200 people.
The staff personnel is distributed at present in 9 Depart-
ments, the Scientific and Technological Services and one gen-
eral service organization including management, library, Tech-
nology transfer unit, informatics and maintenance. The names 
of the Departments are the following:
•  Molecular and Supramolecular Materials
•  Materials Simulation and Theory
•  Crystallography
•  Solid State Chemistry
•  Magnetic Materials and Functional Oxides
•  Superconducting Materials and large scale nanostructu-
ration
•  Optical and Surface Properties of Nanostructured Mate-
rials
•  Molecular Nanoscience and Organic Materials
The research activities are nearly exclusively developed in 
the scope of competitive research projects funded by public 
institutions (CICYT, European Union, Generalitat de Catalunya, 
CSIC) or funded through industrial research projects. 
The annual budget of the ICMAB approaches 9 M€ at 
present and from this, about 55 % corresponds to salaries and 
about 35 % were obtained in competitive funds (public and pri-
vate).
The leadership of ICMAB researchers has been recognized 
with the allowance of several honours such as the National 
Physics and Materials Prize, Novare Prize from Endesa, Du-
Pont Prize, Duran Farell Prize from Gas Natural, the “Esteban 
Terreros” Prize from FECYT and Spanish Royal Society of 
Chemistry Prizes.
The personnel of ICMAB publishes at present more than 
200 articles included in ISI per year.
 
 
20 nm 
Figure 3d. TEM micrograph of stabilized g-Fe2O3 nanoparticles.
133-258 Contributions 4-2.indd   242 24/11/2009   16:27:32


Nanoscience and nanotechnology at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB)

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