The ECS Honors and Awards Program and the ECS Battery Division proudly announce the creation of the new ECS Battery Division M. Stanley Whittingham Mid-Career Award recognizing mid-career achievement and contributions to the field of electrochemical energy storage.

When the pandemic caused the cancellation of a PRiME 2020 event honoring his winning the Nobel prize, Dr. Whittingham requested that donations to the event be used for an award. The Battery Division Early M. Stanley Whittingham Mid-Career Award is partially funded through these donations. (more…)

Prestigious student awards presented at ECS 244th Meeting

Congratulations to Gustavo Hobold, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and KyuJung Jun, University of California, Berkeley, winners of the 2023 ECS Battery Division Student Research Award Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Research and Development. Hobold and Jun presented their award talks at the 244th ECS Meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Gustavo Hobold
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A07—0984   Quantitative SEI-based Descriptors For Li metal Liquid Electrolyte Design

Gustavo M. Hobold is a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), working with Prof. Betar Gallant. His research focuses on developing a quantitative understanding of the functional properties and chemical composition of solid electrolyte interphases (SEI) formed natively on Li anodes. Hobold’s work leverages in situ experiments and high-throughput post-mortem titration-based techniques to precisely quantify the formation of a wide range of SEI phases and decipher capacity loss mechanisms in modern high Coulombic efficiency (CE) electrolytes. Ultimately, his work revealed several quantifiable SEI-based descriptors that can guide future liquid electrolyte discovery, aiming to breach >99.9% CE. Prior to MIT, Gustavo received his Engineering degree and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina.

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Congratulations to John Holoubek, University of California, San Diego, and Singyuk Hou, University of Maryland, College Park, the 2022 ECS Battery Division Student Research Award winners. Holoubek and Hou presented their award talks at the 242nd ECS Meeting in Atlanta, GA, where they received the awards from Y. Shirley Meng and Brett Lucht. 

Singyuk Hou
University of Maryland, College Park
A03-0211 Energy Storage with the Abundant Divalent Metal Batteries

Singyuk Hou’s academic career has focused on the research of electrolytes and interfaces for metal anodes. After completing her BS and MS in Chemistry, she started her PhD under the supervision of Professor Chunsheng Wang at the University of Maryland, College Park. Her PhD research is on the molecule-level control of the solvation structure using chelants that promote the charge transfer kinetics of magnesium and calcium metal batteries. It also extends to SEI engineering for high-energy lithium-ion and lithium metal batteries by developing novel electrolyte systems. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and co-authored four patents.

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Voting is now taking place for the position of ECS Battery Division Treasurer. Biographical sketches and statements follow for the candidates nominated for the position. ECS division officers serve as volunteers.

We urge all ECS Battery Division members to take part in this important election! Voting is open from September 1 through September 29.

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