Europe funds with 1.5 million a project by José J. Baldoví aimed at the development of 2D devices for information processing

10/01/2022

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded a grant of 1.5 million euros from its ERC Starting Grant to the chemist José Jaime Baldoví, distinguished researcher of the GVA Gen-T Plan at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia. The aid will go to the 2D-SMARTiES project, focused on the chemical design of intelligent molecular devices for the decisive advancement of information technologies.

Led by José Jaime Baldoví, the 2D-SMARTiES project aims to contribute to the development of molecular magnonics – an emerging technology that allows transmitting, processing and detecting information using magnons (electron spin waves) in a controlled way – and, therefore, to the information technology revolution through two-dimensional smart materials.

The Starting Grant aid now granted by the European Research Council will make it possible for Baldoví to create his own research group and create up to six jobs for researchers in the next 5 years within the framework of his project.

The ERC Starting Grant grants are highly competitive and are aimed at researchers of excellence with postdoctoral experience of between 2 and 7 years, so that they can develop cutting-edge research. In this year’s call, the European Research Council has received 4,056 applications, of which 9.9% have been resolved in favour, with a total budget of 619 million euros.

José J. Baldoví is a distinguished researcher of the GVA Gen-T Plan at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia, where he leads the research line of design and modelling of hybrid heterostructures based on magnetic molecules and two-dimensional materials.

A chemist by training at the University of Valencia, with a master’s degree and a doctorate from the ICMol, in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology, he was a Marie-Sklodowska Curie researcher at the European Commission at the Max Planck Institute for the study of the structure and the dynamics of matter in Hamburg (Germany). This postdoctoral experience allowed him to expand his research interests into the field of theoretical modelling of two-dimensional materials and their heterostructures, which allowed him to design new multifunctional materials. In January 2020 he returned to ICMol after obtaining a CDEIGENT excellence contract as part of the Gen-T talent attraction plan of the Valencian government.

Since 2012, José Jaime Baldoví has been the co-author of more than 50 scientific articles in journals of international impact and of a book chapter; he has signed as first author in half of them and has given 12 guest lectures at international conferences.

His works have received more than 2,250 citations so far. He is currently co-director of three doctoral theses. In addition, he has a master’s degree in Science, Technology and Environment Journalism and Communication.

With the ERC Starting Grant obtained by Baldoví, ICMol has already accumulated 12 ERC program projects led by 10 of its researchers. Of these, 9 are still in force in 2022, a record number within the centres dedicated to research in Spain and in the history of ICMol itself.