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…
Continue reading

“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…
Continue reading

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…
Continue reading

Proton OnSite, the world leader in commercializing proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis, will be awarded the 2015 Industrial Electrochemistry & Electrochemical Engineering Division New Electrochemical Technology (NET) Award at the 227th ECS Meeting in Chicago. The NET award was established in 1998 to recognize significant advances in industrial electrochemistry. The year’s award will be presented to Proton OnSite for the development of their C Series Hydrogen Generator. This new system has high strategic importance in that it continues to validate…
Continue reading

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the University of California, Davis have recently published a paper showing that covering an implantable neural electrode with nanoporus gold could potentially eliminate the risk of scar tissue forming over the electrode’s surface. Two former ECS member, Erkin Seker and Juergen Biener, were among the researchers involved with this development. This from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: The team demonstrated that the nanostructure of nanoporous gold achieves close physical coupling of neurons by maintaining…
Continue reading

A new process called “microcombing” has been developed to created ultra-strong and highly conductive carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The films produced from the microcombing technique could have practical applications in improving electronics and aerospace technology. “It’s a simple process and can create a lightweight CNT film, or ‘bucky paper,’ that is a meter wide and twice as strong as previous such films—it’s even stronger than CNT fibers,” said Yuntian Zhu, Distinguished Professor of Material Science and Engineering at NC State.

ECS student member Fudong Han and former member Chunsheng Wang have developed a novel solid state battery comprised of just one material that can both move and store electricity. This new battery could prove to be revolutionary in the area of solid state batteries due to its incorporation of electrodes and electrolytes into a single material. “Our battery is 600 microns thick, about the size of a dime, whereas conventional solid state batteries are thin films — forty times thinner….
Continue reading

Deadline for Submitting Abstracts May 1, 2015 Submit today! Topic Close-up #1 SYMPOSIUM F03 Membrane-Based Electrochemical Separations FOCUSED ON High or low temperature gas separations (e.g., H2, CO2, O2); Electrodialysis; Chlorine; production; water pollution remediation; other electrochemical separations FEATURING Meilin Liu from School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology on Mixed Ionic and Electronic Conducting Membranes for Gas Separations and Michael Stockades of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece on Electrolyte Membranes in Heterogeneous Catalysis. Learn about all…
Continue reading

Deadline for Submitting Abstracts May 1, 2015 Submit today! You won’t want to miss the – Electrochemical Energy Summit 2015 – Theme: Solar Critical Issues and Renewable Energy Held during the 228th ECS Meeting, the fifth international ECS Electrochemical Energy Summit is designed to foster an exchange between leading policy makers and energy experts about society needs and technological energy solutions. Participants Fluid Interface Reactions, Structures, and Transport Center (FIRST) David Wesolowski, Oak Ridge National Laboratory NorthEast Center for Chemical…
Continue reading