Dr. Loraine Torres-Castro

Physicist Dr. Loraine Torres-Castro, Battery Safety Lead at Sandia National Laboratories, is serving as the lead organizer for the A01—New Approaches and Advances in Electrochemical Energy Systems Symposium at the 249th ECS Meeting in Seattle, WA, this spring.  

In a recent interview with ECS staff, Dr. Torres-Castro shared insights into the rewards and complexities of symposium leadership, encouraging colleagues to pursue similar roles. She is part of a dynamic new organizing team—which includes Dr. Yuliya Preger (Sandia National Laboratories) and Prof. Golareh (Goli) Jalilvand (University of South Carolina)—that has introduced a collaborative leadership model. Under this arrangement, the leads rotate each meeting: Dr. Preger led the 248th Meeting, while Prof. Jalilvand is slated to lead the 250th. 

Learn more about symposium organizing and Dr. Torres-Castro.

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All-solid-state batteries are widely viewed as a next-generation solution for safer and higher energy storage. But translating promising materials from the lab to large-scale manufacturing depends on more than performance alone—it also requires compatibility with real-world production environments.

A new open-access article in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society examines how chloride-based solid-state electrolytes behave when exposed to dry room conditions commonly used in battery manufacturing. The study focuses on practical considerations that matter for scalability, offering valuable insight into how these materials respond outside ideal laboratory settings.  (more…)

Noël Hallemans

Noël Hallemans
University of Oxford

Date: January 21, 2026
Time: 1000–1100h ET

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) offers rich insights into the physical processes within batteries—but how can these measurements directly inform physics-based models? Recent work presented in this webinar demonstrates how impedance data can be used to extract grouped parameters for physics-based models such as the Doyle-Fuller-Newman (DFN) model or the reduced-order single particle model with electrolyte (SPMe). (more…)

Jeff Dahn

The ECS Detroit Section invites you to “LFP Li-ion cells are boring – Why should I care?” This VIRTUAL seminar by Jeff Dahn is presented online on January 13 at 1800h EST.

Contact ECS Detroit Section at ecs.detroit.rsvp@gmail.com for attendee information. 

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The Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) proudly celebrates the rapid success of the open access article “Understanding Lithium Deposition in Lithium-Ion Batteries: The Link between Impedance Results and Electrochemical Behavior.” In just a few short weeks since publication, this paper has risen to the top of JES’s Most Read Articles of 2025, capturing global attention for its clarity, rigor, and real-world relevance.

Illuminating Lithium Deposition

Lithium deposition, or plating, remains a major challenge in advancing lithium-ion batteries. When metallic lithium forms during fast charging or under non-ideal conditions, it can cause dendrites, capacity loss, and safety risks. This groundbreaking study offers fresh insight by directly linking impedance spectroscopy results to electrochemical deposition behavior, providing researchers with a predictive framework to better understand and control plating phenomena.

By connecting impedance signals with changes in morphology and capacity, the authors reveal when and how lithium deposition occurs. Their work identifies spectral features associated with plating onset, evolving interfacial kinetics, and irreversible capacity fade—insights that will guide the design of safer and more durable energy storage systems. (more…)

Lithium-ion battery innovation takes a leap forward with the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES)’s illuminating new article, “Main Ageing Mechanism of SiO_x-Graphite Anodes during Fast Charging in the Absence of Lithium Deposition,” by  Hao-Chen Hsiao, Alexander Adam, Daniel Goldbach, Yichen Dai, Jiahao Li, Thomas Waldmann, and Markus Hölzle.

This study rigorously uncovers the primary aging culprit—the irreversible loss of over 20 percent of cyclable lithium after just 400 equivalent full cycles—even when lithium plating is absent. (more…)