The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report Wednesday night on electricity markets and grid reliability, stating that the decline in coal and nuclear production has not impacted grid reliability, instead the rise in a diverse energy portfolio has increased the grid’s stability. The study, commissioned by Energy Secretary Rick Perry in April, also states that coal plant closures across the country have been due to market pressure and competition from low-priced natural gas plants, not policy changes that…
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New paper-based, point-of-care diagnostic tools could lead to improvements in device cost, weight, and flexibility. The recently developed SPEDs, or self-powered, paper-based electrochemical device, can detect biomarkers such as glucose and white blood cells, all while remaining easy to read for non-experts. The Purdue University research team behind this project believes it could be applicable for patients in regions where access to sophisticated medical equipment is limited. “You could consider this a portable laboratory that is just completely made out…
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231st ECS Meeting | New Orleans, LA | May 29, 2017 A Risk Look at Energy Development Way Kuo is president at City University of Hong Kong. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Russian Academy of Engineering. Before joining CityU, he was on the senior management team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Dean of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, and Head of the…
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Short Course at ECS meetings Electrodeposition is widely being used in the fabrication of materials and devices, and most recently this technique has been successfully applied to the fabrication of various components in energy conversion systems. This course will offer the opportunity to students, researchers and practitioners with a variety of technical backgrounds to be introduced for the first time or to refresh their understanding of the fundamentals of the technique, as well as to gain a perspective of its...
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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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Stanko R. Brankovic obtained a BE in chemical and biochemical engineering in 1994 from University of Belgrade and a PhD in science and engineering of materials in 1999 from Arizona State University (Tempe). Before joining the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at University of Houston in 2005, he spent two years as postdoctoral research associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory (1999-2001) and four years as a research staff member at Seagate Research Center in Pittsburgh (2001-2005). Brankovic currently serves as a…
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The 1st International Semiconductor Conference for Global Challenges (ISCGC 2017) was held in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, July 16-19, 2017. The conference was jointly sponsored by The Electrochemical Society and the Chinese Physical Society. The 200-plus attendees from around the world addressed the global challenges of semiconductor science and technology. The conference covered a wide spectrum of semiconductor research areas including growth and characterization, electronic/optoelectronic/power devices and their applications, and energy devices and systems. On hand were eight keynote and 40…
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Kenneth Hernández-Burgos earned a BA in chemistry from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras (UPR-RP) in 2010. During his time at UPR-RP, he was a Minority Access for Research Careers Fellow and investigated the electrochemical and spectrochemical properties of ferrocene derivatives under the supervision of Ana R. Guadalupe. He earned his PhD at Cornell University, where he was advised by Héctor D. Abruña. During that time, he mastered the design and characterization of organic electrode materials for electrical…
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Short Course at ECS meetings Designing better materials for rechargeable batteries requires understanding of the many physical processes that determine their performance. The aim of the course is to provide a foundation for understanding key materials science and engineering issues underpinning the behaviors of electrode and electrolyte materials for rechargeable batteries. With the relevant examples, the course will further illustrate how the direction integration of first principles computation with advanced experimental characterization can accelerate the pace of discovering and optimizing...
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Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are taking a closer look at fuel cell catalysts in hopes of finding a viable alternative to the expensive platinum and platinum-group metal catalysts currently used in fuel cell electrodes. Developments in this area could lead to more affordable next-generation polymer electrolyte fuel cells for vehicles. The research, led by ECS fellow Piotr Zelenay, looks at the fuel cell catalysts at the atomic level, providing unique insight into the efficiency of non-precious metals…
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