David Mora-Fonz

David Mora-Fonz

Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Data Science, Decarbonisation, Climate Change

Spanish & English

Universtiy College London

Welcome

I am computational materials chemist with interests in materials for energy applications, electronics and catalysis. Also, I am passionate about the use of data science for making organisations/processes more efficient.

I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineer at UJAT (Mexico) in 2011. In 2012, I moved to London to start my PhD in Computational Chemistry under the supervision of Prof Sir Richard Catlow at UCL. I received my PhD in 2016 and continued to work in collaboration with the UK Catalysis Hub at Harwell until 2017. From 2017 to 2020, I worked as Research Associate in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at UCL as part of the group of Prof Alexander Shluger. Since 2020, I am an Honorary Research Fellow at UCL. Between 2020 and 2022, I contributed as an advisor to the Secretariat of Energy Development in Tabasco, Mexico. Following that, I took on the role of Head of the Energy and Technologies Department at Centro Municipality in Tabasco. More recently, since 2023, I have been lecturing at Henan University of Engineering in China.

If you are more interested, please go to the CV section, where you can find more info, including awards, scholarships, research visits, reviewing & editing duties, international presentations, and so on.

My likes include chess, travelling, coffee, reading and real ale.

Interests

  • Amorphous materials
  • Metal oxides surfaces
  • Catalysis
  • Development of interatomic potentails
  • Semiconductor materials
  • Data science
  • Climate change

Education

  • PhD in Computational Chemistry, 2016

    University College London, UK

  • BSc in Chemical Engineering, 2010

    Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, México

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Lecturer

Henan University of Engineering

Jan 2023 – May 2024 Zhengzhou, Henan, China

Partner Bangor University via Edulink China

Responsibilities include:

  • Designed the course structure, planned module implementation, and managed grading of the following subjects:

    • Environmental Monitoring
    • Environmental Chemistry
    • Water, Air and Soil Pollution
 
 
 
 
 

Head of the Energy and Technologies Department

Centro Municipality

Oct 2021 – Sep 2022 Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico

Make the city greener & more energy/resource efficient

Achievements

  • Savings in electric bills (using data analysis):

    • more than $6,000,000 Mexican pesos
    • ~$250,000 Mexican pesos every month
  • CO2 reduction (using energy efficiency)

  • International Collaborations

    • UK (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions,UK PACT)
    • Germany (German Agency for International Cooperation, GIZ)
    • Denmark (Danish Embassy in Mexico & Danish Energy Agency)
 
 
 
 
 

Advisor

SEDENER

Nov 2020 – Aug 2022 Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
Contribute to better-informed decision-making on energy-related matters
 
 
 
 
 

Honorary Research Fellow

University College London

May 2020 – May 2024 London, UK
Collaborate with the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the design of materials used in energy applications and electronics
 
 
 
 
 

Research Associate

University College London

Apr 2017 – May 2020 London, UK

Responsibilities include:

  • Research & data analysis
  • Modelling amorphous oxides
  • Developing of interatomic potentials for layered materials and oxide semiconductors
  • Tutoring postgraduate students
  • Teaching
 
 
 
 
 

Postdoctoral Researcher

UK Catalysis Hub at Harwell

Apr 2016 – Mar 2017 Oxfordshire, UK

Responsibilities include:

  • Research & data analysis
  • Modelling of supported nanoparticles for catalytic applications

Recent Publications

If you would like to see the entire list, please go to my Google Scholar.

Inverse Perovskite Oxysilicides and Oxygermanides as Candidates for Nontoxic Infrared Semiconductor and Their Chemical Bonding Nature

We have synthesized inverse-perovskite-type oxy- silicides and oxygermanides represented by R3SiO and R3GeO (R = Ca and Sr) and studied …

Disorder-induced electron and hole trapping in amorphous TiO$_2$

Thin films of amorphous (a)-TiO2 are ubiquitous as photocatalysts, protective coatings, photoanodes and in memory application, where …

Making amorphous ZnO: Theoretical predictions of its structure and stability

ZnO is a transparent semiconductor with optoelectronic, thermoelectric and sensor applications, where using amorphous thin films …

Modeling of Intrinsic Electron and Hole Trapping in Crystalline and Amorphous ZnO

Recent advances in ultrafast liquid quenching and deposition of thin films on cold substrates make growing amorphous (a)-ZnO films …

Real and virtual polymorphism of titanium selenide with robust interatomic potentials

The first successful pairwise potential for a layered material, TiSe$_2$, has been parameterised to fit the experimental data, using a …

Contact

  • david.fonz.11@ucl.ac.uk
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
  • Please email to book an appointment
  • DM Me