Apresentação Pessoal

MatER   Materials for Energy Research -NEW 

This time, we celebrate Manuela Baptista's PhD studies and the 💯 papers on my CV. Hopefully one day—approaching utopia—numbers will not count per se, because they mean little in terms of quality. Still, I celebrate them, having sweated over every one of them, some less, some more: some after many rejections, some with no lab, some with no students, and some during my six years in the USA; others thanks to collaborations that I could never have predicted in my wildest dreams, and finally with exceptional students. Wonderful memories of trying to dig a little into the whys...

Manuela Carvalho Baptista and Maria Helena Braga, Materials 2026, 19(6), 1232, Anode-Less (Anode-Free) Batteries: From Fundamental Principles to Practical Pathways toward Solid-State Implementation, Materials   https://doi.org/10.3390/ma19061232 (just accepted review)

P. Fernandes, B. Arouca Maia, J. Pedro, J. Rodrigues, M. H. Braga, R. Santos, N. Correia, Composites Part B: Engineering, 317, 113589 (2026) Integrating structural batteries and topology optimization: a path to multifunctional lightweight design,  Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2026.113589 Congratulations, Pedro Fernandes - INEGI!

In collaboration with the amazing UM6P-Marocco, hopfully the first of many:  Lahbib Moutanassim, Majid El Kassaoui, Yassine Seffar, Mohamed Aqil, Maria Helena Braga, Redouane Haounati, Oumaima Moustakim, Abdelwahed Chari, Ghassane Tiouitchi, Jones Alami, Omar Mounkachi, Samir El Hankari, Mouad Dahbi (2026) ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Design of Exfoliated and Ultrathin 2D Ni-MOF/F-MWCNT Nanosheets for Advanced LIB Anodes: Combined Experimental and Computational Insights.   Great work Lahbib Moutanassim!

From two of MatER's PhD candidates' stars, a reflection on the properties of good all-solid-state electrolytes: Beatriz M. Gomes†, Manuela C. Baptista†, and M. Helena Braga, Batteries 12(2), 60 (2026), When Electrolytes Are Semiconductors: A Feature, Not a Bug for Solid-State Batteries https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries12020060  (Just accepted) †contributed equally.

In collaboration with INEGI, a NGS-PRR-funded project article, just published in Composites Part B: Engineering, Beatriz Arouca Maia, Federico Danzi, Raquel Miriam Santos, Maria Helena Braga* 313, 113431 (2026) Multifunctional and multidimensional Na-ion structural coaxial energy storage cell. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2026.113431

MatER's review has just been published on Applied Physics Reviews: congratulations, group!
Beatriz M. Gomes†, Tomás Prior†, Ângela Freitas, António B. Vale, Beatriz A. Maia, Hugo Lebre, Manuela C. Baptista, Raquel Dantas, M. Helena Braga*, Applied Physics Reviews 13, 011306 (2026) pp. 1-45; Ferroelectric and Ferroionic Multifunctional Quantum Sensors: Incursion into Applications (Just accepted).  †contributed equally  https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0251263

World’s Top 2% Scientists list (2024)       Absolute numbers are often deceiving…

In collaboration with India (REVA University, Atria University, Dayananda Sagar University, and M. S. Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences), our second work:
Golla Lavanya, S. Ashoka, B.S. Nishchith, K. Yogesh, Ravikumar B.S., Maria Helena Braga, Chemical Engineering Journal (2025) 167669, Effect of oxidizer-to-fuel ratio on manganese oxides formation and their physico-chemical properties towards supercapacitor application https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2025.167669 
 
And now... our PEEC(s) MatER, Júlia Holtz and Mª Luís Pinto, have their first paper accepted! They started by, ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS (IF: 19) Congratulations, Beatriz M. Gomes, Júlia Holtz, and Maria Luís Pinto!        Beatriz M.Gomes, Júlia Holtz, Maria Luís Pinto, M. Helena Braga, Polaronic and Electrochemical Signatures in Group IVB (Ti, Zr, Hf) Oxides: Unified SKP–DFT Insights for Tunable Transport in Energy and Electronic Devices, Advanced Functional Materials (2026) 36, e09853 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202509853 

Sept. 2024,  Proud to be an Associate Editor of the prestigious Journal of Energy Storage (Elsevier) with Prof. Dr. Luisa Cabeza as Editor-in-Chief!

                                               PULSELiON EU        
MHB
Most important experience:
2008-2011 Research Scholar and Long Term Visiting Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (2008-2011).
2016-2019 Senior Research Fellow in the Materials Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, collaborating with Prof. John B. Goodenough, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019.

Main interests: 
Her main interests include experimental and theoretical characterization of solid-state materials and devices (e.g., ferroelectrics, electrolytes, energy harvest and storage devices, and metal hydrides). Her activities include materials synthesis, characterization, and devices’ conceptualization (new architectures), assembly, and testing.
The experimental techniques she uses are electrical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical cycling, ionic and electrical conductivity measurements, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray and neutron diffraction, and spectroscopy, including Rietveld refinement and pair distribution function (PDF).
Her theoretical simulation tools include density function theory (DFT), phonon, molecular dynamics, electrical, optical, and mechanical properties calculations, and phase diagram assessment (using CALPHAD).
She is credited with having created ferroelectric-glassy electrolytes and novel device architectures.

Main recognitions:
- World’s Top 2% Scientists list (2024)   
- 2024 FEUP Scientific Excellence Award
- Portuguese Materials Society (SPM), Maria Manuela Oliveira Award (2024)
- World’s Top 2% Scientists list (2023)
- Scientific recognition FEUP in 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2007 for her publications and/or patents; Received on FEUP's day following two years.
- 2021 BIP PROOF award (Soli@uto team) with the support of Amadeu Dias Foundation, Santander Universities, and the University of Porto to develop a commercial prototype;
- 2020 Award "Personality" Exame Informática - Visão - Sapo (Portuguese) with SIC (TV); 
- 2014-2016 Special Visitor Researcher Grant of the CNPq (Brazilian Science Foundation);
- 2012 Luso-American Foundation (FLAD) Paper Grant to present the MRS 2012 invited talk in Boston, USA;
- 2008-2009 FCT Sabbatical fellowship;