Maria Ibáñez

Maria Ibáñez Sabaté is a Spanish materials scientist and Professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria. Her research considers functional nanomaterials for next generation technologies. She was awarded the ETH Zurich Ružička Prize in 2017.

Early life and education
Ibáñez studied physics at the University of Barcelona. She remained there for her doctoral research, where she developed synthesis strategies for colloidal nanoparticles. Her research originally considered materials for photovoltaics, but she became increasingly interested in thermoelectric materials. During her doctoral research she completed placements at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, University of Chicago, California Institute of Technology, Cornell University and Northwestern. Her doctoral research was awarded the Extraordinary Award, the University of Barcelona's highest accolade. After earning her doctorate she joined ETH Zurich, where she worked with Maksym Kovalenko.

Research and career
In 2017 Ibáñez was awarded the Ružička Prize for her work on developing new thermoelectric materials. She joined the Institute of Science and Technology Austria as an assistant professor in 2018. She was promoted to the Verbund Professor for Energy Sciences in 2022.

Her research considers nanocrystals that can be used as building blocks to engineer metamaterials. She is interested in the development of solution processed thermoelectric materials with high Seebeck coefficients, electrical conductivities and thermal conductivities.

Personal life
Ibáñez is married with two sons.