Objective

Through the Mentor-Mentee Pair Programme, StoRIES offers PhD students the support of excellent senior scientists and engineers. In the programme, PhD students will be mentees under the guidance and supervision of senior research mentors from academia or industry. The mentor must be external, not the student’s official PhD supervisor from their own organization. StoRIES believes that successful thesis activities, which prepare students for their future work, should include opportunities for networking and developing soft skills, as well as gaining knowledge on topics not directly related to the thesis. PhD students working on energy storage technologies will have a great opportunity to meet with expert mentors to discuss their work and its impact, and take a broader perspective.

Procedure

1. If you would like to become one of the StoRIES mentors, please apply by contacting Pınar Arpaçay (KIT) and Olga Sumińska-Ebersoldt (KIT) by email.

2. The mentor (PhD supervisor) is asked to submit a short CV, while the mentee (PhD student) submits a CV and thesis description. As the mentor must agree to the mentee's participation in the programme, his/her email address should be included in the application email.

3. The application will be assessed within one month, after the application email. Mentor-mentee pairs must be accepted by the Education Programme Management Committee (EPMC) of StoRIES.

Implementation

The collaboration between the mentor and mentee established under the StoRIES programme should include the following:

• Regular online meetings, scheduled at intervals agreed upon by both parties (e.g., every 4, 6, or 8 weeks), will be held to discuss the PhD work, progress, challenges, and plans for the coming months.

• A face-to-face meeting can be arranged upon request, ideally in a location of mutual interest for both the mentor and mentee. This could be, for example, the research organization of the mentor or mentee. However, it is highly recommended that this meeting can take place during the Third StoRIES Summer School, scheduled for summer 2025.

• Either the mentee or the mentor will apply for the reimbursement to attend the face-to-face meeting and StoRIES will cover the costs of travel, accommodation and daily expenses for a stay up to 3 nights. Please note that StoRIES will not cover the costs of both parties. The application for reimbursement must be done by either the doctoral candidate or the mentor before the trip. Please contact Pınar Arpaçay (KIT) to receive the confirmation that your expenses will be covered before travelling. Depending on the decision of EPMC, a confirmation of reimbursement will be sent, or a refusal will be justified. The budget rules for reimbursement will be shared before the trip. The last request for reimbursement will be accepted by the end of July 2025.

• In order to receive financial support, the report on the mentoring programme must be submitted after the mentor's or mentee's travel, together with all relevant travel invoices for expenses. The report must include information about the dissertation, the added value of the programme, and a communication flow (meetings) to be confirmed by both parties. The report template can be downloaded here. After completing the report together, the mentee must ensure that the mentor is in carbon copy (cc) when sending the report to Pınar Arpaçay (KIT). The report will be published on the StoRIES website.

• The collaboration between the mentor and the mentee must end automatically with the end of the PhD study or with the end of the StoRIES project (31/10/2025). Even if the formal collaboration and support ends with the StoRIES project, the mentor and mentee are encouraged to continue their collaboration as they see fit.

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Potential Collaboration Ideas

The mentor and mentee jointly make the final decision on the content of the collaboration, considering the program's objective. Here are some potential collaboration ideas for the program, including but not limited to the following:

• The mentor leads the mentee in their area of expertise.

• Collaborate/support on writing a research paper.

• Utilize the facilities at the mentor's organization to help the mentee acquire new skills.

• By regularly attending the mentor’s online group meetings, the mentee can develop soft skills for effective communication and teamwork, and expand their professional network. These meetings also encourage idea exchange, fostering creativity and collaboration. Additionally, the mentee can practice presentations, enhancing public speaking skills and understanding of scientific concepts.

• Working together to write a proposal for potential future research funding opportunities enables the mentee to develop their writing skills during the PhD and can create opportunities for their future career.

These collaborative efforts can significantly enrich the mentee's PhD experience and contribute to their professional development.

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Mentor-Mentee Pairs

In March 2023, StoRIES' first mentor-mentee pair began their collaboration. Prof. Stefano Passerini, senior expert advisor at Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) and senior professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), will support Hüseyin Ersoy from KIT with his expertise in the PhD thesis entitled ‘Application of constructive sustainability assessment (CSA) for emerging energy storage technologies’. The central question of the dissertation project is to identify how can constructive sustainability assessment (CSA) approach be used to develop a sustainable and economically feasible Al-air battery for seasonal energy storage, while minimizing negative impacts and identifying opportunities for improvement through informed decision-making. To this aim, the dissertation aims evaluation of LCSA methodologies, and provide a full application case that will act as a blueprint for full assessment of an emerging energy storage technologies. The cumulative dissertation will be carried out with 3 papers concerning methodology review and evaluation, a full LCSA of an emerging Al-air battery, and a conclusive research article about the impact of integrating sustainable thinking in early design phases.

StoRIES introduced its second mentor-mentee pair in Mentoring Programme in January 2024. Researcher Dr. Manuel Baumann from Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) in KIT will support Irena Beloreshka from Faculty of Management in Technical University of Sofia in her PhD project with the title of ‘Research into and development of economic models for the construction of battery-based electricity storage systems’. The main objective of the work is hybrid projects involving a renewable generation asset and battery-based energy storage system in Bulgaria. The project is aimed to assess the business case, funding gap, and identify possible additional revenue streams for the storage array. The case of a standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) to provide energy-storage-as-a-service in Bulgaria will also be explored as well as a suitable tariff structure and calculation. The research considers various technical options and configurations with reviewing regulatory frameworks, proposing measures to address any gaps identified.

In September 2024, StoRIES welcomed the third mentor-mentee pair collaboration between senior researcher Prof. Giovanni Battista Appetecchi from ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Sustainable Economic Development) and PhD student Luigi Jacopo Santa Maria from JLU Gießen. Dr. Appetecchi will support Santa Maria in his PhD project entitled ‘Microstructure effects in sodium-based composites for all-solid-state batteries’. The doctorate project focuses on the development and validation of electro-chemo-mechanical microstructure-resolved models and simulation for sodium solid-state batteries (Na SSB). Furthermore, the PhD work will focus on developing electrode design proposals with a special focus on their performances. This study is a part of the HiPoBat project, a German-French research project dedicated to batteries for high power applications.

StoRIES continued to grow with the fourth mentor-mentee pair in September 2024. Prof. Linda Barelli from the University of Perugia will support Monica Giovannucci from the University of Bologna in her PhD thesis entitled ‘Use of green supercapacitors to improve redox flow battery performance: testing and modelling’. The doctorate research aims to develop hybrid storage systems combining Redox Flow Batteries (RFBs) and Supercapacitors (SCs). Initially supported by the HyFlow European project, the work focuses on creating a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) that exploits the high specific power of SCs and the large storage capacity of Vanadium RFBs. The project also explores eco-friendly electrolytes for SCs. Furthermore, the research includes testing a lab-scale Vanadium Redox Flow Cell connected directly to SCs, forming a HESS without power converters. A MATLAB model was used to analyze current flow and optimize system capacitance. Preliminary results are promising, and the next steps involve economic evaluation and expanding to other battery types and HESS applications.

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StoRIES expanded in October 2024 with the addition of the fifth mentor-mentee pair. Dr Sai Gourang Patnaik, a researcher from the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC), will mentor PhD student Mayank Joshi from Politecnico di Torino and CNR-ITAE Messina on his PhD project entitled ‘Exploring Na-ion battery electrode materials through electrospinning utilizing organic materials’. The PhD project focuses on developing environmentally friendly and sustainable materials for sodium-based energy storage technologies, including sodium-ion and sodium-air batteries. In order to improve energy storage performance, it aims to create organic anode materials that can function as self-standing electrodes without requiring a binder. The research also includes the investigation of hybrid (organic/inorganic) and organic electrocatalysts derived from biomass conversion and organic polymers for use in sodium-ion, sodium-air and redox flow batteries. The project, funded by CNR ITAE, aims to accelerate the development of innovative, sustainable materials. These materials will be tested in full battery cells to evaluate their charge/discharge efficiency and capacity retention, advancing sodium-based technologies as a safer and more cost-effective alternative to lithium-ion batteries.

Finally, in October 2024, the StoRIES Mentoring Programme brought together its sixth mentor and mentee. Prof. John Irvine from the University of St. Andrews will support PhD student Deepa Davison from the University Carlos Ⅲ of Madrid (UC3M) and Iberian Energy Storage Research Center (CIIAE) on her doctorate project entitled ‘Synthesis and processing technologies for reversible proton conducting ceramic cells (r-PCC)’. This PhD project aims to drive innovation in the development of cost-effective, energy-efficient reversible r-PCCs, with a focus on both electrode-supported and metal-supported designs. The research will explore the formulation of advanced proton-conducting ceramics with high conductivity, as well as an appropriate thermo-chemical & thermo-mechanical stability and sufficient catalytic activity. In addition to material development, the project will focus on optimizing manufacturing techniques such as Powder Extrusion Moulding, Powder Injection Moulding, and Tape-casting of Oil/Water emulsion for the fabrication of optimized ceramic/metallic supports. This research aligns closely with the objectives of the European-funded ALCHEMHY project, which is investigating the use of renewable hydrogen as a feedstock in innovative production routes, contributing to EU's climate-neutrality objectives.

If you need more information or would like to become one of the StoRIES mentors, please contact Pınar Arpaçay (KIT) and Olga Sumińska-Ebersoldt (KIT).