17 E-Mobility Engineering | September/October 2025 Marlen Valverde | In conversation 20 years inside that car without any problems – no delamination, no movement, no tearing, ripping or detaching – but then one day, when we want to recycle this car, it should pose zero problem for harvesting the component! “That action looks different for every different application, every different customer, every different market. It is important to generate extremely deep knowledge of what we’re trying to do, so that when the material gets formulated, it fulfils the expectations through its life. That is something I have been doing for many years now!” Over time, her role grew into covering other applications within a car – headlamps, exterior trims, under the hood applications. Eventually, she became the technical manager for automotive and transportation and travelled all around the world to better understand the automotive world from many different angles and in many different regions. “These were highly regulated, highly controlled markets and you learn quickly that you cannot do a single change in any single formula without full clear communication,” she explains. “It has to be documented and you have to prove the change is not causing any issues to the performance of the material.” Arriving in the EV space It was in 2020 when her role radically changed following a leadership meeting focused on the growing EV market. Recognising the importance of adhesives and coatings in the battery space, the senior management team wanted to know if the company was aligned and had the knowledge to start formulating the materials needed in the market. “We looked at each other and nobody knew what to answer,” she recalls. “So, I came out of that meeting and one of the vice presidents of the business chased me down and said: ‘Hey, do you want to be that person; to be the scout out there in the market?’ So, soon after that, I became business development manager for the entire electric battery space. “The target was not just for EVs but for everything electric – handheld tools, energy storage systems, vacuum cleaners, lawnmowers, anything with a battery. They basically gave me a map of the United States and said: ‘Go for it! Go find this business.’ It was a daunting task, but at the same it was a privileged one. “I focused on targeting the customers that I knew and had been working with, those I knew already were working on battery projects. I slowly started to get communication with them, build relationships with the key stakeholders in those companies and start learning about the application at the same time as my customers. “We entered this space at a time where everybody else was also learning. So, I helped them learn, they helped me learn, and together we developed the definition of what is important for the performance of a material in this space, and the knowledge required to successfully formulate those materials.” Valverde’s scope involved anything immediately outside of the cell, identifying applications where there was a need for an adhesive material and understanding how it could enable better battery functionality and optimisation. The focus quickly evolved into sealants, encapsulants This wide-reaching remit involved developing materials for metal applications in the marine, architecture and automotive industries and – crucially – gave her an early insight into the regulatory requirements in the automotive industry and how chemical development plants need to operate to supply that market. Into the world of adhesives After almost two years, an internal transfer within H.B. Fuller took Valverde back to the US, where she began working on reactive adhesives for automotive interior trims. The new role brought her focus back onto sustainability, with one of her aims being the reduction of scrap and contamination in the manufacturing process. She was also tasked with trying to increase the amount of bio-based material within the formulations as well as the recyclability at the end of life and how the components can be harvested and reused. These requirements continue to be a priority in her current role – but when it comes to adhesives, recycling efforts bring with them a very unique challenge. “It’s an interesting balance,” she begins to explain. “We have to provide adhesives with the strength to survive Valverde’s work on hot metal adhesives is helping to transform how mica shields and battery cells are integrated into battery packs
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