In an effort to move away from fossil fuels toward a renewable future, researchers have invested time and resources into developing hydrogen fuel. The most efficient way to create this sustainable fuel has been through water-splitting, but the process is not perfect. Now, researchers from MIT, the Skoltech Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas at Austin believe they may have made a breakthrough that could lead to the widespread adoption of water-splitting to produce hydrogen fuel. The key…
Continue reading

There is no doubt that women have made an immense impact on the sciences. From Marie Curie to Esther Takeuchi, women have made outstanding contributions to innovation, research, and technology. In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating by (briefly) highlighting a few women who have changed STEM. Marie Curie A list of pioneering women in STEM would be incomplete if it did not include the extraordinary Marie Curie. Her inspiring story and discovery or radium…
Continue reading

Solving global energy needs With population growth and industrialization, global energy needs continue to grow as well. Economic, political, and environmental issues are largely dictated by energy needs. The fifth international ECS Electrochemical Energy Summit (E2S) is designed to foster an exchange between leading policy makers and energy experts about society needs and technological energy solutions. (MORE: Watch videos of the presentations.) The E2S program focused around solar critical issues and renewable energy. It was held on Monday, October 12...
Continue reading

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…
Continue reading

ECS treasurer E.J. Taylor (Founder & CTO of Faraday Technology), recently forwarded us a story from The Economist featuring ECS members and their contributions to research and development on the ever-improving lithium-ion battery. Since the battery’s commercialization by Sony in the early 1990s, the lithium-ion battery has improved to produce better laptops, smartphones, and even power electric cars. Vincent Battaglia, ECS member and head of the Electrochemical Technologies Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, states that the lithium-ion battery “is…
Continue reading

The electric car industry is on the rise, but battery performance for these vehicles is still not where it needs to be to implement wide-scale usage. To address this issue, researchers from Dalhousie University have produced a ternary blend of electrolyte additives to improve the performance of the li-ion cell. An open access paper recently published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) details a novel development in electrolyte additives that, once applied to the li-ion cell, demonstrate a…
Continue reading

Toyota has just unveiled the prototype of their 3-wheel i-ROAD urban mobility vehicle at the TED Conference in Vancouver. Those who experienced the vehicle described it as a cross between a zip scooter and an eco-friendly electric car. Toyota is describing this electric two-seater as a “personal mobility vehicle.” The company used the TED Conference as their launching platform for to gauge how the attendees see the future of mobility. However, the i-ROAD is not designed to be your primary…
Continue reading

When it comes to battery research and technology, people are constantly looking toward the lithium-ion battery to see the next big breakthrough. However, researchers at the chemical company BASF are showcasing and older battery type as a strong competitor against the li-ion. BASF researchers are taking the nickel-metal hydride battery (NiMH) and giving it a boost to lead to cheaper electric cars. The assumption for electric car makers it that improvements in the lithium-ion battery will make cars cheaper and…
Continue reading

Electric cars and personal electronics may get the battery boost they need with this new development in lithium-ion batteries. Researchers from the University of California, Riverside have created silicon nanofibers that are 100 times thinner than human hair, which will provide the potential to boost the amount of energy that can be delivered per unit weight of the batteries. The research has been detailed in the paper “Towards Scalable Binderless Electrodes: Carbon Coated Silicon Nanofiber Paper via Mg Reduction of…
Continue reading

Many of the most influential people of our time are also the most obscure. Take John Goodenough, for example. While he may not be a household name, everyday devices such as laptops and smartphones exist because of his work on lithium-ion batteries. But even in his 90s, Goodenough isn’t done yet. He’s already invented the lithium-ion’s nervous system, which houses the cobalt-oxide cathode. This is the most important part of every lithium-ion battery, but Goodenough isn’t satisfied with this major…
Continue reading