The spotlight is on the Brno Student Chapter from the Czech Republic! The Brno Student Chapter was established in 2006. The focus of their activities is on batteries, electrochemical conversion and the storage research field.

On September 3, 2015, members of the Brno Chapter presented at the 16^th International Conference on Advanced Batteries, Accumulators and Fuel Cells, also known as ABAF. Proceedings of this meeting will be published in an edition of ECS Transactions. In addition, four members have submitted dissertation theses this year, which are scheduled to be presented and defended early 2016. Great job, Brno!

Want your student chapter in the spotlight? Send an email to beth.fisher@electrochem.org to tell us what makes your chapter stand out!

From solar energy to biofuels to hydrogen cars—sustainable solutions have become some of the hottest topics in the scientific community. While much of the focus in alternative forms of transportation has been automobiles (see Tesla and Toyota), ECS member Telpriore Gregory Tucker is shifting his attention in another direction: electric bikes. While Tucker’s bikes hold promise for the future of sustainable transportation, they could also potentially have a much greater impact.

“I don’t just sell electric bikes, I actually provide people with sustainable solutions,” says Tucker, founder of the Southwest Battery Bike Co.

Inspiration through education

The idea behind Tucker’s Phoenix, Arizona-based electric bike company started back in 2010 when he began volunteering with the youth at his church. As a mentoring program began to emerge, Tucker volunteered to addresses topics in STEM education.

“One of my personal goals is helping kids. I’ve been in a lot of programs as a child to help me get to where I am now,” says Tucker. “Giving back is important to me because I see a lot of kids in situations I’ve been in or environments that I’ve come from where a lot of the time, you don’t get that opportunity.”

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When it comes to alternative energy solutions, many researchers are looking to fuel cells as a promising solution. With high theoretical efficiency levels and their environmentally friendly qualities, fuel cells could be an answer to both the energy crisis and climate issues. However, researchers are still looking at how to build a fuel cell so that it is not only efficient, but also cost effective.

Sadia Kabir, ECS student member and PhD student at the University of New Mexico, recently published a paper in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society detailing her novel work on graphene-supported catalysts for fuel cells. Kabir is moving from theory to proof with her new research, showcasing an efficient and economically viable fuel cell.

The research was compiled by an interdisciplinary team with representatives from the University of New Mexico, University of Portiers, and Franunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology.

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Every year, around 60 percent of the energy produced in the United States is wasted. With a heavy reliance on traditional combustion cycles and the burning of fossil fuels, an astronomical amount of potentially usable energy dissipates into the environment as waste. However, there may be a way to harvest that waste energy without drastically changing the energy infrastructure.

Jaeho Lee, assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine and ECS member, recently presented a paper at the 228th ECS Meeting on the thermal transport in nanostructures targeting the applications of thermoelectric energy conversion. This innovative technology has the potential to be applied to the current energy infrastructure in an effort to harvest a percentage of the wasted energy.

“Thermoelectrics could allow us to harvest waste heat in any form,” says Lee. “We could talk about large-scale waste heat from factory combustion cycles, but it could also be as small as something we generate from our bodies.”

Thermoelectric Potential

Thermal energies exist everywhere. By harvesting waste energy, researchers are taking a complementary step toward a more sustainable energy infrastructure.

“Globally, we’re consuming a lot of energy,” says Lee. “The world population is continuously increasing. Not only that, our energy consumption rate is increasing.”

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With the fifth international Electrochemical Energy Summit and the ECS Lecture by Adam Heller, the  228th ECS Meeting is poised to be one of our most significant programs in the history of the Society. While Heller’s contributions to science are well known—from lithium batteries to biomedical engineering to photoelectrochemistry—his connects to ECS may not be as familiar, but nonetheless run deep.

Notably, this is not the first lecture delivered by Heller at an ECS meeting. During the 180th ECS Meeting in 1991, Heller delivered one of four ECS lectures entitled “On the Impact of Electrochemistry on Biomedicine and the Environment.” Now, 28 years later Heller will be delivering yet another lecture at the 228th ECS Meeting in the same location as the 180th. With his scientific themes transcending the years, his lecture this year is entitled “Wealth, Global Warming and Geoengineering.”

Over 50 Years of Innovation

Aside from delivering the much anticipated ECS Lecture at the 228th ECS Meeting, Heller will also be accepting the Heinz Gerischer Award for his fundamental and applied contributions to electrochemistry and its uses. This award is especially significant due to the connection between Heller and Gerischer.

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A nationwide outbreak of Salmonella-tainted cucumbers has afflicted states with increased illnesses and hospitalizations. While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined the source and cause of the outbreak, the damage has been done, and the case count is expected to rise in spite of the recent recall. Many are now asking the question: how can we better control food safety?

Shin Horikawa and his team at Auburn University believe their novel biosensor technology could resolve many of the current issues surrounding the spread of foodborne illnesses. As the principal scientist for a concept hand-picked for the FDA’s Food Safety Challenge, Horikawa is looking to make pathogen detection faster, more specific, and cheaper.

Faster, Cheaper, Smarter

“The current technology to detect Salmonella takes a really long time, from a few days to weeks. Our first priority is to shorten this detection time. That’s why we came up with a biosensor-based detection method,” says Horikawa, Postdoctoral researcher at Auburn University and member of ECS.

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Research out of the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) has yielded a novel micro-supercapacitor that has reportedly reached an energy density 1,000 times greater than current electrochemical capacitors.

This unmatched energy storage performance was made possible through a new electrode, producing density levels comparable to that of current lithium-ion micro-batteries.

Applications of this new technology could range from small electronics to autonomous sensor networks, opening the door to better water quality and air pollution monitoring.

“The extent of the electrode’s surface and the presence of pores of various sizes are key to a large storage capacity. We designed this new 3D electrode using an electrochemical process to synthesize a very porous gold structure. Ruthenium oxide, a pseudocapacitative material featuring high electrical conductivity and very good cyclability, was then inserted into the structure, resulting in unsurpassed energy density. For this type of application, component sizes are reduced to a few square millimeters, making it possible to use such expensive materials,” said Daniel Guay, ECS member and co-author of the study.

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Eric Schindelholz of Sandia National Laboratory will be awarded the ECS Corrosion Division Morris Cohen Graduate Student Award at the upcoming 228th ECS Meeting for his contributions to methods for the study of atmospheric corrosion and his insights into the fundamentals and the factors controlling surface wetness and the carrion of steel.

In light of receiving the award, Schindelholz was able to sit down with local news station KOAT to talk about his work on such projects as the preservation of the Statue of Liberty and historic Pearl Harbor ships.

Learn more about his research at the 228th ECS Meeting and take a look at his scheduled talk, “Impact of Salt Deliquescence on the Humidity-Dependence of Atmospheric Corrosion.”

Congratulations to Indiana University Student Chapter for being named ECS’s Outstanding Student Chapter for 2015.

The ECS Outstanding Student Chapter Award was established in 2012 to recognize distinguished student chapters that demonstrate active participation in The Electrochemical Society’s technical activities, establish community and outreach activities in the areas of electrochemical and solid state science and engineering education, and create and maintain a robust membership base.

With a competitive applicant pool this year, the student chapter at Indiana University truly demonstrated how they live out the mission of ECS within their community. As highlighted in their application, “Indiana University’s ECS Student Chapter is dedicated to the promotion of electrochemical and solid state science among three demographics: the general community, the general undergraduate and graduate student body at Indiana University, and the student ECS members.”

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We have created a special opportunity for student members at the 228^th ECS Meeting in Phoenix.

In the exhibit hall we have a booth which we are calling the Edison Theatre. Here we would like to give you the chance to:

• demonstrate a portion of the research you have been working on
• share projects you are taking to elementary and middle schools or community events
• share projects you are working on with peers or cohorts within your academic setting

This is meant to be a “show and tell.” Your presentation can be anywhere from 10-15 minutes long. You can do it once or multiple times during exhibit hours. We’ll be happy to help you with your demonstration.

Here’s a piece of a video that takes a quick look at Mike Zach at the Edison Theatre from the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago:

We are scheduling slots in the Theatre on a first come first served basis. We would like to book them as soon as possible so we can start promoting them.

We hope you want to take this opportunity to show off you and your chapter’s hard work.

Contact Rob.Gerth@electrochem.org if you’re interested.