UDC-Resonac
Sparking
Truth Chair:
Innovation in
Energy Transition.

Applied Research for a Sustainable Future

About
Us.

The UDC-Resonac Sparkling Truth Chair’s main mission is to promote applied research in the field of energy, with a particular focus on the energy transition toward clean and renewable sources.

The Sparking Truth Chair was born from the synergy between Resonac GBU and the Systems for Energy Transition Research Group (LISTE) at the University of A Coruña (UDC). This collaboration aims to develop new materials and technologies that improve the efficiency and sustainability of energy systems, such as batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage, and carbon capture. To achieve these goals, the chair has established the Liste–Resonac Lab, led by Dr. Israel Temprano, which hosts a group of UDC researchers and students. This laboratory focuses on the development of advanced materials, such as graphite, for use in electric vehicles and other sustainable energy systems.

In addition to research, the chair also promotes the training of specialized talent and the transfer of knowledge between the university, industry and society at large, strengthening public–private collaboration in the energy sector.

From left to right:
Alba Tuñas Cantorna Head of Battery Business Development, Israel Temprano Researcher – Chemistry (UDC, Laval, Cambridge)

Alba
Tuñas

Chemical Engineer with over 10 years of international experience in Germany, Sweden, and China. After completing her studies in Santiago de Compostela and her Master’s Thesis at the Technical University of Dresden, she began her career in 2013 at Evonik GmbH (Germany), developing electrodes for electric vehicle batteries.

In 2017, she joined Volkswagen AG in Salzgitter as an R&D engineer, contributing to the design and specifications of the group’s first battery pilot plant. In 2021, she took on the role of Project Manager to help launch Northvolt’s Gigafactory in Sweden and later led the planning of Volkswagen’s Gigafactories in Salzgitter and Sagunto (Spain).

In 2024, following a successful international career, she decided to continue her professional path in Galicia. She is currently Head of Battery Business Development at Resonac (A Coruña), leading key projects in the battery sector.

Israel
Temprano

Scientific researcher with a BSc degree in Chemistry from UDC and PhD and MSc degrees from Université Laval in Québec, Canada. After a spell as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Liverpool, and an extensive career at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), Israel joined the Interdisciplinary Center for Chemistry and Biology (CICA) and the UDC in 2024, where he now works as a group leader and principal investigator at CICA. He has a double affiliation with the UDC and the University of Cambridge where he remains a principal investigator of several projects related to batteries and carbon capture and storage. Israel is also a principal investigator at the ALISTORE European Research Institute and a Research Associate of The Faraday Institution in the UK.

Israel heads our newly established LISTE-Resonac lab. This lab studies the integration between the different components that form electrochemical systems, such as batteries, mapping their interfacial reactivity, which limits their performance and lifetime using techniques of our own development. In particular the LISTE-Resonac lab focuses on studying this reactivity under operating conditions, which allow us to detect degradation processes more accurately and faster than traditional methods, accelerating the development of new materials and their integration into energy systems.

Research Laboratory
of Systems for Energy
Transition LISTE-Resonac.

The LISTE research group, led by Israel Temprano, is focused on the development of new materials for energy-related applications.

Their work will help accelerate the implementation of technologies that use clean and renewable sources for energy generation, storage, and transformation, and will promote advances in batteries used in electric vehicles through the research of materials such as graphite, a key component of EV battery anodes.

The group aims to increase the efficiency, energy density, power capabilities, and cost-effectiveness of lithium-ion batteries while reducing their environmental impact.