Antoni Forner Cuenca receives Princesa de Girona Research Award 2025
This award recognizes the trajectory of young scientists and researchers with outstanding research experiences or projects in their discipline and who possess an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit with a high potential for future development.
Antoni Forner Cuenca who leads our Electrochemical Materials and Systems group was awarded the Princesa de Girona Research 2025 Award at an event in Spain presided by King Felipe VI. The jury recognized his contribution to the development of new energy storage and conversion systems. The Princess of Girona Research Award, which includes 20,000 euros, recognizes young scientists and researchers, including those working in the field of human and social sciences, with outstanding experiences or research projects in their discipline and possessing an entrepreneurial and innovative spirit with a high potential for future development.
Drive for a better world
In his speech Antoni Forner Cuenca referred to the importance of advancing the energy transition and energy storage in, as evidenced, he said, by the recent blackout in Spain. He also took the opportunity to encourage young people 鈥渢o go all out鈥� and not to be afraid of making mistakes, because 鈥渁lthough there are many negative messages, there are also challenges and opportunities鈥�. He is working with PhD students in his group who he encourages to create impact in this extremely relevant field of expertise.
Mark Boneschanscher - Managing Director EIRES
鈥淭oni plays a central role in the EIRES network on hydrogen and future chemistry. As one of the lead scientists in electrochemistry, he works on the advancement of redox flow batteries and green hydrogen. Combining fundamental research with public-private projects in large programs like Groenvermogen or NXTGEN Hightech, he positively impacts key industry partners striving for sustainable energy solutions. Despite the impressive breadth and scope of his activities, he always makes time to provide collegial advice, a helping hand, or a friendly word 鈥� making him a genuinely liked and highly valued member of our community.鈥�
Research areas
With , Forner-Cuenca works on three major applications: redox flow batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and carbon dioxide electrolysis to synthesize electrofuels. The overarching goal their research is to develop conductive porous materials from the bottom up in a so called predictive engineering fashion. They start by predicting what the ideal electrode for a certain application would look like 鈥� so what materials it should be made of, what the pore size distribution should be, and so on. Then they develop the production process to make such a structure, synthesize it ourselves, and also do the testing. They even have actual fuel cells and flow batteries in their lab to test new structures in the actual environment they are supposed to do their job in. Forner-Cuenca鈥檚 lab covers the scales from say a hundred nanometers up to application scale. So in their designs the team also takes into account what methods would be needed to scale up and if the associated costs are not becoming unfeasibly high. This angle enables collaboration with companies in the electrochemistry sector.鈥�