Puntes, Víctor F.
ICREA Research Professor at Vall d'Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR).
Experimental Sciences & Mathematics
Short biography
Prof. Dr. Victor Puntes is Group Leader at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) (2005-), with joint appointment at Vall Hebron Institute de Recerca (VHIR) (2015-). He received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of Barcelona and his M.S. degree in chemical engineering from University Louis Pasteur in 1994. Between 1999 and 2003 he held a postdoc position as postdoctoral researcher at the University of California–Berkeley (UCB) and the LBNL. In 2003 obtained a Ramón y Cajal position at the UB. He also acted as scientific consultant and actively contributed to several R&D management activities and scientific committees. Besides, he is normally engaged in dissemination lectures and activities broadcasting his research and that of his community.
Research interests
Prof. Víctor Puntes works on the synthesis, characterisation and applications of engineered inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) in the fields of energy harvesting, environmetnal remediation and medicine. By controlling the size, structure and shape of the inorganic core, and manipulating the linking of organic molecules to the nanoparticle surface, the group aims to design nanoparticles that interact with a variety of systems (biological, medical, materials, etc.) providing controlled electromagnetic and molecular heterogenicities useful to manipulate materials and biological states at both, the molecular and the electron transport scales . This allows for the deliberate modification of these systems, or the use of NPs for manipulating and reporting states.