Research

Dr. Albert Solé-Daura obtained his Ph.D. from Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in 2020 under the supervision of Profs. Jorge J. Carbó and Josep M. Poblet. Subsequently, he joined the group of Dr. Caroline Mellot-Draznieks at the Collège de France (Paris, France) as a postdoctoral research associate. In 2022, he was awarded a Margarita Salas Grant, which allowed him to spend a year in the group of Dr. Bernd Ensing at the University of Amsterdam (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). After a brief return to URV, he joined the group of Prof. Maseras at ICIQ (Tarragona, Spain), where he spent nine months as a postdoctoral researcher.

In 2024, he secured a prestigious Junior Leader Fellowship funded by "la Caixa" Foundation, which enabled him to launch his independent research career at ICIQ. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded a Ramón y Cajal grant, which he is currently undertaking at the Quantum Chemistry Group of the URV. He was also appointed Associate Researcher at ICIQ, where he maintains collaborative links and co-supervises students with Prof. Carles Bo.

His research focuses on developing and applying computational methods to study polyoxometalates (POMs), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and other metal-based complexes. In particular, he investigates how their structural and dynamic properties, as well as their reactivity, influence their roles in energy- and sustainability-related catalytic processes. These include photo- and electrochemical strategies for CO2 conversion, N2 and proton reduction, as well as thermal catalysis. Besides, he is highly interested in the computational modeling of complex phenomena, such as proton- and electron-transfer events in solution, by means of advanced molecular simulation methods in combination with enhanced sampling techniques.