People
Permanent Staff
 Pilar Tiemblo Magro Research Scientist Pilar Tiemblo is since 2004 Tenured Scientist at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology, ICTP, belonging to the CSIC, Spanish National Research Council. She has published over 100 Research Papers, and coordinated numerous Research Projects, National and European Projects and Industrial Contracts. The role and control of surfaces and interfaces are among her major interests. In the last decade her research has been mainly devoted to the design and development of tailored polymer-based materials with specific properties, where nanofillers functionalized at HEMPOL play a major role in imparting target functionalities. Current topics are solid extrudable polymer electrolytes and superhydrophobic polymer nanocomposites. |
 Aránzazu Martínez Gómez Responsable Laboratorio de Síntesis Aránzazu Martínez Gómez studied Chemistry at the University of Alcalá and received her Ph.D. (2003) working at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC) under the direction of Dr. Antonio Bello and Dr. Ernesto Pérez. The topic of her Thesis was “Poliésteres y polioxetanos termotrópicos. Síntesis, propiedades térmicas, mecánicas y fenómenos de orientación”. From 2005 to 2008 she worked as a post-doc (Juan de Cierva post-doctoral position) in the ETS Industrial Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (ETSSI-UPM). The research was supervised by Dra. Cristina Álvarez and was mainly focused on the preparation of blends and nanocomposites based on polyolefinic matrices. Then, she returned to the ICTP and worked on the synthesis and characterization of new homopolymers and copolymers with liquid crystalline properties in the group of Dra. Mª Luisa Cerrada. In 2010, she joined the Polycondensation and Polymer Membranes group, working in the preparation of new condensation polymers with applications as semipermeable membranes for water purification and gas separation. In 2013-2014 she has worked under the supervision of Dr. Ernesto Pérez on the preparation of smectic liquid crystalline networks with shape memory behaviour. From 2022, she is the responsible of the ICTP´s Synthesis and Processing Laboratory. |
 Nuria García García Tenured scientist Nuria García is a researcher from the CSIC since 2009 and works at the Physical Chemistry Department of the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC). Her research activities are focused mainly on the surface modification of inorganic particles and organic fibres to disperse them in polymer matrices aiming the design of functional materials, such as superhydrophobic coatings, ionic conductive materials, plasmonic plastics, dielectrics, gas barrier composites, etc. In the last five years, she has published 20 articles in high impact journals within the polymer and material science fields, she is co-author of 24 communications to national and international scientific conferences, co-inventor of a licensed patent, and supervisor of a PhD thesis. During this time, she has been also involved in four national projects and in four contracts with companies and companies’ consortiums. She is member of the governing board of the Regional Section of the Spanish Royal Chemical Society and Editor in-Chief of the Journal of Modern Plastics, edited in the ICTP for more than 60 years. |
Technical Staff
 Enrique Blázquez Blázquez Research assistant. Collaboration I+D+i Enrique Blázquez Blázquez studied Chemistry at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian. He joined the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP) in Madrid where he is currently working as Specialist of R&D. Among the tasks he performs is the analysis and identification of additives in polymer matrices. For this analytical analysis a gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and an infrared spectroscopy ATR are employed. He is proficient managing other techniques as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and mechanical testing for characterization of polyolefin. |
Contract Staff
 Ana López Cudero Research Associate MsC in Chemistry by Complutense University of Madrid (1999) and PhD in Chemistry by Autonomous University of Madrid (2005). Dr. López Cudero has developed her career as a researcher in the field of materials science for electrochemical energy storage, evolving from the most basic science in the early stages, as the study of the electrode/electrolyte interfaces in single crystals, to more applied aspects as development and testing of "stacks" for hydrogen production. Throughout his career, she has had the opportunity to gain experience in the field of synthesis and characterization of materials by an extensive use of chemical, electrochemical and physicochemical characterization techniques, always focused on energy storage systems (fuel cells, supercapacitors, hydrogen, and more recently, batteries). She has more than 18 years of research experience and she has participated on many research projects in the areas of materials, energy storage and energy production in international high-level institutions such as CEA Liten (Grenoble, France), IMDEA Energía (Madrid, Spain) and the Institute of Electrochemistry (University of Alicante). Thus, she is used to work in international environments both as a researcher and Project Manager of National and European projects, an aspect in which she also has specific training (Diploma in Management and Project Management, EDAP 2012; Master en Project Management, Universidad Isabel I, 2019). Her scientific career includes publications in journals of high international impact (Angewandte Chemie, J. Cat, Phys.Chem.Chem.Phy; Electrochem Comm; Electrochimica Act; J. Chem Electroanal), multiple conference contributions and 2 patents. This is reflected in an h-index of 16 and over 1000 citations. She is also speaker and lecturer in different types of courses and masters. Additionally, she is reviewer of scientific journals and has participated as jury in thesis and master dissertations. Moreover, she is External Expert of the European Union and regularly participates in the evaluation of European proposals. In November 2015 she joined the R&D department of AES as full time researcher in the development and testing of new materials for batteries. In Albufera she also took part in the preparation and coordination of European proposals as well as in the carry out and management of research projects (both, European and National) at all levels. In April 2018 she was promoted to Head of Technology, leading the R&D team in order to align its activities with the company strategy. In September 2019 she joined HEMPOL group in ICTP to carry out the coordination activities of European projects. LINKEDIN: https://es.linkedin.com/in/anacudero
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Visitors
 Tho Thieu Postdoc Tho Thieu (PhD) is currently a researcher at CIDETEC (Spain), and has been working at the Department of Materials for Energy Unit (Unidad de Materiales para Energía, UME) since 2017. His research interests are solid electrolytes including ceramic and composite polymer electrolytes, as well as electrodes for advanced solid state lithium and fluoride ion batteries. During his stay at ICTP-CSIC from 25th November to 13th December (2019) in the group of Dr. Pilar Tiemblo (HEMPOL), Dr. Thieu has conducted research on the development of high ion conducting thermoplastic electrolytes via solvent-free processing for practical solid state battery application, which is within the framework of collaboration between CIDETEC and ICTP-CSIC. |
 Anthony J. Lucio Research Associate Anthony is currently a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Leicester (U.K). His research, funded through the European Commission H2020 project AMAPOLA, focuses on non-aqueous electrolyte development for aluminium battery applications. Previously he completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Warwick (U.K.) working on the development of an electroanalytical sensor for hypochlorite detection targeted towards utility in the water industry. Anthony completed his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of Iowa (U.S.A.) in early 2018 where he studied the electrochemical double layer in ionic liquids. He enjoys outdoor pursuits and travelling. URLs: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0034-4914
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 Piotr Jankowski Postdoc Piotr Jankowski (PhD) is currently a postdoc at DTU (Denmark) working at Department of Energy Conversion and Storage since 2019. His research interests are focused on development of electrolytes and cathodes for different types of batteries, including lithium, magnesium, zinc and aluminium-based batteries. During his stay at ICTP-CSIC, he was working on modification of PVDF polymer, aiming at increased ionic conductivity for application both as cathode binder and electrolyte matrix. |
Students
 María Hernández Rivas PhD. student María was born in Madrid (July 1996). She studied chemistry at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) where she got graduate in 2019. Throughout the last year, she developed her Final Degree Project at the Group of Complex Systems: Colloids, Polymers and Interfaces, which was focused on the study of different polymer-surfactant mixtures with interest in cosmetics fields. At the same group, she developed her master’s thesis included in the Máster Universitario en Ciencia y Tecnología Químicas (UCM) program, which she completed in July 2020. At the beginning of 2021, she had the opportunity to collaborate in a research project devoted to Polymers for Environmental Applications: Degradable Materials and Sensors at the Photochemistry group of the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP-CSIC). Later that year, she began her PhD project entitled “Non-Stick Properties as a Tool in the Ecodesign of Polymer Surfaces” supervised by Nuria García and Pilar Tiemblo. |
 Ángela Campo Peña PhD. student Ángela was born in Burgos in 1998. She studied Chemistry in Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and she obtained her bachelor´s degree in 2020. During the 2020-2021 academic year, she completed a master´s degree in Organic Chemistry. She developed her master´s thesis at the Institute of Medical Chemistry, IQM-CSIC, in the group of “Nucleosides and analogues” where she worked in the synthesis of PNAs as biosensor recognition system for the detection of antirretroviral drugs resistance (anti-HIV). Currently, she is hired for training with the project: “A Marketable Polymer based Al-S battery” under the supervision of Pilar Tiemblo and Nuria García. |
