The deadline for submission to the Journal of The Electrochemical Society Focus Issue on The Brain and Electrochemistry has been extended to April 30, 2018.

The focus issue will provide a forum for the discussion of research and developments on how the central and peripheral nervous systems can be viewed and studied in terms of electrical circuits and electrochemical sensors, reactions, and methods.

The issue is dedicated to R. Mark Wightman (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and Christian Amatore (Ecole Normale Supérieure), two individuals who devoted their careers to study of these topics, training and influencing countless researchers over the years.

(more…)

Professional development workshops are a growing feature of the ECS biannual meetings. Several new and recurring workshops being held at the 233rd ECS Meeting in Seattle, WA. The workshops are led by industry and career professionals in order to best serve the interests for mid- and early-career researchers and students.

New workshop additions

An Introduction to Intellectual Property
Instructor: Matthew Rappaport, IP Checkups, Inc.

In recent years intellectual property has become contentious with notable high-tech companies influencing patent rights. Nevertheless, IP continues to play a key role in the development and innovation ecosystem, particularly for start-ups and early-stage commercialization. In this short course, we will get down to basics in exploring the role of IP in protecting your early-stage development and commercialization. Along the way, we will review IP basics and explore portfolio development to help protect your inventions. Decisions such as internal R&D, strategic partnerships or licensing are informed by your portfolio. And finally, what to do when you have to enforce your rights. This workshop is 2.5 hours.

(more…)

This is the final week of the ECS March Membership Drive! Over the last three weeks, we have shared stories from ECS members and the positive impact it has had on careers, networking, and community.

To date we have had 62 new members join ECS along with 58 new student members. In addition, we have had 62 members and 17 student members renew their memberships.

Our goal is to have 100 new (non-student) members join ECS during March. We have until March 31 to achieve this goal!

If you are not a member, then take this opportunity to expand your professional network, collaborate on a project, or to serve in a society that treats you as family.

If you are a member, know that you help to connect nonmembers directly to the Society. People join for people – recruit your peers!

JOIN                                      RENEW

Take a minute to share how being part of ECS has affected your life. Share your story.

Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 30, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #11

Symposium E04: Electrodeposition of Reactive Metals and Alloys for Energy Storage

Symposium purpose is to bring together experts from the fields of electrodeposition and energy storage to discuss and learn about the science and technological issues in this fascinating topic which we share. Electrodeposition or plating of reactive compounds is common place in energy storage applications such as metal-air, lithium metal and next generation sodium, magnesium or calcium battery concepts. On the other hand, high quality coatings of reactive metals and alloys such as aluminum, magnesium, vanadium and zinc find applications in anti-corrosion coatings, microelectronics, fuel cells, electrolyzers, supercapacitors and sensors. We welcome all abstracts about novel deposition processes, electrolytes and additives, insights in kinetics, nucleation and growth phenomena, as well as on advanced applications in this field.

Confirmed Invited Speakers include Dr. Fanny Barde of Toyota Motor Europe, Dr. Debra R. Rolison of NRL, Prof. Craig B. Arnold from Princeton University, Prof. Takayuki Homma from Waseda University and Snehashis Choudhury, young investigator at Cornell University (group of prof. Lynden Archer).

Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 30, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #10

Symposium G02: Atomic Layer Deposition Applications 14

Symposium Focus: This symposium focuses on a variety of applications of ALD and other atomic layer-by-layer processing in semiconductor CMOS (e.g. high-k oxides and metals for memories like Flash and 3D NAND, MIM, MIS capacitors), photovoltaics, energy storage and conversion, catalysis, optics and photonics, smart coatings of nanoporous materials, MLD and hybrid ALD/MLD, fundamentals of ALD processing: reaction mechanisms, in-situ measurement, modeling, theory, new precursors and delivery systems, optical and photonic applications, productivity enhancement, scale-up and commercialization of ALD equipment and processes for rigid and flexible substrates, including roll-to-roll deposition, spatial ALD, area-selective ALD, Atomic Layer Etching (‘reverse ALD’) and related topics aiming at self-limited etching.

(more…)

The winner of the 2018 Energy Technology Division Graduate Student Award sponsored by Bio-Logic is Deijun Xiong!

Each year, the ECS Energy Technology Division recognizes and rewards promising young engineers and scientists in fields pertaining to this division. The award was established in 2012 and is intended to encourage the recipients to initiate or continue careers in this field. ECS is proud to acknowledge Bio-Logic for its generous sponsorship of this award. Recipients receive a framed certificate, a $1,000 prize, complimentary student meeting registration and complimentary admission to the onsite division leadership meeting. The nomination deadline is September 1 of each year.

Deijun Xiong completed his PhD in chemistry at Dalhousie University in October 2017 under the supervision of Jeff Dahn.

During his PhD, he mainly focused on understanding the failure of high voltage LiNixMnyCo(1-x-y)O2 (NMC) cells and developing functional electrolyte for high voltage NMC cells. He put forward a novel “pouch bag” method to deepen understanding of the crosstalks occurring in Li-ion cells. He provided new support that oxygen can be released from charged polycrystalline NMC materials rather than single crystal NMC materials at mild temperature at high voltage. He also made contributions to develop ethylene carbonate-free electrolytes for high voltage NMC cells.
In December 2017, Deijun joined Shenzhen Capchem Technology Co. Ltd (one of the leading Li-ion battery and supercapacitor electrolyte companies in the world) as vice director of research and development to develop functional electrolytes for Li-ion battery and supercapacitor.

Spring 2018 division awards will be conferred at the 233rd ECS Meeting in Seattle, WA from May 13-17, 2018. Join Deijun as he delivers his award talk called “Understanding Crosstalks in Li-Ion Cells” on Wednesday, May 16 | 0820h in Room 608 of the Washington State Convention & Trade Center.

ECS has scheduled three short courses to be held at the 233rd ECS Meeting in Seattle, WA. The courses will be held on Sunday, May 13, 2018 from 0900h to 1430h. Registration for a short course includes a breakfast (0800-0900h), lunch, and morning/afternoon coffee breaks.

The offerings are:

Short course #1: Advanced Impedance Spectroscopy | Course description
Mark Orazem, Instructor

Short course #2: Rechargeable Battery Materials | Course description
Shirley Meng and Boryann Liaw, Instructors

Short course #3: Electrodeposition Fundamentals and Applications | Course description
Stanko Brankovic and Giovanni Zangari, Instructors

Pre-registration for a short course is required by Monday, May 7, 2018. The registration fee for each course includes participation in the course, materials, continental breakfast, luncheon, and refreshment breaks; the short course registration fee does not include or apply to the general meeting registration, and it is not applicable to any other activities of the meeting. All individuals participating in short courses along with the meeting are required to register for both events.

Register by the early bird deadline of April 9, 2018 to receive a meeting and short course registration discount!

REGISTER NOW

ECS will host its second Free the Science Week April 2-8, 2018, allowing free access to the research content in the ECS Digital Library including the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology. That means access and free downloads to over 141,000 articles and abstracts including ECS Transactions.

The first Free the Science Week was a success. Below are some of the statistics about the ECS Digital Library from April 2017:

(Click to view larger.)

(more…)

Every year, we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 as a way to commemorate the movement for women’s rights. This global holiday honors the social, economic, cultural, political – and in our case – scientific achievements of women.

Additionally, International Women’s Day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Currently, women remain underrepresented in the STEM workforce, although to a lesser degree than the past. According to the National Science Foundation, the greatest gender disparities still exist in the fields of engineering, computer science, and physical science.

In the U.S., women make up half of the entire workforce, but only 29 percent of the science and engineering field. While the gender gap may still exist for women in STEM, many phenomenal female scientists have entered the field over the years and left an indelible mark on the science.

Take Nettie Stevens (born 1861), the foremost researcher in sex determination, whose work was initially rejected because of her sex. Or Mary Engle Pennington (born 1872), an American chemist at the turn of the 20th century, pioneering research that allows us to process, store, and ship food safely. Barbara McClintock (born 1902) was deemed crazy when she suggested that genes jump from chromosome to chromosome. Of course, she was later awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of genetic transportation.

(more…)