Mattia Felice Palermo

Technology Development Lead – Energy Storage | Battery Materials & Cell Design | Experimental & Modeling R&D

Spain

About

Technology development lead in energy storage, with experience across corporate R&D, startups, and research centers. I currently lead battery technology development programs, combining experimental electrochemistry, cell prototyping and molecular modeling. My work focuses on technology development and maturation, coordinating multi-partner projects and advancing concepts into reproducible technologies. I am motivated by translating research into real-world solutions through system-level thinking, drawing on experience across industrial and fundamental research and integrating experimental and modeling R&D.

Experience

  • Senior Scientist – Project Lead (Electrochemical Energy Storage) at CIC energiGUNE
    Nov 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 9 mos

    • Lead battery technology development Zn–air systems, supervising electrolyte, electrode, and cell design from early concepts to reproducible laboratory prototypes. • Coordinate and direct the integration of experimental and modeling activities Combining Molecular Dynamics/DFT simulations with experimental validation across Li-ion, Na-ion, Zn–air, and hybrid supercapacitors. • Project leadership within European and national programs Holding responsibility for technical direction, milestone planning, and delivery of objectives. • Define and guide modeling workflows Redox potential prediction, classical force-field development, and electrolyte screening, ensuring consistency and validation against experimental data. • Oversee HPC strategy and infrastructure: Coordination of internal resources and the preparation of large-scale grant applications for external high-performance computing.

  • GES - Green Energy Storage (2 yrs 10 mos)
    • Team Leader - Computational Chemistry Group
      Jan 2021 - Oct 2023 · 2 yrs 10 mos

      • Leading of the research and development of computational methods to calculate electrolyte electrochemical properties • Supervision of the development of tools for data analysis to support the Product Development department. • Pioneering of the development of high-throughput experimental techniques for electrochemical characterization of compounds

    • IT Manager
      Jan 2021 - Oct 2023 · 2 yrs 10 mos

      • Management of the IT infrastructure, from endpoint management to HPC infrastructures, with a focus on strengthening cybersecurity measures.

    • Advisor to R&D Manager
      Jun 2021 - Jun 2022 · 1 yr 1 mo

      • Implementation of the R&D project management structure, with a focus on the stage-gate approach applied to battery development • Developed novel research lines and implemented a knowledge management platform • Introduced company policies SOP and procedures

  • R&D Chemist at Sherwin-Williams
    Dec 2017 - Jan 2021 · 3 yrs 2 mos

    Formulation of solventborne paints and development of coating systems, with particular research focus on low VOC formulations and non isocyanic coating systems.

  • Quality Control at Renner Italia
    Oct 2016 - Nov 2017 · 1 yr 2 mos

    Quality control of solvent-borne wood paints including alkyd/polyurethane, nitro, acrylic and UV products, as well as wood stains.

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Bologna
    Jul 2015 - Jun 2016 · 1 yr

    Molecular dynamics simulations of liquid crystals in bulk and at their interfaces with vacuum, water and polymers.