By: Erin Baker, University of Massachusetts Amherst

The U.S. Department of Energy spends US$3-$4 billion per year on applied energy research. These programs seek to provide clean and reliable energy and improve our energy security by driving innovation and helping companies bring new clean energy sources to market.

President Trump’s detailed budget request reportedly will ask Congress to cut funding for the Energy Department’s clean energy programs by almost 70 percent, from $2 billion this year to $636 million in 2018. Clean energy advocates and environmental groups strongly oppose such drastic cuts, but some reductions are likely. Where should DOE focus its limited funding to produce the greatest energy and environmental benefits?

My colleagues Laura Diaz Anadon of Cambridge University and Valentina Bosetti of Bocconi University and I recently reviewed 15 studies that asked this question. We found a number of clean energy technologies in electricity and transportation that will help us slow climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, even at lower levels of investment.

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Ten new issues of ECS Transactions (ECST) have just been published for the upcoming 231st ECS Meeting. The papers in these issues of ECST will be presented in New Orleans, Louisiana, May 28 – June 1, 2017.

ECST Volume 77, Issues 1 to 10 can now be accessed online through the ECS Digital Library.

These issues are also available for purchase from the ECS Online Store:

1. 1. Battery Electrolytes
2. 2. Emerging Materials for Post CMOS Devices/Sensing and Applications 8
3. 3. Plasma Nano Science and Technology
4. 4. Processes at the Semiconductor Solution Interface 7
5. 5. Silicon Compatible Materials, Processes, and Technologies for Advanced Integrated Circuits and Emerging Applications 7
6. 6. Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Materials and Devices 18
7. 7. Solid-State Electronics and Photonics in Biology and Medicine 4
8. 8. Properties and Applications of 2-Dimensional Layered Materials 2
9. 9. Oxygen or Hydrogen Evolution Catalysis for Water Electrolysis 3
10. 10. Solid-Gas Electrochemical Interfaces 2 – SGEI 2

All issues are currently in stock as CD/USB combos, but will also be made available for purchase as instant PDF downloads beginning May 27, 2017.

While at the ECS meeting in New Orleans, limited CD/USB copies will be purchasable at registration – please be sure to stop by to browse available issues and to check out our new exhibit booth!

Over one million scientists and science advocates around the world took to the streets on April 22 to celebrate science and bring attention to the role it plays in improving lives, solving problems, and informing evidence-based policy.

In total, there were more than 600 marches in all 66 countries, on seven continents, and in all 50 states (including a few penguin marchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium).

Get all the data and find out what states held the largest marches over on the March for Science’s blog.

And check out some of ECS’s pictures from the march on our Facebook page!

There are only 10 days left to submit your abstract to the 2017 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition!

Since 1976, the Fuel Cell Seminar has been a staple for fuel cell industry professionals, researchers, and stakeholders to meet with colleagues and customers alike and see the latest developments of this exciting industry.

Attracting an international audience, the Fuel Cell Seminar features the latest fuel cell and hydrogen products, technical and market research, policy updates, and commercialization strategies for all applications and market sectors.  The Fuel Cell Seminar is the foremost event for networking with industry representatives, current and potential customers, stakeholders and decision makers interested in the clean, reliable, resilient power potential of fuel cells.

Abstract submissions are due by May 27, 2017. Please see the FCS 2017 Call for Abstracts for topic list and submission guidelines. ECS will also be publishing an issue of ECS Transactions (ECST) containing full conference papers from the 2017 Fuel Cell Seminar for interested presenters.

The Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Exposition will be held November 7-9, 2017, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California.

For further details about the seminar, please visit www.fuelcellseminar.com.

The development of the lithium-ion battery has helped enable the modern day electronics revolution, making possible everything from cellphones to laptops to electric vehicles and even grid-scale energy storage.

However, those batteries have limited lifespans. Battery expert Daniel P. Abraham is looking to address that.

“As your cellphone battery ages, you notice that you have to plug it in more often,” says Abraham, ECS member and scientist at Argonne National Laboratory. “Over a period of time, you are not able to store as much charge in the battery, and that is the process we call capacity fade.”

Abraham is a co-author of an open access paper recently published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, “Transition Metal Dissolution, Ion Migration, Electrocatalytic Reduction and Capacity Loss in Lithium-Ion Full Cells,” which addresses the question of why your battery doesn’t age well.

A majority of today’s electronic devices are powered by the lithium-ion battery. In order for the battery to store and release energy, lithium ions move back and forth between the positive and negative electrodes through an electrolyte.  In theory, the ions could travel back and forth an infinite number of times, resulting in a battery that lasts forever.

But that’s not what happens in the batteries that power your laptops and your electric vehicles. According to Abraham, unwanted side reactions often occur as ions move between the electrodes, resulting in batteries that lose capacity over time.

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A new issue of ECS Transactions (ECST) has just been published. This issue includes 19 papers which will be presented at the Sixth International Conference on Semiconductor Technology for Ultra Large Integrated Circuits and Thin Film Transistors (ULSIC vs. TFT 6), in Schloss Hernstein, Hernstein, Austria, May 21-25, 2017.

ECST Volume 79, Issue 1 can be found here.

Issues of ECST can also be purchased in the ECS ONLINE STORE as full-text digital downloads.

By: Joshua D. Rhodes, University of Texas at Austin; Michael E. Webber, University of Texas at Austin; Thomas Deetjen, University of Texas at Austin, and Todd Davidson, University of Texas at Austin

U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry in April requested a study to assess the effect of renewable energy policies on nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

Some energy analysts responded with confusion, as the subject has been extensively studied by grid operators and the Department of Energy’s own national labs. Others were more critical, saying the intent of the review is to favor the use of nuclear and coal over renewable sources.

So, are wind and solar killing coal and nuclear? Yes, but not by themselves and not for the reasons most people think. Are wind and solar killing grid reliability? No, not where the grid’s technology and regulations have been modernized. In those places, overall grid operation has improved, not worsened.

To understand why, we need to trace the path of electrons from the wall socket back to power generators and the markets and policies that dictate that flow. As energy scholars based in Texas – the national leader in wind – we’ve seen these dynamics play out over the past decade, including when Perry was governor.

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New research out of the University of Florida shows a new 3D printing technology that could lead to strong, flexible, affordable medical implants.

Through this new process for the use of 3D printing and soft silicone, the researchers believe items that millions of patients use could be more easily manufactured, ranging from implantable bands to soft catheters to slings.

These kinds of devices are currently molded, which can take days or even weeks to create customized parts designed to fit an individual patient. The 3D-printing method cuts that time to hours, potentially saving lives. What’s more, extremely small and complex devices, such as drainage tubes containing pressure-sensitive valves, simply cannot be molded in one step.

The new method allows them to be printed.

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ECS student chapters help connect young scientists to a robust local research network. With nearly 70 chapters established worldwide, students gain access to networking, collaboration, and educational opportunities. The ECS Aalborg University Student Chapter is one of three new chapters chartered by the ECS Board of Directors on March 7, 2017. The chapter’s president, Vaclav Knap, believes establishing the student chapter will help unite students working in the different areas of electrochemical and solid state science.

“The main goal was to bring students together,” Knap says. “At our department, the electrochemical oriented topics, such as batteries, fuel cells, and electrolyzers, are minorities. Therefore the idea was to bring the students from these areas closer together to support each other. Moreover, the ECS chapter is a great platform to further learn, promote our topics, and gain additional skills.”

Knap began forming the ECS Aalborg University Student Chapter in the summer of 2016, shortly after he joined the Society. Much of the inspiration to establish the chapter came when Knap attended the ECS sponsored Advanced Batteries, Accumulators and Fuel Cells (ABAF) Conference, where he was able to interact with ECS members such as Petr Vanysek and Jiri Vondrak and learn of the advantages that student chapters could offer.

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