Giuseppe Sdanghi, winner of the HyPSTAR Junior Professorship “Hydrogen: Production, STorage, usAges, Research

Recruitment scheme included in the framework of the Law on Research Programming (LPR), the Junior Professorship (JPC) “Hydrogen: Production, Storage, Uses, Research” will be hosted at LEMTA and directed by Giuseppe Sdanghi.

It is one of the 7 JPCs accepted for the University of Lorraine in 2021.

3 questions to Giuseppe Sdanghi

What do you think of this new recruitment scheme?

“I am honoured to be among the first at the University of Lorraine to benefit from this very attractive opportunity. This scheme is part of the 2021-2030 research programming law, which gives young researchers the opportunity to build and develop their research and teaching activities. These chairs allow access to a professorship after a period of 5 years, hence the attractiveness.”

What will you be doing in the framework of the CPJ?

“I will certainly bring my passion to work in a very promising field, which is hydrogen. My research activities will aim to find solutions that minimise the cost of current hydrogen technologies. First of all, electrolyzers, which are not quite mature but still have a significant potential for improvement in terms of materials or system management optimization. But above all, this opportunity will allow me to continue my work initiated during my thesis on the development of non-mechanical and low-cost hydrogen compressors. Developing low-cost solutions is essential, as the deployment of the hydrogen industry requires the development of clean, sustainable and, above all, inexpensive processes.

In addition, I will have the opportunity to give courses on hydrogen at ENSEM and also as part of the DENSYS international Master’s programme at FST. I will therefore be pleased to be part of the training on this topic, which was proposed by the University of Lorraine quite recently. I will be keen to pass on to my future students the passion and importance of being direct players in the energy transition.

The hydrogen sector is at the heart of current concerns.

What motivated you to choose this theme?

“Since my university studies, my ambition has been to make a strong contribution to the energy transition. I left my country, Italy, to be able to work on hydrogen, and I was lucky enough to be able to benefit from the teachings and knowledge of my thesis director and mentor Gaël Maranzana, with whom I will be able to continue working thanks to this opportunity. I honestly believe that hydrogen will be the key to the much advocated energy transition, which motivates me in my daily research work. As well as training the future actors of the energy transition, the possibility of being a guide for young students who will have to face problems related to the energy and environmental context… In short, a cocktail of responsibilities and activities that I am really looking forward to enjoy.

I would like to thank LEMTA and the EMPP cluster for their support and I am happy with this framework offered to launch my research activities.

His background

  • 2014: Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering (Speciality Energy) at the Faculty of Engineering in Naples, Italy

IPHE (International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy) award as the best master thesis defended in an Italian university between 2012 and 2014 on hydrogen and fuel cells

  • 2016-2019 : PhD in Solid State Chemistry at the University of Lorraine. LUE thesis registered in the framework of the Impact ULHyS project and carried out at the IJL (Épinal site) and at the LEMTA under the supervision of Vanessa FIERRO (IJL) and Gaël MARANZANA (LEMTA) on the subject “Development of a hybrid hydrogen compressor: electrochemical at low pressure/adsorption at high pressure
  • 2020-2021 : Post-doctorate on the ANR EleCtrOdes project at the ICMCB in Bordeaux and the CEA-liten in Grenoble, on the development and modelling of new electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs)

2020 Thesis Prize, for the best thesis work done at the C2MP Doctoral School at the University of Lorraine

  • 2022: Postdoctoral position at LEMTA, on the development of an electrochemical compressor coupled to a Joule-Thomson cryostat, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA)