Our guest today, James Fenton, is the director of the Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida – the nation’s largest and most active state-supported renewable energy and energy efficiency institute. Fenton is also the current secretary of the ECS Board of Directors. Listen to the podcast and download this episode and others for free through the iTunes Store, SoundCloud, or our RSS Feed. You can also find us on Stitcher.

Researchers have created a way to look inside fuel cells to see the chemical processes that lead them to breakdown. Fuel cells could someday generate electricity for nearly any device that’s battery-powered, including automobiles, laptops, and cellphones. Typically using hydrogen as fuel and air as an oxidant, fuel cells are cleaner than internal combustion engines because they produce power via electrochemical reactions. Since water is their primary product, they considerably reduce pollution. The oxidation, or breakdown, of a fuel cell’s…
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Researchers have created a small, thin, biodegradable sensor that could monitor the temperature of food in transit. Microsensors are already used in many different applications today, such as the detection of poisonous gases. They are also part of miniaturized transmitter/receiver systems, such as the ubiquitous RFID chips. As the sensors often contain precious metals that are harmful to both the environment and human health, however, they are not suitable for medical applications involving direct contact with the human body or…
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A novel compound called 3Q conducts electricity and retains energy better than other organic materials currently used in batteries, researchers report. “Our study provides evidence that 3Q, and organic molecules of similar structures, in combination with graphene, are promising candidates for the development of eco-friendly, high capacity rechargeable batteries with long life cycles,” says Loh Kian Ping, professor in the chemistry department at NUS Faculty of Science. Rechargeable batteries are the key energy storage component in many large-scale battery systems…
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By: Alyssa Doyle, ECS Membership Intern As a student registrant, you have several unique opportunities to get involved in the 232nd ECS Meeting in National Harbor, MD. Student Mixer (sponsored by BMW) As an upcoming leader in the electrochemistry and solid state science professions, students are encouraged to attend the mixer to network with their future colleagues. Light refreshments and food will be available. The event is being held on Monday from 1900-2100h. Student member tickets are $5 and student nonmember tickets $15. Career…
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Tech Highlights was prepared by David Enos, Mara Schindelholz, and Mike Kelly of Sandia National Laboratories, Colm Glynn and David McNulty of University College Cork, Ireland, and Donald Pile of Rolled-Ribbon Battery Company. This article was originally published in Interface. Read the original article. Spray Drying-Assisted Synthesis of Li3VO4/C/CNTs Composites for High-Performance Lithium Ion Battery Anodes Published in the “Focus Issue of Selected Papers from IMLB 2016 with Invited Papers Celebrating 25 Years of Lithium Ion Batteries.” Graphite-based materials continue…
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The Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) Focus Issue on Mathematical Modeling of Electrochemical Systems at Multiple Scales in Honor of John Newman is now available online, with 72 open access papers published in the ECS Digital Library. “This focus issue of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society is devoted to the mathematical modeling of electrochemical systems across multiple scales,” the authors say in the focus issue’s preface. “It is dedicated to the work of Professor John Newman from UC…
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Safety concerns regarding lithium-ion batteries have been making headlines in light of smartphone fires and hoverboard explosions. In order to combat safety issues, at team of researchers from Drexel University, led by ECS member Yury Gogotsi, has developed a way to transform a battery’s electrolyte solution into a safeguard against the chemical process that leads to battery fires. Dendrites – or battery buildups caused by the chemical reactions inside the battery – have been cited as one of the main…
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By: Timothy H. Dixon, University of South Florida This summer I worked on the Greenland ice sheet, part of a scientific experiment to study surface melting and its contribution to Greenland’s accelerating ice losses. By virtue of its size, elevation and currently frozen state, Greenland has the potential to cause large and rapid increases to sea level as it melts. When I returned, a nonscientist friend asked me what the research showed about future sea level rise. He was disappointed…
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Chris Johnson is currently a senior chemist and group leader at Argonne National Laboratory, specializing in the research and development of battery materials and battery systems with 25 years of experience. He is known worldwide for his development of state-of-art lithium-ion battery cathode materials. He holds a BS in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a PhD in chemistry from Northwestern University. He has published over 110 papers and has 24 U.S. patents in the…
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