Hernán Míguez García has been awarded the 2017 “Real Sociedad Española de Física – Fundación BBVA” Prize in the Physics, Innovation and Technology category.
Hernán Míguez García received his PhD from the Autonomous University of Madrid (2000) and then worked as a postdoctoral researcher for two years at the University of Toronto, in Canada. Since 2004, he has headed the Multifunctional Optical Materials group at the Institute of Materials Science in Seville, part of cicCartuja —a joint CSIC-University of Seville-Junta de Andalucía center—.
His work focuses on an area that could open the door to technologies with greater transformative potential, specifically, the development of optical materials processed in liquid phase, which when applied to a base form multiple very thin layers. His goal is to control, layer by layer, the nanometric-scale structure of the material, seeking a specific interaction with light. The structures are previously defined theoretically using computational models, depending on the properties that are desired. These multilayer materials are also porous, which allows them to be infiltrated with polymers and made flexible.
Míguez has striven from the beginning of his career to find applications for his work in industry, personally seeking out potential interested companies. He is the inventor of 18 patents, several of which have been transferred to industry; two of them have led to the founding of new technology-based companies. One of them uses photonic crystals to, among other applications, prevent counterfeiting of banknotes, and the other offers solar cells that can be easily integrated into all types of surfaces. He is currently also collaborating with companies in Spain. He is also the author of more than 150 highly cited publications, and has obtained an ERC Starting Grant project.