Saurabh Bopte

Background

About Saurabh Bopte

I’m a Materials Engineer with 5+ years of experience in materials development, thin-film deposition, and advanced characterization, with a strong focus on lithium-ion battery safety. Currently at Soteria Europe GmbH, I work on developing next-generation safety technologies for battery packs — including cellulose-based separators, metallized polymer current collectors, and PCB-integrated busbars. I led the development of a compact, weldable busbar design for 18650 battery packs (patent filed) and set up an in-house materials testing lab for separator and current collector evaluation (e.g, 4-point probe testing). Key contributions: • Developed cost-effective metallized polymer current collectors via PVD and electroplating • Co-authored a peer-reviewed study on impurity-scavenging cellulose separators for improved cycle life • Optimized separators for mechanical strength, thermal stability, and thickness control using polymer coatings • Represented Soteria’s technologies at major battery expos in Europe and Asia Earlier, I spent 3 years at TU Darmstadt as a Materials Scientist, focusing on: • Designing a Swagelok-based gas adsorption setup to study electric field-assisted uptake • Synthesizing CNTs via CVD and exploring gas adsorption in carbon nanomaterials • Supervising Master’s students in nanomaterials and surface science research Education • IIT Madras – M.Tech in Metallurgical & Materials Engineering (GPA: 9.29/10) • DAAD Scholar – Exchange semester at TU Darmstadt • VNIT Nagpur – B.Tech in Metallurgical & Materials Engineering 🧪 Core Skills • Separator fabrication (Rapid Köthen sheet former), PCB busbar design • PVD/CVD synthesis (oxides, CNTs), thin-film deposition (e-beam, thermal evaporation) • XRD, SEM, AFM, XPS, BET, Raman, UV‑Vis, tensile/hardness testing • Tools: KiCad, X’Pert HighScore, OriginPro Interests: Battery safety | Thin films | Functional materials | Energy storage | Nanomaterials | Lab-to-market R&D Outside of work, I enjoy chess, reading, travel, and previously served as a core member of Darmstadt Indian Association. Always open to collaboration and technical discussions — feel free to connect!