Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2)

The Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), member of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), carries out research into the behaviour of materials at nanoscale. The institute creates basic knowledge and develops devices in a wide range of fields, from life sciences (medicine, health and the environment) to energy and information and communications technologies. This cutting-edge research has enormous potential to change everyday life.

The trustees of the ICN2 include the Generalitat of Catalunya, the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). The institute is recognised as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence for the development of the “Nanodevices for social challenges” programme (2014-2018).

Usage statistics Most popular
Latest additions:
2026-05-05
19:12
8 p, 2.9 MB Electrical stress-induced damage in TiN/Ti/HfO2/W memristors : The critical role of voltage polarity and vacuum condition / Saludes Tapia, Maria Mercedes (Institut de Microelectrònica de Barcelona) ; Campabadal, Francesca (Institut de Microelectrònica de Barcelona) ; Solé, L. (Institut de Microelectrònica de Barcelona) ; Borrisé, Xavier (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Miranda, E. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica) ; Bargallo Gonzalez, Mireia (Institut de Microelectrònica de Barcelona)
In this work, we investigate the damage caused by the catastrophic breakdown of the insulating layer in TiN/Ti/HfO2/W memristors when subjected to ramped voltage stress. Our analysis includes physical and compositional examinations of the damaged regions using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. [...]
2025 - 10.1063/5.0273851
Applied physics letters, Vol. 127, Num. 3 (July 2025) , art. 032901  
2026-04-30
12:14
26 p, 3.7 MB Applied Artificial Intelligence in Materials Science and Material Design / Chávez Ángel, Emigdio (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Eriksen, Martin (Institut de Física d'Altes Energies) ; Castro-Alvarez, Alejandro (Universidad de La Frontera (Xile). Departamento de Ciencias Preclínicas) ; Garcia, José H. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Botifoll, Marc (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Avalos-Ovando, Oscar (Ohio University. Department of Physics and Astronomy) ; Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Mugarza, Aitor (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Materials science has traditionally relied on a combination of experimental techniques and theoretical modeling to discover and develop new materials with desired properties. However, these processes can be time-consuming, resource-intensive, and often limited by the complexity of material systems. [...]
2025 - 10.1002/aisy.202400986
Advanced Intelligent Systems, Vol. 7, Num. 8 (August 2025) , art. 2400986
2 documents
2026-04-30
16:12
14 p, 8.0 MB Voltage-Driven Generation of Ferromagnetism in a Magneto-Ionically Active Antiferromagnet Enabling Room-Temperature Exchange Bias / Privitera, Simone (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Ma, Zheng (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Gómez-Torres, Hugo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Arredondo-López, Aitor (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Liedke, Maciej Oskar (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden. Institute of Radiation Physics) ; Hirschmann, Eric (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden. Institute of Radiation Physics) ; Wagner, Andreas (Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden. Institute of Radiation Physics) ; Tan, Huan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Solsona, Pau (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Quintana, Alberto (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Dias, Thiago (Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná) ; Gouéré, Diane (Spin-Ion Technologies) ; Monteblanco, Elmer Nahuel (Spin-Ion Technologies) ; Ravelosona, Dafiné (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Del-Valle, Nuria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Navau, Carles (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Lopeandía Fernández, Aitor (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Sort, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Menéndez Dalmau, Enric (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física)
Magneto-ionics-as the voltage-driven control of magnetic properties through ionic motion and redox processes-offers a promising route toward energy-efficient spintronic devices. Exchange bias, being the unidirectional anisotropy arising from interfacial coupling between antiferromagnets and ferromagnets, plays a central role in spintronics. [...]
2026 - 10.1021/acsnano.5c19864
ACS nano, Vol. 20, Num. 13 (March 2026) , p. 10484-10497  
2026-04-29
19:12
8 p, 1.5 MB Tuning fork optomechanical NIR antenna with integrated optical transmission line / Khosh Maram, Daniyal (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica) ; Borrisé, Xavier (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; García García, Juan José (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica) ; Vandenbosch, Guy A.E. (KU Leuven. Department of Electrical Engineering) ; Cartoixà Soler, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica) ; Abadal Berini, Gabriel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica)
We present a novel optomechanical antenna design that directly converts near-infrared (λ=1. 55 μm) light into mechanical motion using a tuning fork architecture with an integrated optical transmission line (OTL). [...]
2026 - 10.1016/j.sna.2026.117714
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, Vol. 403 (June 2026) , art. 117714  
2026-04-23
17:13
9 p, 1.6 MB Chiral-Induced Spin-Polarized Molecular Switching in a Magneto-Controlled 2D System using Electrical Readouts / Lei, Yiming (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Química) ; Campos-Lendínez, Ángel (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Química) ; Spasojevic, Irena (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Física) ; Sala Román, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Química) ; García-Antón, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Química) ; Sort, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Muñoz, Jose (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Química)
Molecular switches that exhibit bistable electron spins under ambient conditions have attracted growing interest due to their potential applications in quantum technologies, enabling exploitation of the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) phenomenon on electron transfer processes. [...]
2026 - 10.1002/smll.202513626
Small (Weinheim), March 2026  
2026-04-14
11:12
13 p, 1.5 MB Stabilizing perovskite solar cells at 85 °C via additive engineering and MXene interlayers / Baumann, Fanny (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Padilla-Pantoja, Jessica (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Caicedo Roque, Jose Manuel (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Karimipour, M. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Vahedigharehchopogh, Naji (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Santiso, José (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Ballesteros, Belén (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Miranda Gamboa, Ramsés A. (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Tian, Zhenchuan (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Ruiz Raga, Sonia (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Lira-Cantu, Monica (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
The commercialization of Perovskite Solar Cells (PSCs) is currently a reality. The detection of early instabilities, especially at high temperatures is vital for the successful widespread implementation of the technology. [...]
2025 - 10.1039/d5el00104h
EES Solar, Vol. 1, Num. 6 (December 2026) , p. 889-1186  
2026-04-14
18:12
10 p, 2.0 MB The Roles of Ion Migration on Perovskite Solar Cell Operational Stability at Various Illumination Intensities / Tanko, Kenedy T. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Ruiz Raga, Sonia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Vahedigharehchopogh, Naji (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Baumann, Fanny (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Karimipour, M. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Miranda Gamboa, Ramsés A. (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) ; Lira-Cantu, Monica (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Monitoring the stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) under operational conditions is crucial for their development. This study integrates maximum power point (MPP) tracking with quasi in-situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy at successive intervals to elucidate the temporal evolution of degradation mechanisms in PSCs. [...]
2025 - 10.1002/solr.202500162
Solar RRL, Vol. 9, Num. 12 (June 2025) , art. 2500162  
2026-04-07
13:45
61 p, 4.5 MB Visualizing Electrochemical CO2 Reduction Reaction : Recent Progress of In Situ Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy / Guo, Zeyu (University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering) ; Paciok, Paul (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH. Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons) ; Zandonella, Robert (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH. Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons) ; Zhu, Huiwen (University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering) ; Tang, PengYi (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology) ; Cao, Pengfei (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH. Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons) ; Xi, Ziyun (University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering) ; Mayer, Joachim (Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE). RWTH Aachen University) ; Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Wu, Tao (University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering) ; Xu, Mengxia (University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering)
The electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (CO2RR), driven by renewable energy, represents a promising approach for converting CO2 into valuable fuels and chemicals, addressing pressing energy and environmental challenges. [...]
2025 - 10.1002/adfm.202500915
Advanced functional materials, Vol. 35, Num. 41 (October 2025) , art. 2500915  
2026-04-07
12:59
23 p, 1.8 MB Balancing Electronic Spin State via Atomically-Dispersed Heteronuclear Fe-Co Pairs for High-Performance Sodium-Sulfur Batteries / Li, Canhuang (Universitat de Barcelona. Departament de Química) ; Yu, Jing (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Yang, Dawei (Henan University) ; Li, Hao (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya) ; Cheng, Yapeng (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya) ; Ren, Yuchuan (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya) ; Bi, Xiaoyu (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya) ; Ma, Jiachen (Chemnitz University of Technology. Research Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes) ; Zhao, Ruirui (Hua nan shi fan da xue) ; Zhou, Yingtang (Zhejiang Ocean University) ; Wang, Jian (Helmholtz Institute Ulm) ; Huang, Chen (Universitat de Barcelona. Departament de Química) ; Li, Junshan (Chengdu University. Institute for Advanced Study) ; Pinto-Huguet, Ivan (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Zhang, Haining (Wuhan University of Technology) ; Xin, Sen (Chinese Academy of Sciences. Institute of Chemistry) ; Cabot i Codina, Andreu (Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya)
Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (Na-S) batteries are emerging as a promising next-generation energy storage technology, offering high energy densities at low cost and utilizing abundant elements. However, their practical application is hindered by the shuttle effect of sodiumpolysulfides and the sluggish kinetics of sulfur redox reactions. [...]
2025 - 10.1021/jacs.4c15408
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 147, Num. 10 (March 2025) , p. 8250-8259  
2026-03-13
14:13
31 p, 4.3 MB Vortices and antivortices in antiferroelectric PbZrO3 / Liu, Ying (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Zhang, Huazhang (Wuhan University of Technology) ; Shapovalov, Konstantin (Université de Liège) ; Niu, Ranming (The University of Sydney) ; Cairney, Julie M. (The University of Sydney) ; Liao, Xiaozhou (The University of Sydney) ; Roleder, Krystian (University of Silesia) ; Majchrowski, Andrzej (Military University of Technology) ; Arbiol i Cobos, Jordi (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia) ; Ghosez, Philippe (Université de Liège) ; Catalan, Gustau (Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia)
Ferroelectric materials are characterized by a parallel arrangement of electric dipoles, but at the nanoscale they can present vortices and other non-trivial topological structures that combine small size and topological protection, rendering them functionally attractive. [...]
2025 - 10.1038/s41563-025-02245-3
Nature materials, Vol. 24, Num. 9 (September 2025) , p. 1359-1363