Raymond Smith (left) and Shihyun Ahn (right), winners of the 2017 ECS young author awards.

ECS is pleased to announce the winners of the Society’s 2017 young author awards: Raymond Smith and Shihyun Ahn.

ECS presents two young author awards each year to recognize the best papers published by young authors in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology during the volume year preceding the award.

The 2017 young author awards will be presented at AiMES 2018 in Cancun, Mexico, September 30-October 4, 2018.

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In an effort to better recognize the innovative research gaining traction across the diverse span of ECS’s topical interest areas, the Society has instituted a new blog series, which will highlight the top five most-downloaded journal articles in each TIA during each quarter of the year.

The most-downloaded Journal of The Electrochemical Society articles by TIA during the first quarter of 2018 (January through March) are listed below.

Highlights are based on articles published since January 1, 2016.

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After over 115 years of peer-reviewed research, what is it that keeps authors publishing in ECS journals? In what ways do ECS journals excel?

To those who have opted to publish elsewhere, how might ECS journals adapt to meet your needs as an author? What aspects of ECS journals need reexamination?

Above all else, what do you look for in a scientific journal?

Whether you’re a proponent or a critic of ECS journals, please take a few minutes to tell us more.

Any feedback you are able to provide—positive or negative—will assist ECS in evaluating the strength and scope of its peer-reviewed journals.

Share your thoughts today to help shape the future of these publications!

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.

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ECS is pleased to announce that, thanks to a $20,000 donation, the 2018 volume of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society has been named in honor of ECS fellow Chung Chiun Liu.

The Chung Chiun Liu Leadership Collection will contain all of the content published in JES volume 165.

Liu is the Wallace R. Persons Professor of Sensor Technology & Control at Case Western Reserve University. He has been an ECS member for over 50 years. During this time, he has given many oral presentations and organized several symposia for Society meetings. He has also received the 2008 ECS Sensor Division Outstanding Achievement Award and many other accolades.

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In a recent survey of over 100 corresponding authors who published in ECS journals, over 55% of respondents said the speed from initial manuscript submission to publication was faster than expected, and nearly 25% said it was very fast.

The survey also asked the authors to rate ECS’s turnaround speed during specific periods of the publication process: (1) from initial submission to first decision, (2) from manuscript acceptance to receipt of page proofs, and (3) from manuscript acceptance to publication.

Here are the key takeaways:

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Fuel cells play a major role in creating a clean energy future, with a broad set of applications ranging from powering buildings to electrifying transportation. But, as with all emerging technologies, researchers have faced many barriers in developing affordable, efficient fuel cells and creating a way to cleanly produce the hydrogen that powers them.

In a new Perspective article, published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, researchers are aiming to tackle a fundamental debate in key reactions behind fuel cells and hydrogen production, which, if solved, could significantly bolster clean energy technologies.

In the open access article, “Perspective—Towards Establishing Apparent Hydrogen Binding Energy as the Descriptor for Hydrogen Oxidation/Evolution Reactions,” Yushan Yan and his coauthors from the University of Delaware provide an authoritative overview of work done in the areas of hydrogen oxidation and evolution, present key questions for debate, and provide paths for future innovation in the field.

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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.