Earlier this year, the company Goodyear announced its concept of a tire that can harvest heat in a variety of ways to help power electric vehicles. Since then, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been hard at work on their own accord to develop a tire that can harvest the typically wasted power produced from friction. A team of UW-Madison researchers got together, led by Dr. Xudong Wang, to develop a nanogenerator that has the ability to harvest the…
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After extensive research, MIT engineers are on their way to commercializing microchips that release therapeutics inside of the body. The implantable microchip-based device has the potential to outpace injections and conventional pills, changing the landscape of health care and treatment as we know it. A startup stemming from MIT, Microchips Biotech, developed this technology and has partnered with Teva Pharmaceutical to get these chips into the market. Teva Pharmaceutical is a giant in the industry and the world’s largest producer…
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ECS Executive Director recently sat down with co-author of the seminal Alkaline Storage Batteries and globally respected battery and biomedical researcher, Alvin J. Salkind, to take a look back on his tremendously influential career in the sciences. We are sad to say that Dr. Salkind has passed away since the recording of this interview. Take a look at some of the remarkable ways he impacted ECS. Listen to the podcast below and download this episode and others for free throught…
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A team of UCLA scientists are delivering good news on the solar energy front with the development of their new energy storage technology that could change the way scientists think about solar cell design. Taking a little inspiration from the naturally occurring process of photosynthesis, the researchers devised a new arrangement of solar cell ingredients to make a more efficient cell. “In photosynthesis, plants that are exposed to sunlight use carefully organized nanoscale structures within their cells to rapidly separate…
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The video and information in this post relate to an ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology focus issue called: Printable Functional Materials for Electronics and Energy Applications. (Read/download the focus issue now. It’s entirely free.) Printing technologies in an atmospheric environment offer the potential for low-cost and materials-efficient alternatives for manufacturing electronics and energy devices such as luminescent displays, thin-film transistors, sensors, thin-film photovoltaics, fuel cells, capacitors, and batteries. Significant progress has been made in the area of…
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The ECS Conference on Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage with SOFC-XIV in Glasgow is right around the corner. With Scotland on our minds, we thought it’d be fitting to look at some of the greatest Scottish scientists, inventors, and engineers. In spite of being a relatively small country, Scotland has produced a group of prolific and esteemed scientists. Take a look at our list and join us in Glasgow, July 26-31. John Logie Baird (1888-1946) Engineer, Inventor Baird was one…
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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. 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…
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“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…
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The scientific community has been trying to tap into the potential of liquid metals for some time now, but have faced roadblocks in developing something that is highly efficient when paired with electronics. Now, North Carolina State University researchers have successfully designed a liquid metal antenna controlled by only electrical voltage. The work is relatively simple in theory. A positive voltage applied to a liquid metal will make it expand, whereas the application of a negative voltage will make it…
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