Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e)
The Netherlands
Project Coordinator
Henk Huinink
As the initiator and project coordinator, Henk brings extensive experience as an Associate Professor at the Applied Physics Science and Education (APSE) Department. His expertise lies in thermochemical energy storage (TCES) and thermochemical materials (TCM), with a focus on low-temperature applications for the built environment and the use of salt hydrates in this context. Henk has led significant research efforts in materials development within large-scale H2020
Joey Aarts
With a background in chemical engineering and chemistry, Joey contributes invaluable insights gained during his PhD at the Transport in Permeable Media (TPM) group at TU/e. His research centered on salt hydrates for heat storage, particularly focusing on enhancing the long-term performance of these materials.
Hyerin Seo
As a PhD candidate at the Transport in Permeable Media group at TU/e, Hyerin is dedicated to discovering innovative thermochemical materials. Her background in chemical engineering enables her to contribute to advancements in heat storage technologies.
Dasol Choi
As a postdoctoral researcher at the Transport in Permeable Media (TPM) group at TU/e, Dasol contributes to the synthesis of thermochemical materials with a background in chemical engineering. His research focused on salt deliquescence for heat storage, particularly enhancing the storage performance and stability under low-temperature applications by material tailoring
Deutsches Zentrum Fur Luft – Und Raumfahrt Ev (DLR)
Germany
Project Partner
Marc Linder
Group leader at DLR since 2011 from the research group “Thermochemical Systems”, specializing in reversible gas-solid reactions for thermochemical energy storage (TES) and conversion. With a wealth of expertise in energy engineering and a prolific track record of over 90 scientific publications and 30 patents, Marc is instrumental in pushing the boundaries of innovative technical applications. His main research interest lies in the potential utilization of the specific chemical properties of reversible gas-solid reactions in innovative technical applications.
Inga Bürger
Leading WP4 of the 4TunaTES project, Inga is a permanent researcher at DLR’s Department of Thermal Process Engineering. Her expertise lies in gas-solid reactions across various thermochemical applications, ranging from heat storage, heat upgrade and refrigeration to gas storage. In the past years, her main focus have been on reaction systems with metal hydrides and hydrogen trying to utilize synergies between two main pillars of the future energy system: hydrogen
Lucas Sotelo
Is pursuing his doctoral studies in WP4 of the 4TunaTes project, developing theoretical concepts for the charging and discharging of the system using both thermal energy and electricity sources. His aim is to consolidate these concepts into a prototype that facilitates the implementation of TES. Lucas Sotelo completed his degree in chemical engineering with a focus on production processes, followed by a specialization in technological applications of nuclear energy.
Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (CNR)
Italy
Project Partner
Valeria Palomba
As a Research Technologist, Valeria brings a wealth of experience to the table. She has a background and PhD in Materials and Construction Engineering and Chemistry from the University of Messina. She is a key researcher at CNR ITAE since 2017, working on thermal energy conversion and storage systems for residential (air conditioning, air treatment, medium and long term storage) and mobile applications (waste heat recovery from internal combustion engines). The activity is carried out in a TRL range from 4 to 7 and combines experimental characterization of components and prototypes and numerical activities, mainly through the use of Comsol, Dymola, Python software. She is the scientific manager of various European projects.
Giosuè Giacoppo
With a background in Aerospace Engineering and over a decade of experience at CNR ITAE, Giosuè is a seasoned expert in fuel cell design, testing, and numerical modeling. His research activities, encompassing additive manufacturing and numerical simulations, have significantly contributed to the development of sustainable energy devices. Giosuè’s dedication and expertise make him a valuable asset to the 4TunaTES project.
Mohamed Chairi
As a postdoctoral researcher at CNR-ITAE in Messina, Italy, with a PhD in Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2024), Mohamed focuses on composite materials, additive manufacturing, and advanced heat exchanger design. Within 4TunaTES, he is responsible for developing and testing TPMS-based heat exchangers for thermochemical energy storage. His work integrates experimental validation and numerical simulations to optimize structural and thermal efficiency, supporting the development of scalable and sustainable TES solutions.
Antonio Fotia
As a researcher, Antonio specialized in the synthesis and characterization of composite materials based on hydrated salts for thermochemical energy storage. His research is focused on optimizing material performance in terms of stability, cyclability, and energy density, with the aim of developing efficient and sustainable energy storage solutions. Since joining CNR ITAE, he has contributed to bridging the gap between laboratory innovation and scalable technologies, combining experimental activities with applied research.
Within the 4TunaTES project, Antonio plays a key role in the experimental testing of a developed heat exchanger, assessing its integration and effectiveness in thermochemical energy storage systems.
Roberta De Salvo
She holds a degree in Chemistry and is currently a research fellow at the CNR-ITAE Institute, with a PhD program about to begin. Her work focuses on advanced research in technologies for the conversion and storage of thermal energy from renewable sources, with particular attention to energy efficiency and sustainability. Within the project, Roberta’s role is centered on the synthesis, development, and characterization of innovative materials for thermal energy storage and conversion across different applications.
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
Belgium
Project Partner
Frederik Tielens
Frederik graduated in Chemistry and earned his PhD degree in Theoretical Chemistry at VUB. Following various post-doc positions and industry experience, he became an assistant professor at UPMC in Paris. Since 2017, he has been a professor at VUB and became Maître de Conferences “hors classe” of the Sorbonne University. He is head of the ALGC/Materials Modelling Group within the department of Chemistry of the VUB.
Ionut Tranca
Leading work package 2, Prof. Dr. Ionut Tranca is a Research Professor specialized in multiscale modelling and machine learning technologies. In the field of thermochemical heat storage he pioneered the usage of evolutionary algorithms and advanced chemical bonding analysis to predict the structure, stability and properties of salt hydrates and oxides for heat storage applications. He has also initiated and contributes to the development of Grand Canonical Monte Carlo and Gibbs ensemble codes for modelling thermochemical reactions in bulk and porous media.
Zhaochun Liu
An computational expert in sustainable energy technologies, Zhaochun specializes in multiscale simulations to optimize oxide-supported metal catalysts for CO2 reduction and biomass-to-X processes. He excels in electrochemical process modeling, biomass conversion, and thermochemical reactions. Proficient in computational techniques (GA, GCMC, ANNP, MLP) and simulations (AIMD, DFT), he utilizes software like VASP, CP2K, and Gaussian, and is skilled in programming (C, Python). His research focuses on heat storage and battery design improvement using advanced ML methods.
Mohammad Monir
His research, supported by the 4TunaTeS grant, will focus on identifying advanced materials for tunable thermochemical heat storage using computational modeling.
Mohammad earned a Master’s degree in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry through the Erasmus Mundus program, with his studies taking place at KU Leuven, Belgium. He completed his master’s thesis at the University of Nantes, France.
Iberian Centre For Research In Energy Storage (CIIAE)
Spain
Project Partner
Aleksandr Shkatulov
One of the initiators of the 4TunaTES project and a Senior Researcher at the new Iberian Centre for Research in Energy Storage in Spain. Aleksandr is an expert in thermochemical energy storage with focus on material science, including materials design for thermochemical and absorptive systems, enhancement of material stability and reactivity for use in households, energy production systems, and industry. His scientific interests encompass materials based on hydroxides and carbonates for thermochemical energy storage at medium temperatures (T = 200-600°C) as well as salt hydrates and porous adsorbents (e.g., silicas, MOFs) capable for heat storage and transformation at low temperatures (T < 100°C). His recent Marie Curie Fellowship, OxiTES, was dedicated to computational screening of new oxide-based materials promising for thermochemical energy storage.
Research to Market Solution (R2M)
Italy
Project Partner
In the project from M16 onwards
Marco Rocchetti
Marco Rocchetti is a mechanical engineers and certified Energy Manager (EGE-UNI 11339) and a mechanical engineer specialized in renewable energy and energy saving. He being in charge of the Energy & Technology in the Innovation Department and contribute as proposal writer. He gained experience in business management by participating in the creation and development of an innovative start-up company.
Marco Calderoni
Marco Calderoni is mechanical engineer specialized on renewable heating and cooling. He is technical manager at R2M Solution, being in charge of quality assurance, staff resources management and training. He is also manager of European funded research projects on thermal renewables, thermal energy storage and district heating and cooling. Marco is chairman of the Renewable Heating and Cooling European Technology Platform.
Yannick Herve Bang
Yannick obtained his Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Padua. After graduation, he continued in academic research, where with a thesis titled “DEVELOPMENT AND OPTIMIZATION OF MEMBRANE ELECTRODE ASSEMBLIES (MEA) FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE FUEL CELLS AND TESTS IN PROTOTYPE DEVICES”, he earned his PhD.
In 2023, with the global and innovative advancements in renewable energy and climate change, along with its impacts, he opted to shift from academia to the “new” industrial sector. To refresh his background on new energy standards and technologies relevant to energy efficiency, Yannick obtained a master’s degree from the Polytechnic University of Milan (MASTER RIDEF 2.0, REINVENTARE L’ENERGIA).
Yannick concluded his master’s degree by doing an internship at the company “R2M Solution”, focusing on Horizon Europe financing programs for residential thermal storage, and has been working there as an energy consultant since 2025.
Cellcius Bv (CEL)
The Netherlands
Project Partner
In the project from M1 to M13
Pim Donkers
Dr. Pim Donkers is a researcher specializing in thermal heat storge (TCM) since 2010 started as a PhD at the TU/e. He is the co-founder of Cellcius, a company he launched with Olaf Adan in 2020, focused on innovative thermal energy storage solutions for domestic heating solution on single and multifamily houses. Cellcius work aims to develop cutting-edge technology to store and reuse heat on moments of shortage of energy. Donkers’ expertise lies in integration TCM in the battery design and system integration.
Tom Chermin
Tom Chermin is an all-round engineer at Cellcius, a company that develops batteries to store and reuse heat to match supply and demand. Tom has a background in mechanical engineering. At Cellcius he specializes in system integration and optimization.