Prof. Dr. Stefano Passerini
KIT Senior Professor and HIU Associated Principal Investigator Stefano Passerini is an Italian chemist and one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of electrochemical energy storage.
Stefano Passerini is an Italian chemist and one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of electrochemical energy storage, confirmed repeatedly, among other recognitions, by the renowned "Highly Cited Researchers" list from the data company Clarivate. A publication is only considered "Highly Cited" if it ranks among the top 1% of total citations in its field and year of publication. Passerini remains closely connected to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU): there, he serves as KIT Senior Professor and as Associate Research Group Leader at HIU.
Passerini was professor at the Helmholtz Institute Ulm from January 2014. From 2019 to 2021, he headed the institute as Director. Professor Passerini is an international leader in battery research and drives forward the development of sustainable energy storage solutions. He has worked for more than 40 years on the development of materials and systems for electrochemical energy storage. His work focuses on high-energy batteries and supercapacitors using environmentally friendly materials and sustainable processes.
With nearly 800 scientific publications, a Scopus H-index of 134, and more than 70 000 citations, he ranks among the most influential researchers in his field.
Career
• Since 2026: Senior Professor at KIT.
• 2024–2025: Senior Expert Advisor at the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology.
• 2023–2025: Distinguished Senior Fellowship at KIT.
• 2014–2022: Head of his own research group at HIU.
• 2019–2021: Managing Director of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm.
• Since January 1, 2014: Professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) as a member of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU).
• 2008–2014: Co-founder and co-director of MEET (Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology), the battery research center of the University of Münster.
• 1996–2008 (returning to Italy): Italian research agency ENEA in Rome.
• 1993–1999: Research stays at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (USA); in 2000 additionally at Waseda University (Tokyo, Japan).
• 1992: PhD in Electrochemistry, also from Sapienza Università di Roma.
• 1983: Degree in Chemistry from Sapienza Università di Roma.
Research Focus
Passerini is internationally recognized as a pioneer in the field of ionic liquids as well as in the development of sodium-ion batteries. Current projects address, among other topics:
• Further development of lithium-ion batteries as well as lithium-metal solid-state batteries
• Post-lithium technologies: sodium-, potassium-, magnesium-, calcium-, and zinc-based battery chemistries
• Ionic liquids and polymer electrolytes for battery applications
• Interface chemistry and electrolyte development for long-lasting, energy-dense cells
Associated Principal Investigator
