Antoni Forner Cuenca

Antoni (Toni) Forner-Cuenca studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Alicante (Spain), where he graduated as class Valedictorian in 2013. During his undergraduate studies, Toni performed research at the University of Kentucky, Center for Applied Energy Research, and SABIC Innovative Plastics. In 2013, Toni decided to pursue an academic career and moved to Zurich for his graduate education. At the Paul Scherrer Institute and ETH Zurich, Toni initiated the development of novel gas diffusion layers with patterned wettability for polymer electrolyte fuel cells under the supervision of Dr. Pierre Boillat and Prof. Thomas J. Schmidt. Toni obtained his PhD in November 2016 and his work was recognized with the ETH Zurich Medal 2017 for outstanding PhD thesis and the Electrochemical Society Energy Technology Graduate Student Award 2017.

Later, at the beginning of 2017, Toni joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow. At MIT, Toni worked on the development of advanced electrodes for redox flow batteries. The focus on his work was two-fold. First, Toni elucidated the role of electrode microstructure on the performance of the device. The elucidated structure-function relationships are leveraged to design tailored electrodes. Second, Toni explored the role of surface treatments on electrodes to enhance electrochemical kinetics, increase hydrophilicity, and extend durability. On February 2019, Toni became Assistant Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry.

Antoni Forner-Cuenca has been recently appointed as Assistant Professor in the Membrane Materials and Processes Group, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology. The ultimate goal of his research is to enable the deployment of transformative energy technologies in the real world. To do so, he employs fundamental principles at the convergence of materials science, electrochemical engineering, and surface science to synthesize, characterize, simulate, and implement novel materials into next-generation electrochemical devices. We are especially interested in understanding complex transport through porous media, synthesizing functional polymeric coatings, and developing advanced in operando characterization techniques. We currently work on multiple electrochemical technologies including but not limited to fuel cells, electrolyzers, and redox flow batteries.