Alicia Castro

Prof. Alicia Castro is a Research Professor at the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), part of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She earned her Ph.D. in Solid State Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid in 1984. Her career includes roles as Tenured Scientist (1991–2003), Senior Researcher (2003–2009), and Research Professor (2009–present).

• Education: Ph.D. in Solid State Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid (1984).

Her research focuses on the synthesis, processing, and characterization of novel ceramic materials, particularly piezoelectric oxides and perovskite-based materials. She pioneered the substitution of Bi³⁺ ions in Aurivillius-type structures with other cations to modulate ferro-piezoelectric properties. She also advanced mechanochemical activation and Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) to produce functional nanostructured ceramics.

Projects: Principal Investigator of 9 national and 9 international projects, including studies on nanostructured electroceramic materials and collaborations with institutions like IBM (USA), CNRS (France), and CNCPRST (Morocco).

• Labs & Technologies: Thin film preparation, ceramics synthesis, functional properties characterization, magnetoelectric characterization, and piezoresponse force microscopy labs.