The revolutionary system can harvest energy from living plants for use in isolated villages.
Image: Plant-e

A revolutionary system with the potential to affect global energy harvesting has recently been developed by a company called Plant-e. The system generates electricity from water-logged plants such as rice grown in patty fields to collect and distribute energy to all areas, even desolate villages.

“It’s based on the principle that plants produce more energy than they need,” said Marjolein Helder, co-founder of Plant-e. “The advantage of this system over wind or solar is that it also works at night and when there’s no wind.”

The science behind the Plant-e technology was conceptualized at Wageningen University in 2007, with the company’s establishment happening thereafter in 2009.

Simply find a plant growing in water and the Plant-e system can begin to harvest energy—whether that plant be rice growing in paddies or simply something growing in your garden.

“It’s just the beginning and lots of things still need to be greatly improved, but the potential is enormous,” said Jacqueline Cramer, professor of sustainable innovation at Utrecht University and former Dutch environment minister.

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Researchers from Cambridge University have developed low-cost pollution detectors to help combat the world’s largest environmental health risk.

“To work out the factors we should be worried about, and how we can intervene, we need to rethink how we measure what’s going on,” said atmospheric scientists Professor Rod Jones.

While pollution detectors do exist, their network is currently limited due to the high cost of the devices. Jones and his team have set out to develop a small, low-cost pollution detector that is sensitive enough to track air changes and quality on a street-by-street basis.

The team based their work on an electrochemical sensor that is industrially safe and can detect toxins at the parts-per-billion level.

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Logan Streu, ECS Content Associate & Assistant to the CCO, recently came across this article detailing an electrochemical device’s life saving potential in cancer treatment.

A new electrochemical sensor is paving the way for quick and affordable “liquid biopsies,” opening the possibility of detecting deadly cancer markers in minutes. This new development could help tailor treatments to specific patients and improve the accuracy of initial diagnosis.

Personalized medicine is a huge part of a new, promising future in cancer treatment. With the ability to tailor treatment to each individual tumor, treatments can become more effective and yield less side-effects.

In an effort to get closer to the ultimate goal of tailored cancer treatment, Shana Kelley and her team at the University of Toronto joined forces with a researcher from the Montreal Children’s Hospital in Quebec to develop the new electrochemical super-sensor.

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Over 2,395 people attended the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago, Illinois, May 24-28, 2015. This was ECS’s first return visit to Chicago since 2007. Participants could choose among 45 symposia and over 2,300 presentations.

Paul Kohl, ECS President

Plenary Session
ECS President Paul Kohl opened the meeting by providing an update on the new fellowship with Toyota Research Instituted of North America, and highlighting the Society’s continuing growth in the open access initiative. Attendees also got their first glimpse of the Official ECS Trading Card Series, with every person at the plenary receiving an Allen J. Bard trading card.

John A. Turner, Research Fellow, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The ECS Lecture
“Hydrogen from Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting – What’s it gonna’ take?” was the title of the ECS Lecture given by Dr. John A. Turner, Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He highlighted novel developments in solar-to-hydrogen efficiencies, challenges and opportunities facing the photoelectrochemical (PEC) community, and PEC solar water splitting systems that could lead to commercial devices. His discussion also focused on metal oxides, surface treatments, and tandem cells for PEC water splitting. Listen to Dr. Turner’s podcast to learn more about PEC water splitting and the future of the energy infrastructure.

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A historic gathering of past chairmen of the ECS Nanocarbons Division was held at the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago. ECS Executive Director Roque Calvo sat down with Karl Kadish, Prashant Kamat, Francis D’Souza, Dirk Guldi, and Bruce Weisman discuss the history of the Nanocarbons Division, practical applications of nanocarbons and fullerenes, and where we can expect this exciting science to go in the future.

Listen below and download this episode and others for free through the iTunes Store, SoundCloud, or our RSS Feed.

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Top male and female finishers, Matthew Lawder and Elizabeth Jones.

We’ve got the results of the Free the Science 5K held during the 227th ECS Meeting. The reigning champ, Matthew Lawder, was first overall with a time of 16:45. In the women’s category, Elizabeth Jones was the first with a time of 22:06.

Proceeds from this event will benefit the ECS Publications Endowment.

(PS: Were you in the race? Get your official time online here!)

This race is Lawder’s third straight overall Free the Science 5K win. His first victory was during our Orlando meeting, followed by our meeting in Cancun.

“I’m hoping to go the the Phoenix meeting so I can defend my title,” said Lawder.

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Mike Zach demonstrating his novel NanoFab Lab… in a Box! during the ECS Meeting!

“What I do is simply help develop confidence in students.”

That’s Mike Zach’s mission with his exceptionally novel NanoFab Lab… in a Box!

Looking to inspire young people and help propel them in scientific careers, Zach took it upon himself to develop an affordable, self-automated, easy to use nanolab.

What Zach is doing is allowing students to understand complex science and have a hands-on experience in making patterned nanowires. Typically nanowires need a multimillion dollar lab to be produced, but Zach has streamlined this process in order to give high school-aged students all over the country a chance to immerse themselves in this seemingly limitless science.

“I’m just looking to get more students involved in electrochemistry… in the science,” said Zach.

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David Wipf talks about the ECS Podcast during the Bard and Moore Award Winners Dinner at the 227th ECS Meeting Meeting.

From undergrads to PhD students, ECS’s David Wipf covers the educational spectrum at Mississippi State University. His goal? Wipf wants to get more students interested in science by showing them the human side of scientists and what happens beyond the lab.

Wipf recently heard Johna Leddy’s ECS podcast immediately saw the value in it for his students.

“It’s great that students get to hear how these scientists started,” said Wipf. “They weren’t super geniuses—they just liked science.”

As a professor in analytical chemistry, Wipf is always striving to get his students excited about science. While guests on the ECS podcast—such as Subhash Singhal and John Turner—happen to be very prominent scientists, Wipif appreciates the fact listeners get to see the unique stories of the guests’ roots and early scientific career.

“The podcasts show that everybody could do it if they wanted to,” said Wipf.

Arizona State University’s Yixian Wang and the Allen J. Bard Award.

The 227th ECS Meeting is in full swing, and today the first ever Allen J. Bard Award was presented to Henry White. While we’ve featured White’s immense contributions to science and Bard’s impact in shaping modern electrochemistry, we’ve yet to talk about the award itself

The Allen J. Bard Award was designed by Arizona State University student Yixian Wang. Under the guidance of Dr. Michael Mirkin—who was part of Bard’s group at the University of Texas at Austin—Wang used a culmination of her scientific and artistic skills to design the Allen J. Bard Award.

The design is based in electrochemistry, featuring a fundamental electrochemical double layer.

Wang is currently completing her PhD in electrochemistry and will be presenting at the poster session during the ECS 227th Meeting.

Electronic and Photonic Devices and Systems Technical Editor
for
ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology and ECS Solid State Letters

ECS (The Electrochemical Society) is seeking to fill the position of Technical Editor of the Electronic and Photonic Devices and Systems Technical Interest Area for the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology and ECS Solid State Letters.

The Electronic and Photonic Devices and Systems (EPDS) Technical Interest Area (TIA) includes fundamental properties and measurements of device fabrication and characteristics for electronic and photonic applications. Specific topics include thin film transistors; MOSFETs; bipolar devices; quantum devices; silicon, germanium, and related microelectronic and photonic devices; micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS and NEMS); solid state sensors; wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices; photovoltaic energy conversion devices; phase change memories; graphene-based devices; plasmonics; power devices; silicon-on-insulator devices; and bioelectronics. Learn more.