Innovative batteries & fuel cells

Professor for physical chemistry & electrochemistry at Humboldt-University Berlin and head of a joint research group on operando battery analysis at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB)

Prof. Philipp Adelhelm has more than 10 years of research experience on materials for sodium (-ion) batteries and studied with his team various cell concepts (Na-ion, Na-S, Na-O2 and Na solid-state). He is co-editor of the book sodium-ion batteries published by Wiley (9/2022).

Scientific advisor

Prof. Dr. Michel Armand earned his Ph.D. in 1978. He was Director for Research at CNRS, France since 1989 and Professor at U. Montreal (1995−2004). He has pioneered the use of intercalation electrodes (1972), introduced polymer electrolytes (1978), new salts based on delocalized anions, (1986), organic electrode materials (1996) and the carbon coating for LiFePO4. He joined CIC Energigune in 2013, and present activities include new solvating polymers for lithium and sodium and new salts; Michel Armand has > 500 publications, a H factor of 95;  his work has been quoted > 45000 times. He is the recipient of several distinctions and honors including the silver medal (CNRS), the Faraday Division Award from the Royal Society (UK), the Pergamon and Volta gold medals.

Dr. Manuel Baumann is a researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis of the Karlsruhe Institute and lecturer for energy systems at Aalen University. He has a Bachelor degree in energy economics and a master in energy and environmental management. His PhD topic was about the sustainability assessment of energy storage technologies. He is coordinator of the sub-program 6 “Energy storage: Techno-economics and sustainability” of the Joint Program Energy Storage of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), affiliate of Post Lithium Storage Cluster of Excellence (Polis), part of the EU-Project Storage Research Infrastructure Eco-System (StoRIES) and other European and national projects. His research interests are technology assessment, decision-making methods, techno-economics, and life cycle assessment of energy storage technologies.

Scientific coordinator of the Electrochemical Energy Storage Area and group leader of the Advanced Electrode Materials group at CIC energiGUNE

Montse Casas-Cabanas is the scientific coordinator of the Electrochemical Energy Storage Area and group leader of the Advanced Electrode Materials group at CIC energiGUNE. She has about 20 years of experience in several battery technologies (Li-ion, Na-ion, solid state batteries, Ni-MH, etc.).

Her research interests focus on the design of battery materials and the understanding of phenomena that occur in energy storage devices through a multidisciplinary approach, with a focus in crystal chemistry.

She has developed the FAULTS software for the refinement of X-ray data of crystalline structures with planar defects. She is actively involved in the MESC+ (Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion) Erasmus Mundus master course. She was elected in 2021 Technical Advisor of the Batteries European Partnership Association (BEPA) Working Group 1 “Advanced Materials and Manufacturing” and is now Technical Leader of the “New Emerging Technologies” group in the Batteries Europe (BE) technology and innovation platform. She is also serving as vice-president of the Energy and Sustainability Specialized Group (GEEN) of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

She has been recently awarded with the 2021 Young Researcher award from the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry.

Executive Director of the Helmholtz-Institute Ulm for Electrochemical Energy Storage (HIU)

Prof. Dr. Maximilian Fichtner is Chemist and Executive Director of the Helmholtz-Institute Ulm for Electrochemical Energy Storage (HIU), where he is supervising the “Solid State Chemistry” Department.

He is also full professor for Solid State Chemistry at the Ulm University and head of the Research Unit “Energy Storage Systems” at the Institute for Nanotechnology of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). He is member of the Advisory Board for Battery Research of the German Ministry BMBF and Honorary professor at the University of Wales in Swansea, UK. Fichtner is scientific director of CELEST (Center for Electrochemical Energy Storage Ulm-Karlsruhe) and spokesperson of the DFG (German Research Foundation) Cluster of Excellence “Energy Storage Beyond Lithium” (POLiS) where 120 researchers are working on new ways to replace lithium in batteries by more sustainable elements.

His research interests are new principles for energy storage and the synthesis and investigation of related materials. Fichtner is author and co-author of approx. 400 refereed publications, conference- and book contributions, 20 patents and editor of a book on magnesium batteries. His h index is 59 (SCOPUS).

Project Leader at Research & Development EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, Germany

Magda works on optimization and efficient operation of stationary storage installations including testing and evaluation of innovative storage solutions. Introduction and efficient operation of sodium-based stationary storage is in a focus of her research and professional interest. She is also involved in the activities of EnBW related to lithium recovery from geothermal sources.

In parallel she is acquiring the qualification for lecturing in higher education (“Habilitation”) at TU Darmstadt and is a deputy coordinator of the Horizon 2020 granted project SIMBA (Sodium Ion and Sodium Metal Batteries, Grant Agreement no. 883753). Her research interests include innovative processing routes to obtain well-performing materials for lithium and beyond lithium technologies, as well as advances in recycling routes of Li-ion batteries.

Magda studied Chemistry at Technical University of Gdansk in Poland and received her PhD in Physical Chemistry at Burgundy University (Dijon, France) in 2007 and then moved to LITEN/CEA Grenoble as a research engineer. Later, she moved back to academia and continued her research on polymer-derived ceramics for energy-related applications as a postdoc and later Junior Group Leader in Material Science Department at TU Darmstadt, Germany.

Assistant Professor of Electrochemical Materials

Dr Ivana Hasa is Assistant Professor of Electrochemical Materials in WMG at the University of Warwick (UK) since 2020.

She is a chemist by background and for the past ten years her research activities have been focused on the development and characterization of battery materials and their implementation in cell prototypes.

She completed her PhD in 2015 on the design and characterization of sodium-ion battery materials at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). She has gained broad experience in electrochemical energy storage systems during her postdoctoral appointments at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (California, USA) and at the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (Germany).

Her current research activities are directed toward the understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic processes governing the chemistry of sodium-ion batteries. Design and synthesis of advanced functional materials and the understanding of their physical properties and electrochemical behaviour are the core of her research group interest. At the Energy Innovation Centre, she is also working toward the development and scale up of new battery chemistries from concept to full proven cell prototypes supervising PhD students, postodoctoral fellows and project engineers.

Ivana is also currently serving as elected Technical Advisor for “New Emerging Technologies” in the combined Working Group 1 for BatteRies Europe(BE)/Batteries European Partnership  Association (BEPA).

She is also a member of the Early Career Advisory Board of the journal Batteries & Supercaps.

Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)

Physicist, held several positions at the Fraunhofer Society and the Semiconductor industry before he entered the Ministry in 2009. Since then his responsibilities included material science and cybersecurity research. He was head of the Science and Technology department at the Embassy in Tokyo from 2015-19. Currently Ingo Höllein is Head of Division 523 - Materials Innovations, Batteries; Hereon, KIT.

Professor of Energy Materials, School of Metallurgy and Materials and lead of the Energy Materials Group (EMG).

The energy materials group investigates sustainability in novel battery technologies from materials, manufacturing, lifetime, and performance, parameterisation and recycling.

Prof Kendrick’s career to date has included industrial and academic roles leading to her current role as Professor of Energy Materials, where in add addition to group lead of the energy materials group (EMG), she is co-director of the Centre for Energy Storage (BCES) and member of the Birmingham Centre for Strategic Elements and Critical Materials (BCSECM) within the Birmingham Energy institute (BEI). The EMG investigates sustainability in novel battery technologies from materials, manufacturing, performance, parameterisation, and recycling. Her recent work has led to a 2021 joint UoB - Imperial College London (ICL) spin out company, based around the methods of experimental parameterisation of applied multi-physics cell models, called About:Energy, for which she is founder and director. Prior to UoB, she spent two years as Reader in WMG, University of Warwick. Before academia, she led innovations in the battery industry, latterly as Chief Technologist in Energy Storage at SHARP Laboratories of Europe Ltd (SLE) and prior to that for two innovative lithium-ion battery SMEs, Fife Batteries Ltd and Surion Energy Ltd.

She is fellow of the Royal Society of chemistry and for Institute of Metals, Mining and Materials (IoM3). Recently, she has been recognised for her research in sustainable batteries and her continued support to the research community through several awards; 2021 Faraday Institution (FI) Researcher Development Champion, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) 2021 Environment, Sustainability and Energy Division Mid-Career Award, and the 2019 Hothersall Memorial Award for outstanding services to Metal Finishing. She is currently on the energy materials board for IoM3, associate editor for the Institute of Physics (IoP) Journal of Physics, Materials, and advisory board for the RSC Journal of Materials Chemistry.

Prof Kendrick holds a PhD from Keele University, obtained as part of a postgraduate transfer partnership (PTP) scheme with CERAM Research, a MSc in new materials from the University of Aberdeen and a BSc in chemistry from the University of Manchester.

Professor in the Department of Applied Chemistry

Prof. Shinichi Komaba received his Ph.D. degree from Waseda University, Japan, in 1998 and then was a research associate at Iwate University, Japan, from 1998 to 2005. From 2003 to 2004, he also worked at the Institut de Chimie de la Matier̀ e Condenseé de Bordeaux, France, as a postdoctoral researcher. He joined the Tokyo University of Science as a faculty member in 2005. He was awarded the 2014 Resonate Award from Caltech, USA, and JSPS Prize in 2014. He also received a Prize for Science and Technology, The Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science,and Technology, Japan, in 2019. His current research focuses on material science and electrochemistry in rechargeable Li-, Na-, and K-ion batteries, capacitors, sensors, and biofuel cells.

Senior scientist and the team leader of the Battery Development and Reliability group

Education:

09/2000-07/2005 Ph.D. in Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
09/1996-07/2000 B.S. in Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Professional experience:
12/2018-present Team leader of the Battery Development and Reliability group, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA - Lead a diverse team of material scientists, electrical engineers, and chemical engineers to develop new battery technologies, perform economic analyses, and validate the battery reliability for energy storage applications. - Mentor and coach ~12 staff members and postdocs; Facilitate effective communication between staff members, program managers and sector leaders; Conduct staff performance review and hiring.
12/2009-present Scientist/Senior scientist, PNNL, Richland, WA - Lead/manage advanced Na-ion battery and aqueous Zn battery projects under Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Electricity’s Energy Storage program (2013-present). - Co-led industrial and DOE Vehicle Technology Office projects on the development of Si-based anodes for Li-ion batteries (2016-2020). - Spearheaded the development of porous structure Si materials and novel electrolytes for Li-ion battery anodes (2009-2016).
08/2005-11/2009 Postdoctoral research fellow, Stanford University, Stanford, CA - Pioneered the development of graphene nanoribbon semiconductors and carbon nanotube/graphene Langmuir-Blodgett films. - Developed carbon nanotubes of well-controlled diameter/chirality for nanoelectronics and bio applications.

Associate professor in the Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano

Jie Li is currently an associate professor in the Department of Energy, Politecnico di Milano (Italy), and she also serves as full editor for Journal of Power Sources. She received her PhD in Chemistry from Xiamen University (China) in 2008 and carried out post-doctoral research at the MEET Battery research center at University of Muenster, Germany. From 2012 to 2018, she was co-founded by three German ministries (BMBF, BMWi and BMU) to lead an independent young research group. Then, she worked in Helmholtz Institute Muenster (HI MS, Germany) for two years as a group leader before joining Politecnico di Milano. She is a co-author of more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, 1 book chapter and 5 patents. Her recent research interests are novel cathodes for lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, and aqueous battery systems.

Vice President of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL)

Prof. Ouyang is the Vice President of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and deputy director of 21C Laboratory. He is also a professor in Jiangxi Normal University and the highly cited Chinese researcher in 2020 (Physics, Elsvier). Academic and Professional Career: 2022.7 - Now Vice President of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) 2019.9 - Now Deputy Director of 21C Laboratory, CATL, China 2012.7 - Now Professor, Department of Physics, Jiangxi Normal University, China 2010.1 – 2011.1 Visiting Professor, Korean Institute of Science and Technology （KITS), Korea 2000.9 – 2012.7 Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Jiangxi Normal University, China 2005.8 – 2008.8 Postdoctoral, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Laussane, EPFL, Swiss 2002.9 – 2005.6 PhD in Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinse Academy of Science (CAS-IOP), China 1997.9 – 2000.6 Master in Theoretical Physics, Jiangxi Normal University, China 1993.9 – 1997.6 Bachelor in Physics, Jiangxi Normal University, China

Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry

Teófilo Rojo has been Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) since 1992. He is the co-author of over 600 articles, 14 book chapters and 2 books. His research is focused on Energy Storage Systems (batteries and supercapacitors)

From 2010 to 2020 he has been the Scientific Director of the CIC energiGUNE. He has been the chairman of the Solid-State Chemistry Group and Materials within the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) for ten years. He was awarded with the National Prize in Inorganic Chemistry by the RSEQ in 2013. He was appointed as a Correspondent Academic Member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Exacts, Physical and Natural Sciences in 2015. He was a Member of the Executive Committee of the Division of Solid-State Chemistry and Materials (DSSMC) from EuCheMS (2014-2016) and in 2016 he was appointed as a Member of the Chemistry and Energy of EuCheMS (European Chemical Science).

Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University

Nuria graduated in Chemistry from the University of Barcelona. After this, she pursued her PhD studies with Prof. Gregory in the Chemistry Department at the University of Glasgow. In 2013, she moved to the east coast of Scotland (School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews) to work as a Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Peter Bruce in energy storage materials. In 2014, she moved with Prof. Bruce and his research group to Oxford (Materials Department, University of Oxford) to work as a Research Fellow where she took up the role of Team Leader of the Sodium-ion battery team. She started her independent career as a Lecturer in Chemistry at Lancaster University in 2017 and got promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2020.

Her interests focus on the physics and chemistry of materials for energy storage, primarily in the area of electrochemical energy storage devices, such as rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors, at both fundamental and applied levels. She was awarded the STFC Batteries Experimental Design (2016) and Proof of Concept (2017) awards, and the Lancaster's Science and Technology Research of the Year Award (2021).

Director of Technology at FARADION

Ruth has worked for Faradion since 2012, now in her current role as Director of Technology, she has supported the company to grow and evolve since joining as a Research Scientist in its early start-up days. She gained her Materials Science MEng at Imperial College London where she was awarded the Charles Salter Prize, as well as gaining the AT Green Award for Excellence in Ceramics from the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining. Ruth gained her doctorate at Imperial College London in 2010 and was awarded the John Kilner Prize for Energy Materials for her thesis on cathode materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells. She has numerous patents and publications in the fields of fuel cells and sodium-ion batteries. 

Chair in Sustainable Energy Materials at Imperial College London and a Chair in Emerging Technologies via the Royal Academy of Engineering

Magda Titirici has a PhD from University of Dortmund and Habiltation from Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces/University of Potsdam. Previously she was a Reader and Professor at Queen Mary University of London and is currently a Chair in Sustainable Energy Materials at Imperial College London and a Chair in Emerging Technologies via the Royal Academy of Engineering. Magda has published over 300 papers in the area of sustainable energy materials, batteries beyond Li ion as well as the conversion of small molecules such as water, CO2, nitrogen and biomass to useful chemicals and fuels. Her work was recognised by many awards, among which the 2021 Royal Society Kavli medal and Price.

Head of Research and Development at SVOLT Energy Technology Europe

Lisset Urrutia is Head of Research and Development at SVOLT Energy Technology Europe. Lisset’s goal is to set up the right facilities to give support to SVOLT’s customers, drive the establishment of the local supply chain as well as look into advanced technologies.

As a chemical engineer with a master’s degree from Université Paul Sabatier (Toulouse III) in electrochemistry, she has more than twelve years of practical experience in the development of both lithium-ion and post lithium-ion batteries as well as production processes. Throughout her career, Lisset has held international positions at companies like Baxter, Smurfit Kappa or OXIS Energy. She has previously worked in Colombia, Spain, England, China and now Germany.

CEO, Natron Energy

Work History:

• April, 2012 to present: CEO, Natron Energy.

• September, 2008 to June, 2012: Research Assistant, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), Stanford University (Prof. Yi Cui, advisor).

• September, 2008 to June, 2012: Teaching Assistant, MSE, Stanford.

• March, 2007 to December, 2007: Research Assistant, MSE, Stanford (Prof. Bruce Clemens, advisor).

• June, 2006 to March, 2007: Research Assistant, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford (Prof. Craig Heller, advisor).

Associate Professor and ALTRIS co-founder

Reza Younesi is currently leading a group of 12 PhD students, Postdoctoral researchers and master students at Uppsala University. The research focus at his team is on interfacial reaction in rechargeable batteries and materials development for sodium-ion & lithium-ion batteries. Reza is also actively involved in R&D at Altris AB, an spin-off company from his group which aims to commercialize sodium-ion batteries.

Dr. Younesi has >90 scientific papers, reviews, and patents. He has previously received research grants from several Swedish and European funding agencies, including the Swedish Energy Agency, Formas, VINNOA, ÅForsk foundation, Horizon Europe 2022, etc.

He worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in 2013-2014. Reza received his Ph.D. from the department of Chemistry–Ångström Laboratory in Uppsala University and M.Sc. from Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden.