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Principal Investigator

FULL PROFESSOR

ANTONI FORNER CUENCA

  • Full professor
  • Department of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry
  • Electrochemical Materials and Systems
  • Eindhoven University of Technology
AntoniForner

Prof. Antoni Forner-Cuenca earned his Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Alicante (2013) and completed his PhD at the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zurich, where he pioneered gas diffusion layers with patterned wettability for polymer electrolyte fuel cells. His doctoral work, completed in 2016, was recognized with the ETH Zurich Medal for outstanding thesis and the Electrochemical Society Energy Technology Graduate Student Award. From 2017 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, advancing the science and engineering of redox flow batteries for large-scale energy storage. In 2019, Prof. Forner-Cuenca started his independent career at Eindhoven University of Technology, where he founded and leads the Electrochemical Materials and Systems Group. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023 and to Full Professor in late 2025.

His research has been distinguished with numerous honors, including the Princess of Girona Award, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Early Career Award, the Electrochemical Society Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Early Career Award, an ERC Starting Grant, Dutch Science Foundation (NWO) Veni and Vidi Grants, and the Hydrogen Europe Young Scientist Award. He was also voted Best Teacher of the TU/e master’s program for two consecutive years.

Prof. Forner-Cuenca’s research focuses on advancing transformative electrochemical technologies for real-world energy applications. By leveraging principles from (electro)chemical engineering, materials science, and physical chemistry, his team designs, synthesizes, characterizes, and models innovative materials and electrochemical reactors. Key applications include large-scale energy storage with flow batteries, energy conversion via hydrogen fuel cells and electrolyzers, and decarbonization of the chemical industry through efficient molecular synthesis and separation processes.

CAREER

Full Professor

November 2025 - present

Associate Professor

February 2023 - October 2025

Assistant Professor

February 2019 - January 2023

Eindhoven University of Technology

Postdoctoral Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2017 - 2019

​Doctor of Sciences, PhD

ETH Zurich , Paul Scherrer Institut

2013 - 2016

Bachelor & Master of Chemical Engineering

University of Alicante

2007 - 2013

Full Professor

November 2025 - present

Associate Professor

February 2023 - October 2025

Assistant Professor

February 2019 - January 2023

Eindhoven University of Technology

Postdoctoral Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2017 - 2019

​Doctor of Sciences, PhD

ETH Zurich , Paul Scherrer Institut

2013 - 2016

Bachelor & Master of Chemical Engineering

University of Alicante

2007 - 2013

AWARDS

2026 – Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Early-Career Investigator, The Electrochemical Society

2025 – Princesa de Girona Research Award 2025

2024 – NWO Vidi Grant

2024 – KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) Early Career Award

2024 – Best Oral Presentation Award, 38th Topical Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry, 2024

2022 and 2023 – Best Teacher Master Program in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry

2022 – ERC Starting Grant

2021 – Young Scientist Award by Hydrogen Europe Research

2020 – Elected Member to the Eindhoven Young Academy of Engineering

2019 – Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council Award

2018 – StartMIT Hard Tech Problem & Solution Start-up Award

2018 – Finalist Lopez Loreta

2017 – Electrochemical Society Energy Technology Graduate Student Award

2017 – ETH Zurich Medal for Outstanding PhD thesis 

2017 – SNSF Postdoctoral Mobility Award

2017 – MISTI-Spain «La Caixa» grant – «Metallic porous electrodes for redox flow batteries» in collaboration with University of Alicante

2017 – Video Science Art MRS Award

2013 – Valedictorian Chemical Engineering University of Alicante