Research Division Dr. Sixto Giménez

The main activity of this Research Division focuses on the design, synthesis and understanding of different materials for application in devices for the production of solar fuels. Particularly, the team is involved in the study of novel semiconductor and catalytic materials for the photoelectrochemical production of Hydrogen from water splitting, and complex hydrocarbons from CO2 reduction. We are involved in different projects related to the synthesis and characterization of nanostructured materials and complex device architectures based on earth-abundant materials and low-cost synthetic techniques, for industrial relevance. We aim at the understanding of the functional performance of these materials and devices based on the deep analysis of the physico-chemical mechanisms responsible for the device operation. For this purpose, we combine different advanced structural, optical and electrical characterization techniques. Our main objective is revisiting the way that energy is provided.

Short biography of Dr. Giménez

Sixto Giménez (M. Sc. Physics 1996, Ph. D. Physics 2002) is Associate Professor at Universitat Jaume I de Castelló (Spain). His professional career has been focused on the relationship among processing, structure and properties of structural and functional materials. During his PhD thesis at the University of Navarra, he studied the relationship between processing of metallic and ceramic powders, their sintering behavior and mechanical properties. He took a Post-Doc position at the Katholiek Universiteit Leuven (2003-2006) where he focused on the development of non-destructive and in-situ characterization techniques of the sintering behavior of metallic porous materials. In 2006-2007, he was responsible for a new research line on nanostructured particulated materials for magnetic applications at CEIT (Spain). In January 2008, he joined the University Jaume I as a Ramon y Cajal fellow, where he has been involved in the development of new concepts for photovoltaic and photoelectrochemical devices based on nanoscaled materials, particularly studying the optoelectronic and electrochemical responses of the devices. He has co-authored more than 70 scientific papers in international journals and has received more than 3100 citations. He has recently edited a reference book on photoelectrochemical solar fuels production. His current h-index is 26.

At present he is mainly interested in the development of novel materials and devices for the photoelectrochemical production of solar fuels. Particularly, he is involved in the study of metal oxides, organic semiconductors and earth-abundant catalysts for water oxidation and CO2 reduction.