Dr. Valentin Briega Martos Leads New CO₂ Capture Group

The Fritz Haber Institute welcomes Dr. Valentin Briega Martos, who joined the Department of Interface Science in September 2026 as W2 Group Leader to establish the CO₂ Capture Group. His team will develop electrochemical strategies for capturing and re-utilizing carbon dioxide, pairing operando characterization with electrochemical performance to guide materials and process design.

Electrochemical routes for CO₂ management
The new group will explore electrochemical pathways to capture carbon dioxide, advancing both, fundamental understanding and application‑driven development. “We will use different characterization techniques coupled with electrochemical measurements to study the capture process and to improve the activity and selectivity of its subsequent electrocatalytic reduction towards high-added value products,” says Dr. Briega Martos. The aim is to turn mechanistic insight extracted by monitoring the evolution of the electrocatalysts under reaction conditions via operando spectroscopy and diffraction measurements into robust, energy‑efficient approaches for recycling CO₂ emissions. The group is based in the Department of Interface Science and lead by director Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya.

Seeing reactions as they happen
At the core of the effort are in situ and operando techniques—Raman and infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and surface X‑ray diffraction (SXRD), among others—integrated with electrochemical measurements. This toolkit will reveal reaction intermediates, proton‑coupled electron transfer (PCET) steps, and catalyst restructuring under realistic conditions, linking atomic‑scale changes to activity and selectivity.

A journey shaped by electrochemistry
Dr. Briega Martos trained in Chemistry at the University of Alicante, where he earned an MSc and a PhD in Electrochemistry for work that focused on understanding the mechanism of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). He continued his work in Alicante as a postdoctoral researcher refining single‑crystal electrochemistry and ORR studies, then moved to the Electrocatalysis Department (HI‑ERN) at Forschungszentrum Jülich to investigate how noble metals oxidize, restructure, and dissolve in energy conversion -related environments. Most recently, at Cornell University, he contributed to the development of an operando toolkit— electrochemical scanning transmission electron microscopy (EC‑STEM), and SXRD— and continued expanding his background knowledge about PCET processes on noble‑metal and metal‑oxide single crystal surfaces.

Part of an MPG‑wide initiative
Dr. Briega Martos was selected in the Max Planck Society’s 2024 call for three Max Planck Foundation Research Groups in carbon capture technologies—an initiative aimed at developing novel approaches to capture the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane and convert them into other molecules. Successful candidates establish a Max Planck Foundation Research Group at a Max Planck Institute of their choice and become part of a broader MPG network advancing this research line. Funding runs for six years and totals 2.6 million euros.