solar energy - optoelectronics - spectroscopy - semiconductors - nanomaterials

Jorge Serrano Gutiérrez

AREA RESEARCH GROUP
Condensed Matter Physics GdS-OPTRONLAB
My research career

My research career began with a collaboration grant at the University of Valladolid, within the Department of Atomic Physics, where I undertook the study of III-V optoelectronic materials and their phase transitions by means of ab-initio simulations with Prof. Ángel Rubio.

After graduating in Physics, I decided to do a PhD in Raman Spectroscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, with Prof. Manuel Cardona.  There I specialised in semiconductor spectroscopy and trained in synchrotron radiation techniques.

After a short postdoc at the Ecole Polytechnique-CNRS in Paris, I spent a postdoctoral stay at the ESRF, Grenoble, investigating the vibrational properties of semiconductors used in optoelectronics using X-rays.  During this period I combined experimental study with first-principles simulations of both the structure and lattice dynamics of the materials I was investigating.

In 2008 I returned to Spain where I became an ICREA researcher at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. There I was researching glassy metallic alloys and discovered a passion for solving transdisciplinary questions and technological and social applications.  I started research on both solar cells and cultural heritage materials.

My next assignment was at Yachay Tech University in Ecuador as an occasional professor (1 year) and later as an associate professor (tenure-track) (1 year), where I contributed to the creation of the School of Physical Sciences and Nanotechnology, doing research mainly on pigments in pre-Columbian ceramics.

In October 2020 I joined my current position as senior distinguished researcher at the University of Valladolid, where I am part of the OPTRONLAB team, leading a research line in characterisation of advanced materials for optoelectronics and solar cells.

My research

I study advanced materials with potential for the development of technological applications in various areas, including photovoltaic cells, optoelectronic devices and sensors.   In many cases these materials are semiconductors and in some cases the properties they possess are due to their low dimensionality, nanometre size.

I also devote part of my time to transdisciplinary research, between history and materials science, through the characterisation of cultural heritage materials, and between physics and neuroscience, as an associate editor of Scientific Reports.

I am interested in the development of new devices for photovoltaics based both on new materials, such as hybrid perovskites, and on nanowire combinations of III-V materials with Si and Si/Ge substrates.  In this context, we contribute to the development with different optical characterisation methods such as photo-, electro- and cathode-luminescence, and Raman spectroscopy, as well as electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) and synchrotron radiation techniques (IXS, XRD, among others).

My vision is to contribute significantly to the development of a new generation of optoelectronic devices, to the promotion of renewable energies, and to the connection between sciences and humanities through transdisciplinary research.