Fitxa persona

Dr. Daniel Tordera is an Associate Professor of Physical Chemistry at the Universitat de València and a researcher at the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol). He currently serves as Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Chemistry, where he also contributes to the coordination of educational innovation. His profile combines fundamental and applied research in optoelectronic materials, university teaching, knowledge transfer, and academic leadership.

Scientific Career

His research follows a chemistry-driven approach to the design of functional materials, interfaces, and device architectures for robust optoelectronic technologies. Throughout his career, he has connected fundamental physical and chemical mechanisms with device engineering, scalable processing, and real-world applications in light emission, sensing, imaging, and healthcare.

• Ionic materials for light emission (2010–2015): During his PhD at the Universitat de València, he investigated the operating mechanisms of light-emitting electrochemical cells, establishing how ion transport, electrochemical doping, and exciton quenching determine turn-on time, efficiency, brightness, and operational stability. This mechanistic understanding guided the selection of materials and operating conditions for fast, efficient, and stable devices. His doctoral work received the Outstanding Doctorate Award from the Universitat de València and the Nanomatmol Award for the best Spanish PhD in Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials from the Real Sociedad Española de Química. He subsequently co-founded LEC-VAL Lighting S.L. to transfer this technology to the market; the company was selected by the Repsol Entrepreneurship Fund as one of its most innovative business proposals.
• Optical and plasmonic nanomaterials (2015–2017): As a postdoctoral researcher at Linköpings Universitet, he explored how nanoscale optical fields and plasmonic heating can be coupled to material and device functionality, enabling materials platforms for energy and sensing, with examples such as a plasmonic-based display, a ZnO-based large-scale photoconductive paper and a novel thermoplasmonic thermistor concept.
• Large-area organic photodetectors and imaging (2017–2020): As a Senior Researcher at Holst Centre-TNO he led research on near-infrared organic photodetectors for biometric and healthcare applications, covering materials development, device engineering, large-area fabrication, and systems integration. The resulting technologies included a non-contact vein-pattern large-area imager, Fabry–Perot spectrally selective photodetectors, imagers for biomedical readouts (PPG and pulse oximetry) and large-area fingerprint arrays with an FBI-standard resolution. He also led the strategic roadmap, intellectual property portfolio, business development, and industrial collaborations of this research line, working with major high-technology and consumer-electronics companies.
• OLEDs, perovskite LEDs and perovskite photodetectors (2020–present): At the Universitat de València, his research examines how composition, defect chemistry, interfaces and device architecture can be engineered to improve the performance, stability, uniformity, and manufacturability of organic and perovskite devices. Two lines of research drive this effort: (i) light-emitting devices: development of OLED architectures enabled by perovskite transport layers and research on perovskite LED strategies targeting stability and uniformity at the device level; (ii) perovskite photodetectors: studying novel approaches for perovskite visible and biomedical sensing platforms such as semitransparent bifacial NIR perovskite photodetectors, tunable narrowband perovskite–perovskite tandems, and vacuum-deposited perovskite photodiodes for X-ray detection, among others.

Dr. Tordera has authored 78 journal articles and 1 book chapter, with over 3,900 citations and an h-index of 36, and holds two ANECA-recognized six-year research evaluation periods (“sexenios”). His work has been presented at over 60 national and international conferences. His research has generated five international patents in emissive devices, optical filtering, biomedical imaging, and large-area sensing. He has served as principal investigator in three competitively funded research projects and has participated in twelve additional national and European projects. He has co-supervised three doctoral theses completed between 2023 and 2025 and continues to supervise doctoral researchers in perovskite photodetectors and light-emitting devices. He has also supervised five MSc theses, seven bachelor’s theses, visiting doctoral researchers, and students undertaking research and external placements.

His scientific contributions have resulted in multiple awards and honors such as Journal of Materials Chemistry C Emerging Investigator (RSC, 2022), the XVIII Scientific Technical Award Ciutat d’Algemesí (2023), the Society for Information Display Distinguished Paper Award (2019), the Nanomatmol Award for the best PhD in Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials in Spain (RSEQ, 2015) and the E-MRS Spring Meeting Young Scientist Award (E-MRS, 2012), among others. He was also shortlisted twice for the Journal of Materials Chemistry Lectureship Award (RSC, 2023 and 2024). He is a trusted evaluator for major funding bodies (European Research Executive Agency, European Innovation Council, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Austrian Science Fund, Latvian Council of Science) and a reviewer for the major editorial groups (Wiley, ACS, RSC, Springer Nature). He has been a visiting researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Cornell University, and Columbia University.

Teaching and Educational Innovation

Dr. Tordera has taught more than 1,350 official hours across the degrees in Chemistry, Pharmacy, Human Nutrition and Dietetics, and Criminology, combining lectures, laboratory teaching, computing-based instruction, research projects, and external placements. He has also delivered postgraduate teaching in international research management at ITMO University. His teaching quality has received sustained institutional and student recognition. He obtained the maximum possible score in the Universitat de València DOCENTIA evaluation, with an “Excellent” rating of 200 points, and his student evaluations have consistently remained at a high level across theoretical, laboratory, and computing subjects. He holds one recognised five-year teaching evaluation period.

His educational practice focuses on active learning, question-driven instruction, gamification, scientific debates, interdisciplinary learning, and the responsible integration of digital and artificial-intelligence tools. He has designed and implemented escape-room activities for chemistry teaching, redesigned Physical Chemistry laboratory instruction in Pharmacy, and led a project integrating digital teaching tools. He has published seven contributions on educational innovation and has presented this work at more than twenty national and international conferences. He is actively involved in the interdisciplinary educational innovation initiative Innocampus Explora Burjassot-Paterna and has led two additional educational innovation projects. Through these activities, he contributes to connecting scientific disciplines, promoting active and collaborative learning, and strengthening communication between science and society.

Beyond his own teaching, Dr. Tordera contributes to professional development in higher education. He has delivered university training courses for his peers on educational escape rooms and on the strategic design of teaching and research projects for academic promotion, and he has participated in the organisation of the national INDOQUIM Chemistry Education Meeting.

Academic Leadership and Management

Since September 2025, Dr. Tordera has served as Vice-Dean for Student Recruitment and Employability at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Universitat de València. In this role, he coordinates initiatives related to student recruitment, transition into university studies, employability, links with companies, and the visibility of Chemistry among prospective students. He also organises the Faculty’s Employment Fair and co-coordinates outreach programmes connecting the university with secondary schools. He has also been Coordinator of Educational Innovation at the Faculty of Chemistry since 2022. His responsibilities include promoting and coordinating educational innovation activities, supporting interdisciplinary projects, facilitating the exchange of teaching practices, and representing the Faculty in national and European educational networks. 

Internationally, he is Spain’s elected representative on the IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education (CCE) for 2026–2027 and one of five Spanish representatives serving across IUPAC divisions during this biennium. He also represents the Faculty of Chemistry in the European Chemistry Thematic Network (ECTN), contributing to the organisation of its Summer School and General Assembly.