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.
For further details, please feel free to visit: https://scanlab.es/
Diego Soler Polo obtained his Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in 2014 and his Master's degree in Mathematics in 2015 from UAM.
In 2016 he enrolled in the doctoral program in Condensed Matter Physics and Biophysics from IFIMAC/UAM, under the direction of Prof. José Ortega Mateo, obtaining his PhD degree in May 2021, with a doctoral thesis with title "Application and Developments of Density Functional Theory in Complex Systems". He then moved to Prague to work in the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, in the group of Prof. Pavel Jelínek.
In his doctoral thesis, he worked on QM/MM simulations, Free energy calculations and software implementations in Density Functional Theory. Later on, he has specialized in Many-body methods (CAS, DMRG, etc) for molecular systems, pi-electronic magnetism and STM simulations. He joined IMDEA Nanociencia in November 2025 as a member of the ScanLab team directed by Dr. José Ignacio Urgel.
Alejandro Jiménez is a postdoctoral researcher focused on the experimental characterization of low-dimensional nanostructures on surfaces in ultra-high vacuum environment and low temperature conditions.
In 2019, he obtained the bachelor's degree in physics at the Complutense University in Madrid (UCM, Spain). In the same university, he also obtained the master's degree in nanophysics and advanced materials in 2020. Afterwards, he joined to Czech Advanced Technology and Research Institute (CATRIN) at Palacky University in Olomouc (UPOL, Czech Republic) as a predoctoral researcher in 2020 and the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Science (FZU, Czech Republic) in 2022.
In 2025, he completed the PhD thesis in quantum technologies at the Czech Technical University in Prague (CTU, Czech Republic) titled by "Characterization of molecular nanostructures on surfaces by means of scanning probe microscopy". After obtaining the PhD, he joined to Ignacio Urgel group at IMDEA Nanociencia in Madrid (Spain) as postdoctoral research.
