The fifth international Electrochemical Energy Summit recently took place during the 228th ECS Meeting. From environmental damage to economic implications to political involvement, the summit served as a forum for the top researchers in energy technology to discuss the most pressing issues in renewable energy and inspire technological solutions.

During the summit, we gathered some key speakers from energy research institutions across the U.S. to talk about challenges in energy storage, roadblocks for implementing renewables, and the role government plays in changing the energy infrastructure.

The podcast is moderated by ECS vice president Krishnan Rajeshwar, with guests David Wesolowski, The Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures and Transport (FIRST) Energy Frontier Research Center; M. Stanley Whittingham, NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage (NECCES); Gary Rubloff, Nanostructures for Electrical Energy Storage (NEES) Energy Frontier Research Center; and Paul Fenter, Center for Electrochemical Energy Science (CEES).

Listen and download this episode and others for free through the iTunes Store, SoundCloud, or our RSS Feed. You can also find us on Stitcher.

A new breakthrough in biotechnology could have the potential to eradicate the Ebola virus infection. Through the construction of a supermolecule made up of 13 fullerenes, a new door has been opened in the world of antiviral agents.

A team from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid/IMDEA-Nanociencia (UCM) has designed a giant fullerene molecule, covered in carbohydrates. When the team tested the new supermolecule on an artificial Ebola virus model, the researchers saw a result that stops cell infection of Ebola.

The study was led by ECS member and UCM professor Nazario Martín.

“Fullerenes are hollow cages exclusively formed by carbon atoms,” says Martín.

This from UCM:

These molecules decorated with specific carbohydrates (sugars) present affinity by the receptor used as an entry point to infect the cell and act blocking it, thus inhibiting the infection. Researchers employed an artificial Ebola virus by expressing one of its proteins, envelope protein GP1, responsible of its entry in the cells. In a model in vitro, this protein is covering a false virus, which is able of cell infection but not of replication.

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When it comes to energy storage, hydrogen is becoming more and more promising. From hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to the “artificial leaf” to the transformation of waste heat into hydrogen, researchers are looking to hydrogen for answers to the growing demand for energy storage.

At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), researchers are using hydrogen to make lithium ion batteries operate longer and have faster transport rates.

In a response to the need for higher performance batteries, the researchers began by looking for a way to achieve better capacity, voltage, and energy density. Those qualities are primarily determined by the binding between lithium ions and electrode material. Small changes to the structure and chemistry of the electrode can mean big things for the qualities of the lithium ion battery.

The research team from LLNL discovered that by subtly changing the electrode, treating it with hydrogen, lithium ion batteries could have higher capacities and faster transport levels.

“These findings provide qualitative insights in helping the design of graphene-based materials for high-power electrodes,” said Morris Wang, an LLNL materials scientist and co-author of the paper.

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The following is an article from the latest issue of Interface by co-editor Vijay Ramani.

The precise definition of the “impact” of a research product (e.g. publication) varies significantly among disciplines, and even among individuals within a given discipline. While some may recognize scholarly impact as paramount, others may emphasize the economic impact, the broad societal impact, or some combination therein. Given that the timeframe across which said impact is assessed can also vary substantially, it is safe to say that no formula exists that will yield a standardized and reproducible measure. The difficulties inherent in truly assessing research impact appear to be matched only by the convenience of the numerous flawed metrics that are currently in vogue among those doing the assessing.

Needless to say, many of these metrics are used outside the context for which they were originally developed. In using these measures, we are essentially sacrificing rigor and accuracy in favor of convenience (alas, a tradeoff that far too many in the community are willing to make!).

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Microscopic interferometric images and slope images of SiC surface (a) before (PV: 23.040 nm, Ra: 1.473 nm, RMS: 1.885 nm) and (b) after (PV:
2.070 nm, Ra: 0.198 nm, RMS: 0.247 nm) polishing with soda-lime glass plate.

Guest post by Jennifer Bardwell, Technical Editor of the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS).

This paper, from Kumamoto University in Japan, concerns a technique for abrasive-free polishing of silicon carbide (SiC). This topic is timely as SiC is an important material for wide bandgap electronics, both in its own right, and as a substrate for gallium nitride electronics. The reviewers note that:

“Defect free polishing of SiC surface has high significance” and that “The results are amazing”

In the words of the abstract: “The experimental results showed that an oxide layer was formed on the SiC surface as a result of the chemical reaction between the interfaces of the synthetic SiO2 glass plate and the SiC substrate. This generated oxide layer was effectively removed by polishing with the soda-lime SiO2 glass plate, resulting in an atomically smooth SiC surface with a root mean square roughness of less than 0.1 nm for 1.5 h. Obtained experimental results indicate that the component materials, temperature and water adsorptive property of the soda-lime SiO2 glass play an important role in the removal of the tribochemically generated layer on the SiC surface during this polishing.”

Read the paper.

Some people strive to continue family tradition, while others prefer to cut their own path. Patrick Linford, grandson of prestigious electrochemist Henry Linford, happens to be stepping into his grandfather’s shoes merely by coincidence.

“If you’d rewind my life to last year, I had no idea what electrochemistry actually was,” says Linford.

Linford, current graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and U.S. Army Officer, was always fascinated by science and the technical side of things. Despite Linford’s grandfather dying a few years before his birth, their academic and career paths have many similarities.

More Sustainable Energy

Currently, Linford is conducting research in alternative energy—specifically, thermogalvanic batteries to power wireless sensors using waste heat.

“This work has tremendous applications in both the military realm and on the civilian side,” says Linford.

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The new, inexpensive catalyst could lead to the transformation of CO₂ into green fuel.
Image: Angewandte Chemie

On a global scale, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is the number one contributor to dangerous greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing levels of CO₂ accelerate the devastating effects of climate change, such as rising sea levels and a higher global temperature. In order to reduce these emissions, researchers are tackling projects from the implementation of a clean energy infrastructure to scrubbing CO₂ from the atmosphere. The researchers from the University of South Carolina are exploring even another innovative way to reduce CO₂ emissions by turning the harmful byproduct into fuel.

The team, led by ECS member Xiao-Dong Zhou, is looking for a way to harness CO₂ emissions that already exist in the environment and use green technologies to inject energy and produce fuel.

Making Green Fuels

While 100 percent renewable energy may be the ultimate answer for the energy infrastructure, it is difficult for industrialized countries that heavily depend on traditional combustion technologies to make that transition so rapidly. The implementation of wind and solar technologies on the large scale also raises question to grid efficiency, reliability, and storage.

One solution to this issue is by using technologies such as solar and wind to turn harmful CO₂ emissions into clean, usable fuels.

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Front: Ben Lesel, Sarah H. Tolbert, Clair Shen, Yan Yan
Middle: Ty Karaba, Terri Lin, John B. Cook
Back: Allen Liang, Erick Harr, Dan Baumann

With collaboration opportunities and innovative workshops, the newly established UCLA student chapter is providing both social and academic experiences for those involved.

Since its approval at the 228th ECS Meeting, the UCLA student chapter has been hard at work creating a robust, multifaceted group where students from all areas of electrochemical science can come together.

“Science, at the entry level, progresses much more efficiently when there is an open dialogue between researchers,” says John Cook, chair of the UCLA student chapter. “Electrochemical science cannot be done alone in a dark room.”

Cook and a collaborator began developing the UCLA student chapter very organically, with the idea that there needed to be a way to bring together the many groups across the campus working in electrochemistry. For Cook, establishing an ECS student chapter was the perfect solution.

“Our main goal is to bring people from different departments together to share ideas,” says Cook. “We want to create an environment in which chemists, engineers, physicists, and even business majors collaborate and share ideas.”

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The Electrochemical Society (ECS) and the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE) are working together to co-sponsor symposia at each other’s respective conferences. The joint effort will start with “Modeling: From Elucidation of Physical Phenomena to Applications in Design” at the 229th ECS Meeting.

The symposia organizers include Mark Orazem, past president of ISE and chair of the ECS Education Committee; and Johna Leddy, ECS Vice President and member of ISE.

“Through society publications, conferences, and other activities, ECS and ISE both provide essential service to the international electrochemical community,” says Orazem. “As an active member of ISE and ECS, I am very pleased to see these two societies work together in forming jointly sponsored symposia.”

The symposium at the 229th ECS Meeting will cover areas from fundamental theory to modeling of electrochemical technologies and devices, exploring all aspects of modeling electrochemical phenomena and physical effects in electrochemical systems.

“Electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering are central to fundamental research in dynamics and thermodynamics, fundamentals that implement technologies across wide areas that include energy, the environment, and healthcare,” says Leddy. “Because electrochemistry and electrochemical modeling are central to all electrochemists and electrochemical engineers, worldwide, electrochemical modeling provides an excellent venue for this, the first joint symposium of ISE and ECS.”

Abstracts for the “Modeling: From Elucidation of Physical Phenomena to Applications in Design” symposium will be accepted for the 229th ECS Meeting up until December 11, 2015.

“Personally, I am very pleased with the modeling topic and look forward to excellent interactions and discussions with friends of long standing and new colleagues not yet met,” says Leddy. “I look forward to the opportunity that this joint symposium of ISE and ECS provides to exchange ideas and to create new knowledge and new questions.”

Following the 229th ECS Meeting, the “Education for Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering” symposium will be co-organized by both ECS and ISE as part of the 2017 Annual Meeting of ISE.

“This is a new venture, being tested first at the 2016 ECS Meeting in San Diego and then at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the ISE in Providence, Rhode Island,” says Orazem. “I believe that this venture will strengthen both societies and may lead to new levels of cooperation that will benefit electrochemical research and education. I appreciate sincerely the engagement of the ISE and ECS leadership.”

The development of the silicon chip forever changed the field of electronics and the world at large. From computers to cellphones to digital home appliances, the silicon chip has become an inextricable part of the structure of our society. However, as silicon begins to reach its limits many researchers are looking for new materials to continue the electronics revolution.

Fan Ren, Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida and Technical Editor of the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, has based his career in the field of electronics and semiconductor devices. From his time at Bell Labs through today, Ren has witnessed much change in the field.

Future of Electronics

Upon coming to the United States from Taiwan, Ren was hired by Bell Labs. This hub of innovation had a major impact on Ren and his work, and is where he first got his hands-on semiconductor research. During this time, silicon was the major player as far as electronic materials went. While electronics have transformed since that time, the materials used to create integrated circuits have essentially stayed the same.

People keep saying of other semiconductors, “This will be the material for the next generation of devices,” says Ren. “However, it hasn’t really changed. Silicon is still dominating.”

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