Looking back at a succesful Joint 4TU.Energy & 4TU.HTM Workshop

Joint Workshop 4TU.Energy & 4TU.High-Tech Materials

Energy Materials, Technologies and Sustainable Recycling Strategies (Utrecht, 13 May 2025)

On 13 May 2025, the joint workshop organized by 4TU.High-Tech Materials and 4TU.Energy at De Witte Vosch in Utrecht successfully brought together early-stage researchers in energy materials (one of the 10 priorities in the National Technology Strategy) to find common ground, share expertise, and explore future collaborations.

The event was opened with warm welcome speeches by Arjan Mol (Delft University of Techonology | Scientific Director of 4TU.HTM) and David Smeulders (Eindhoven University of Technology | Scientific Director of 4TU.Energy), who both emphasized the value and potential of joint initiatives in strengthening our research communities.

During the plenary session, chaired by Diletta Giuntini (Eindhoven University of Technology), we saw some insightful presentations by Marta Costa Figueiredo (Eindhoven University of Technology | about materials challenges in electrocatalysis) and Harry Bitter (Wageningen University & Research | about functional materials for direct air capture and conversion).

This session was followed by two engaging parallel sessions on, chaired by Ruud Kortlever (Delft University of Technology) and Amir Mahmoudi (University of Twente):

Materials for Fuel Cells: Vassilis Kyriakou (University of Groningen) and Aayan Banerjee (University of Twente)
Materials for CO₂ Capture: Louis de Smet (Wageningen University & Research) and Claas Willem Visser (University of Twente)

After a networking lunch and poster session, the afternoon featured two plenary presentations chaired by Harry Bitter (WUR):

on remanufacturing, a new challenge for additive manufacturing by Ian Gibson (University of Twente)
on recycling strategies for energy materials by Shoshan Abrahami (Delft University of Technology)

Speakers pitch session

Navid Alinejadian (UT) - To Be Miscible, Or Not To Be, That Is The Question!
Ivo Dusek (Magneto BV) - Progress on shaping of advanced materials via additive manufacturing
Alaaeldin Elozeiri (WUR) - Traffic regulations for ion-exchange membranes in electrodialysis
Kevin Fernández Caso (TUD) - From heat to scale: temperature-driven stability in copper-based CO₂ electrolysis
Amin Hodaei (UT) - Additive Manufacturing of Energy Storage and Conversion Systems
Rajath Raj Mohan Raj Chadayan (UT) - Challenges and approaches to design serial production of hydrogen electrolyzers
Tim Nijssen (TUD) - Carbon capture and Direct Air Capture : Bridging the scale gap
Giuditta Perversi (Maastricht University)- Seeing a cocktail mix: compositionally complex perovskites for oxygen-ion conduction
Ellis van Keulen (WUR) - Next-Generation Non-Fluorinated Proton Exchange Membranes

An interactive pitch session gave young researchers a platform to present their projects and was followed by additional parallel sessions on:

Materials for Electrolysers: Marco Altomare (University of Twente) and Khatereh Roohi (Delft University of Technology)
CO₂ Capture & Conversion Processes: Jingxiu Xie (University of Groningen) and Elsa Best (Delft University of Technology)

The day concluded with informal networking over drinks and bites - a perfect ending to a day full of scientific exchange and inspiration.

Thanks to all scientific committee members for shaping such a rich program, and to all speakers and participants for making the day a success! Stay tuned for future workshops and joint initiatives, including potential funding proposals!