Ignacio Urgel holds a MSc in chemistry from Universidad de Alcalá de Henares (UAH) and a MSc in material engineering from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). In 2016, he completed his PhD at the Technical University of Munich (TUM, Germany). Afterwards, he joined to the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology (EMPA, Switzerland) as a postdoctoral researcher for 3.5 years, where he became an expert in on-surface chemistry. In October 2019, he joined the Nanoarchitectonics on Surfaces group at IMDEA Nanociencia (Spain) as a researcher after obtaining several scholarships: Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (MSCA-IF), Comunidad de Madrid (CAM) Fellowship for young talents (declined after the first year in favor of the MSCA-IF) and the Juan de la Cierva incorporación Fellowship (JdCI) granted by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (declined in favor of the CAM). His technical skills are related to several ultra-high vacuum (UHV) surface science techniques such as low-temperature scanning probe microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS, nc-AFM) and photoelectron spectroscopy (including experience in synchrotron facilities).
Ignacio Urgel's main research interest at IMDEA Nanociencia is dedicated to the on-surface synthesis of atomically precise synthetic carbon-based nanostructures (SCNs). More specifically, he investigates novel nanographenes (NGs) and covalently linked organic polymers (CPs), with prospects in organic electronics. The fabrication and characterization of such SCNs on surfaces, often hampered under conventional solution chemistry due to their low solubility and high reactivity, provide a novel route to study their unique structural, electronic and magnetic properties, enabling completely new functionalities. The final goal of his research topic is the fabrication of prototype field effect transistors based on CPs, which will suppose a great achievement by introducing NG/CP-FETs to the next-generation of flexible organic electronics. Along the way, he will profoundly study the chemical stability and the transfer of such SCNs from the necessary metallic substrate to a technologically relevant one.
