Raymond J. Gorte, Yang Shao-Horn, and M. Stanley Whittingham, all of whom are ECS fellows, were recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Election to the NAE is one of the most prestigious professional distinctions bestowed upon engineers.

According to the NAE, academy membership honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

(more…)

A new issue of ECS Transactions has just been published.

This issue contains 40 papers originally presented at the XXXII National Congress of the Mexican Society of Electrochemistry/ 10th Meeting of the ECS Mexican Section, which was held June 5-8, 2017, in Guanajuato, Mexico.

ECST volume 84, issue 1, is now available for purchase as an instant PDF download through the ECS Online Store.

To browse the full table of contents, or purchase individual articles, please visit the ECS Digital Library.

Yamagata University

The First International Conference on 4D Materials and Systems (4DMS), sponsored by ECS, will be held in Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan from August 26-30, 2018 at the Faculty of Engineering, Yamagata University, Yonezawa, Japan.

This international conference will bring together engineers, medical professionals, clinicians, chemists, biologists, and physicists under the same roof to initiate roadmap, share results, and discuss issues related to the latest advancements in the fundamental science and technological developments in challenges and innovations in polymer gels and network materials, including; electrochemical materials and devices for energy conversion and storage; smart engineering materials, robotics, soft-smart robotics; material processing – theoretical and experimental approach; and printed and flexible electronics.

This conference will have five parallel tracks:

(more…)

Researchers may have found a way to solve the weakness of a type of light source similar to lasers. The alternative light source could lead to smaller, lower-cost, and more efficient sources of light pulses.

Although critical for varied applications, such as cutting and welding, surgery and transmitting bits through optical fiber, lasers have some limitations—namely, they only produce light in limited wavelength ranges.

Now, researchers have modified similar light sources, called optical parametric oscillators, to overcome this obstacle.

Until now, these lesser-known light sources have been mostly confined to the lab because their setup leaves little room for error—even a minor jostle could knock one out of alignment.

(more…)

Nominations Deadline: March 15, 2018

The ECS honors and awards program promotes technical achievements in electrochemistry and solid state science and technology. The program also recognizes exceptional service to the Society. Recognition opportunities exist in the following categories: Society awards, division awards and section awards.

The ECS Battery Division is currently accepting nominations for four awards that will be recognized at AiMES 2018, a joint meeting between ECS and SMEQ in Cancun, Mexico from September 30 through October 4.

Battery Division Research Award: established in 1958 to encourage excellence in battery and fuel cell research, and to encourage publication in ECS journals. The winner receives a framed certificate, a $2,000 prize and lifetime division membership.

(more…)

Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 16, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #2

Symposium C02: Pits & Pores 8: Nanomaterials – Fabrication, Properties, and Applications

Symposium Focus: This symposium is aimed at the fabrication of all kinds of porous structures, their physical and chemical properties as well as their applications. It is a continuous attempt to integrate the diverse research in different fields such as localized metal corrosion, semiconductor electrochemistry, pore-filling, matrix materials, optical spectroscopy and characterization of magnetic properties in order to develop a highly transdisciplinary approach to the topic. Emphasis will be on pit and pore formation, porous-structure/surface-property relations, work relevant to the formation of advanced materials and their characterization, and applications of these materials in different areas of science such as biomedicine, energy storage and conversion, optics and magnetism.

The symposium brings together scientists from various research fields such as material science, electrochemistry, physics, chemistry, engineering and biology.

(more…)

The Journal of The Electrochemical Society Focus Issue on Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Materials, Mechanisms, Modeling, and Applications is now complete, with 18 open access papers published in the ECS Digital Library.

“Lithium sulfur batteries are in the focus of research at many hundreds of prominent research groups throughout the world and at several industrial firms as well,” says JES Technical Editor Doron Aurbach in the issue’s preface. “These batteries are highly attractive due to their theoretical high energy density, that may be 4–5 times higher compared to that of Li-ion batteries.”

The focus issue includes invited papers and selected papers from the 2017 Li-SM³ Conference.

“The important technical challenges of Li-S batteries are dealt with in the papers of this focus issue, including development of new sulfur cathodes, protected Li anodes, new electrolyte systems including solid state electrolytes, study of degradation mechanisms, in-situ spectroscopic efforts, surface and structural aspects,” Aurbach continues. “This focus issue of JES is indeed a very suitable epilogue for a very successful and fruitful meeting on a very “hot” topic in modern electrochemistry in general and advanced batteries in particular.”

Read the full JES Focus Issues on Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Materials, Mechanisms, Modeling, and Applications.

Deadline for Submitting Abstracts
March 16, 2018
Submit today!

Topic Close-up #1

Symposium H02: High Purity and High Mobility Semiconductors 15

Symposium Focus: The 15th High Purity and High Mobility Semiconductor symposium, which is an extension of the previous High Purity Silicon symposium, provides a forum for discussion of the latest developments in the growth, characterization, device processing, and applications of high purity and high mobility semiconductor materials in either bulk or epitaxial form. The emphasis is on the control and prevention of impurity incorporation, characterization and detection of defects and impurity states in high purity and high mobility semiconductors for superior device performances. Device and circuit aspects related to the use of devices on high quality and advanced silicon wafers will also be addressed. Special attention will be given to alternative and high-mobility substrates and their material and device aspects.

Keynote Presentation: Dr. Carlos Mazure will deliver a keynote presentation on :Silicon-on-Insulator based applications and products”. Dr. Mazure is the Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at SOITEC, France.

The 2018 Society elections are upon us and ECS wants you to learn more about the candidates from the candidates. All voting members are eligible to participate via electronic proxy. You would have received an email with voting instructions January 15, 2018.

About ECS elections

The early months of each year are an exciting time here at ECS as officer elections take place via electronic proxy in the two-month period from January 15 to March 15, 2018. Elected officers constitute the organization’s executive committee and include the following positions: president, three vice presidents, secretary and treasurer. The nominating committee determines the candidates and you determine the winner.

Three Questions with the Candidates allows you a personal glimpse of each volunteer on the current ballot. There is a total of five candidates (one for president and two each for vice president and treasurer). Take a moment to read the full candidate biographies and election statements. And then enjoy their reflections on ECS and the marvel that is science.

(more…)

By: Naga Srujana Goteti, Rochester Institute of Technology; Eric Hittinger, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Eric Williams, Rochester Institute of Technology

Carbon-free energy: Is the answer blowing in the wind? Perhaps, but the wind doesn’t always blow, nor does the sun always shine. The energy generated by wind and solar power is intermittent, meaning that the generated electricity goes up and down according to the weather.

But the output from the electricity grid must be controllable to match the second-by-second changing demand from consumers. So the intermittency of wind and solar power is an operational challenge for the electricity system.

Energy storage is a widely acknowledged solution to the problem of intermittent renewables. The idea is that storage charges up when the wind is blowing, or the sun is shining, then discharges later when the energy is needed. Storage for the grid can be a chemical battery like those we use in electronic devices, but it can also take the form of pumping water up a hill to a reservoir and generating electricity when letting it flow back down, or storing and discharging compressed air in an underground cavern.

(more…)