MSCA Individual Fellowships meeting at RCN 2019

I made it! A testimony from a

successful MSCA-fellow

06.05.2019

Knut B. Gandrud

Outline

• Overview of me and my research

• MSCA-IF project: SUPER-Lion

• My take on writing a successful MSCA-IF

application

• Some experiences from the fellowship

My background

• University of Oslo (UiO), Norway

2004: Bachelor

2007: Master

2009: Ph.D.

2014: Postdoc

Complex oxides with Atomic

Layer Deposition (ALD)

Thin film materials for Li-ion

batteries by ALD

Thin film solid-state

electrolytes with ALD/MLD

(MLD: Molecular Layer Deposition)

My background

• imec, Leuven, Belgium

2016: Postdoc

2017-2018: MSCA-IF

SUPER-Lion

Thin film

batteries

Bulk batteries

- Still batteries,

but very different..

Li-ion batteries

5

POWERING OUR MODERN (MOBILE) WORLD

1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01 1E+00 1E+01 1E+02 1E+03 1E+04

< mWh < < Wh < < kWh <

Wearable and Flexible

Smart carts, patches, wearables

and flexible electronics...

distributed wireless sensors

and communicators...

Wireless sensor networksMobile-IT

Smart watch, phones, tablets,

PC’s

Back-up power chip or PCB

Power on board

Hobby and power tools

Portable electronics

Home storage, micro-grid storage, grid

storage

Renewable

Energy

Bikes, automotive, aviation, rail,...

Vehicles

1E+05 1E+06

< MWh

Button

cell Pouch-cellsPrismatic

Cylindrical

Thin film batteries (solid-state)

Bulk batteries

(liquid

electrolyte):

Why solid-state batteries?

• Increased safety

– Liquid electrolytes are flammable

• Increased battery life-time

– Unwanted side reactions between

liquid electrolyte and electrodes

• Higher energy density

– Enables more compact cells

Tesla Model S

Galaxy Note 7

Solid state electrolytes – A challenging task

7

HIGH CONDUCTIVITIES AT THE COST OF STABILITY

Richards et al., Chem. Mater., 2016

Kamaya et al., Nat. Mat., 2011

Good stability and high conductivity?

Lithium

compound

Li2CO3

Li3PO4

...

+

Oxide particles

(non-porous and

mesoporous)

SiO2

Al2O3

...

Solid composite electrolyteEnhanced conductivity while

maintaining large electrochemical window

Typical synthesis procedure:

Melt the lithium

compoundInterface region

Li-compound

Oxide

Heterogenous

doping

Apply heat

SOLID COMPOSITE ELECTROLYTES (SCE)

The idea of SUPER-Lion

• Enhanced Li-ion conduction occurs at the interface

– Particle-based systems can be hindered by lower particle-particle conductivity

– Exploit the full effect of the interface enhancement by using a continuous

mesoporous thin-film structure with high internal surface area.

• Current particle-based SCE’s difficult to integrate in a battery

– Gas-phase deposition technique enables easy integration in battery stacks

Oxide

(by MLD)

Li-compound

(by ALD)

Filled mesoporous oxide layer

Li+

Interface region

Coated oxide particles

si,i

si,b

Interface regionLi+

Li-compound

Oxide

Particle-based: SUPER-Lion:

Surface Promoted Enhanced Transport of Li-ions

Enabling 3D-thin film batteries

• Increase the energy density of thin film batteries

• Requires conformal deposition of all “battery layers”

– ALD and MLD one of the few capable techniques

SUPER-Lion: Secondment

• University of Oslo, Norway

– Collaboration with Prof. Ola Nilsen

• One of the leading experts in the field of ALD/MLD

– 6 months secondment for development of MLD

processes for porous oxides

– Transfer skills acquired at imec to the battery

group in Oslo

Before writing the proposal

• Start with your goal – career and research

• Analyse your CV

– What are your strengths

– What do you need to improve

• Read one (or more) successful applications

• Work on getting a good and convincing

abstract

• Try to find an acronym that sticks

The proposal - Tips

• Keep in mind

– The project should boost the growth of you

• Professional

• Personal

– Transfer of knowledge

• For both you and host (and potential secondment)

• Start with the research objectives

– Define work packages

– Make a meaningful, realistic, work plan

• Important things to not overlook

– Public outreach, training of others, social media

How to increase the success rate

• At imec: Dedicated personnel dealing with MSCA

– Experienced team

– Discussion of the initial ideas (novelty etc.)

– Information meetings

– Input on writing and proposal structure

→ 2x higher success rate

What did the reviewers say?

Excellence (Weight: 50%)

“The level of novelty of the project is convincingly demonstrated with a good description of the state of the art for current lithium ion batteries”

“The training-through-research approach of the researcher is precisely specified and of high quality”

“The proposed research action is fully in line with the energy sustainable objectives of European policy”

“The benefit of the host beneficiary in terms of knowledge on ALD & MLD thin film technologies by hosting the researcher is convincingly demonstrated”

Impact (Weight: 30%)

“The project, performed in a highly stimulating and international environment will boost the professional growth of the researcher”

“The future academic career prospects of the applicant are specified and boosted by enhancing his scientific skills in the very goodenvironment of the host beneficiary, as well as his teaching skills at the secondment host institution”

“The proposed measures to communicate the action activities to different target audiences are not very original”

“The future intellectual properties linked to the action are well addressed”

Implementation (Weight: 20%)

“The majority of risks are suitably predicted, and the contingency plan is appropriate”

“The work packages and work plan are coherent with the scientific objectives”

“The work plan is simple enough to be effective”

“The proposal clearly shows that the infrastructure of the host is perfectly adequate for the requirements to reach the project objectives”

MSCA-IF – My experience

• Enables you to take your career in your hands

– Independence for your research

– Organise and run your own project

• Networking event

– Organized by Research Executive Agency (REA)

– Topic: Batteries and fuel cells

– Presentation from 10 MSCA fellows

– Talks from Commission personnel and experts in the field

• Dissemination – EU magazine “Results in Brief”

MSCA-IF – What could have been better?

• Final report

– Documents released once the project ends

– 60 days to write the final report

– Hopefully, you have a new job at the end..

• Difficult to find time to write the report

• For my secondment

– Registered as moving back and living in Norway

– Bad idea! Don’t do this, if you can avoid it!

MCAA - Norway

• If you receive a MSCA-fellowship, join us!

https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/groups/norway-chapter

Good luck!