A novel vibrating vest that will allow deaf people to feel sound is under development at Rice University. The low-cost, non-invasive VEST—Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer—features dozens of embedded sensors to vibrate varying patterns based on the words spoken.

The VEST works in tandem with a phone or tablet app to isolate speech from ambient sound and allow for easier translation of the vibration patterns.

“We see other applications for what we’re calling tactile sensory substitution,” says Rice University junior Abhipray Sahoo. “Information can be sent through the human body. It’s not just an augmentative device for the deaf. The VEST could be a general neural input device. You could receive any form of information.”

Interested in how sensor technology could change the world? Make sure to join us at the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago this May, where we’ll hold symposia dedicated to sensors and their applications in healthcare, the environment, and beyond.

Register online now!

ECS’s job board keeps you up-to-date with the latest career opportunities in electrochemical and solid state science. Check out the latest openings that have been added to the board.

P.S. Employers can post open positions for free!

Electrolyte Scientist
Envia Systems – Newark, California
Envia Systems is looking for a highly motivated and creative scientist for synthesis and characterization of novel electrolytes for lithium ion batteries.

(more…)

Engineers have developed a way to visualize the optical properties of objects that are thousands of times small than a grain of sand.
Source: YouTube/Stanford University

In order to develop high efficiency solar cells and LEDs, researchers need to see how light interacts with objects on the nanoscale. Unfortunately, light is tricky to visualize in relation to small-scale objects.

Engineers from Stanford University, in collaboration with FOM Institute AMOLF, have developed a next-gen optical method to produce high-resolution, 3D images of nanoscale objects. This allows researchers to visualize the optical properties of objects that are several thousandths the size of a grain of sand.

The teams achieved this by combining two technologies: cathodluminescence and tomography.

(more…)

A research team from Standford University has developed a high-performance aluminum battery.
Image: YouTube/Stanford University

Researchers have been attempting to make a commercially viable aluminum-ion battery for years. Now, a team from Stanford University may have developed just the thing to outpace widely used lithium-ion and alkaline batteries.

The new aluminum-ion battery demonstrates high performance, a fast charging time, long-lasting cycles, and is of low cost to produce.

“We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames,” said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford.

The researchers were able to achieve this novel battery by applying graphite as the cathode material.

(more…)

Hackett is back and he’s cooking up this ultra-strong adhesive. Find out how to make sodium silicate, otherwise known as water glass, which can provide you with a sable and non-toxic glue.

And if you’re looking for more videos on science, make sure to head over to our YouTube channel to see what we have to offer!

Hubert Gasteiger of Technische Universität München’s Institute for Technical Electrochemistry will be awarded the 2015 Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division David C. Grahame Award for his work focusing on materials, electrodes, and diagnostics development for fuel cells and batteries.

The prestigious award was established in 1981 to encourage excellence in physical electrochemistry research.

Hubert A. Gasteiger has touched many aspects of electrochemical science, from academia to industry. He studied at UC Berkeley before he went on to do a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, followed by academic research with Jürgen Behm at Ulm University—where he established a research group in heterogeneous gas-phase catalysis and electrocatalysis.

(more…)

Henry B. Linford Award

Henry B. Linford was a distinguished professor of chemical engineering at Columbia University and known for his work and research in electroplating and corrosion of metals. With a Society history dating back to 1936, Dr. Linford served as ECS secretary for 10 years and president of The Electrochemical Society from 1961-62.

Through his role as an educator and work in electroplating and corrosion, Dr. Linford became one of the most highly recognized members of ECS. In 1936, Henry B. Linford was awarded the Weston Fellowship of $1,000 from The Electrochemical Society. The Weston Fellowship remains an ECS award as part of the our Summer Fellowships program. Dr. Linford was also the recipient of the Acheson Medal and Prize in 1960.

The Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching was established in 1981 for excellence in teaching in subject areas of interest to the Society and continues the cycle of recognition. Submit your nominations today.

Application Deadline: April 15, 2015.

Vittorio de Nora Award

Electroless plating is the non-electrical plating of metals to achieve uniform coatings by a process of controlled autocatalytic reduction. We’ve seen a major expansion of electroless plating in plastics, as in the plating of printed electronic circuits. Today, a large number of consumer goods are coated by this method to create durable and attractive surfaces.

Electroless plating was co-discovered in 1944 by Dr. Abner Brenner who was also the first recipient of the ECS Vittorio de Nora Award. The de Nora Award was established in 1971 for contributions to the field of electrochemical engineering and technology. Submit your nominations today.

Application Deadline: April 15, 2015.

Our second episode of ECS Podcast features Jon Gertner, author of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation. Listen as we explore one of the most innovative institutions of the 20th century and how it revolutionized computing and information technology.

This episode of the ECS Podcast is available below and is free to download! (Also available through the iTunes Store and RSS Feed.)

(more…)

The call for abstracts for the 228th ECS Meeting to be held Oct. 11-16, 2015 in Phoenix, AZ is now open.

Meeting abstracts should explicitly state objectives, new results, and conclusions or significance of the work.

Regardless of whether you submit as a poster or an oral presentation, it is at the symposium organizers’ discretion whether it is scheduled for an oral or poster presentation.

Technical programming for this meeting will be determined in June 2015.

Abstracts are due no later than May 1, 2015.

Find out more.

On behalf of the organizing committee, we would like to draw your attention to the ECS Canada Section Meeting & Surface Canada 2015 that will be held this spring in
Saskatoon from May 19-22, 2015.

The ECS Canada Section meeting will be a one-day event on May 19 and includes a plenary lecture by Nenad Markovic from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

The Surface Canada meeting begins the following day on May 20 and includes invited talks from electrochemists Christa Brosseau (Saint Mary’s) and Steen Schougaard (UQAM).

Further details on both events can be found here.

The two conferences are running in conjunction and a discounted registration fee is offered to attendees who register for both events. Student participation is encouraged.

Hopefully we will see you in Saskatoon!