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EHow to Do Continuity
veryone involved in electrochemistry knows the Ernest B. Yeager Center for Electrochemical Sciences (YCES) at Case Western University. It has been a jewel of an academic center for almost 50 years (formally), but in reality, for much longer than that with Professor Frank Hovorka starting at Western Reserve University in 1925, barely two decades after ECS was founded. A recent Focus Issue in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society was entitled Celebrating the Legacy of Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. It consists of articles spanning the range of the work at YCES, many of them authored by alumni or those otherwise affiliated with YCES over the years. The last article in the Focus Issue gives a nice summary of the impact of the people in and from the YCES on our community, their education of students, as well as their contributions via research, innovation, and technology. I would encourage you to read this fascinating history.
ECS owes YCES a great debt for the long history of invaluable leadership its members have provided, from Prof. Yeager serving as President of ECS from 1965 to 1966 to Rohan Akolkar serving as the Inaugural Editor-in-Chief of ECS Advances, our Gold Open Access journal, in 2024. Three YCES faculty have served as Editors-in-Chief of JES (Barry Miller, Dan Scherson, and Bob Savinell). Soon, YCES will have its fourth faculty member serving as President of ECS when Bob Savinell finishes his ascent through the Executive Committee. The cumulative amount of time and effort these faculty members have contributed, as well as in leading divisions in ECS and in organizing symposia, boggles the mind.
I waxed philosophically in the Winter 2024 issue of Interface about the challenges in developing and implementing a succession plan, particularly in academia. Inexplicably, I did not mention that there is an exemplar for such planning, and it is right in front of us. YCES is a case study (pun intended) on how one maintains a thriving research center over multiple generations. Looking at the photo of current faculty affiliated with YCES shows what we might call a healthy distribution of experience. I doubt that that distribution occurred by happenstance. The portfolio of research shows that the leadership of YCES avoided the pitfall of purely replacing like-with-like. The topics in electrochemistry covered in YCES have adapted to the needs and the opportunities in the field. The YCES is set to continue its contributions far into the future. Congratulations, and keep it going for the next 50 years.
I need to end this missive with the noting of the passing of two giants in the field of corrosion science, Profs. Digby Macdonald and Norio Sato. Although both are best known for their contributions to better understanding the passivity of metals and alloys, the reach of their impact far exceeds one topic. There is a remembrance of Digby in this issue, with one for Prof. Sato to come in the winter issue. I will always remember Digby with a smile, as his was virtually always on his face, hinting that he was up to something, which was generally true. He and I played a remarkably forgettable session of tennis at Bombannes in 1990 during the first EIS conference. I broke the racket he leant me, likely due to the massive force of my forehand. Or a pre-existing crack in the frame, but who knows which, really. I am certain Digby is on the other side trying to convince the giants who preceded him of the veracity of the Point Defect Model.
Until next time, be safe and happy.
Rob Kelly Editor-in-Chief
Published by: The Electrochemical Society (ECS) 65 South Main Street Pennington, NJ 08534-2839, USA Tel 609.737.1902, Fax 609.737.2743 www.electrochem.org
Editor-in-Chief: Rob Kelly
Guest Editors: Mark E. Orazem and Masayuki Itagaki
Contributing Editors: Christopher L. Alexander, Christopher G. Arges, Scott Cushing, Ahmet Kusoglu, Donald Pile, Alice Suroviec
Senior Director of Publications: Adrian Plummer
Senior Director of Engagement: Shannon Reed
Production Editor: Kara McArthur
Graphic Design & Print Production Manager: Dinia Agrawala
Staff Contributors: Frances Chaves, Francesca Di Palo, Genevieve Goldy, Maggie Hohenadel, Mary Hojlo, Christopher J. Jannuzzi, John Lewis, Anna Olsen, Fern A. Oram, Jennifer Quartararo, JaneAnn Wormann
Advisory Board: Jie Xiao (Battery Division)
Eiji Tada (Corrosion Division)
Vaddiraju Sreeram (Dielectric Science and Technology Division)
Luca Magagnin (Electrodeposition Division)
Chakrapani Vidhya (Electronics and Photonics Division)
Paul Kenis (Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division)
Eugeniusz Zych (Luminescence and Display Materials Division)
Jeff Blackburn (Nanocarbons Division)
Ariel Furst (Organic and Biological Electrochemistry Division)
Anne Co (Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division)
Praveen Sekhar (Sensor Division)
Publications Subcommittee Chair: Robert Savinell
Society Officers: James (Jim) Fenton, President; Francis D'Souza, Vice President; Robert Savinell, 2nd Vice President; Marca Doeff, 3rd Vice President; Gessie Brisard, Secretary; Elizabeth J. Podlaha-Murphy, Treasurer; Alice Suroviec, Community Inclusion Chair; Christopher J. Jannuzzi, Executive Director & CEO
Statements and opinions given in The Electrochemical Society Interface are those of the contributors, and ECS assumes no responsibility for them.
Authorization to photocopy any article for internal or personal use beyond the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976 is granted by The Electrochemical Society to libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC). Copying for other than internal or personal use without express permission of ECS is prohibited. The CCC Code for The Electrochemical Society Interface is 1064-8208/92.
The Electrochemical Society is an educational, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with more than 9,000 scientists and engineers in over 75 countries worldwide who hold individual membership. Founded in 1902, the Society has a long tradition in advancing the theory and practice of electrochemical and solid state science by dissemination of information through its publications and international meetings.
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United through Science & Technology
ummer is winding down as I write this, and I am looking forward to the fall and the upcoming ECS Meeting in Chicago.
First, however, let’s look back at May’s outstanding 247th Meeting in Montréal, Canada, and review key activities that have since followed.
Each ECS meeting I have attended—14 in all—has been distinct and wonderful in its own way. Nonetheless, Montréal stood out because, for the first time, an ECS meeting incorporated an official theme—ECS United—around which the conference’s many events (3,200 technical talks, award presentations, corporate exhibitions, receptions, Plenary Session, and ECS Lecture) coalesced.
Preparing for Montréal involved a lot of discussion about the meaning of ECS United. The Executive Committee and staff shared insightful, inspiring interpretations. But for me, ECS United describes the “butterfly effect” of what this amazing, worldwide community can achieve. As individuals, we contribute to the mission of ECS in our own unique ways; as a united community advancing electrochemical and solid state science for the benefit of humankind, we change the world.
Yet in the final weeks before the meeting, I realized that there was a flipside to the ECS United theme. We were thrilled that nearly 3,250 attendees registered for 247. But of those, more than 750 who submitted abstracts and planned to be at the meeting, ultimately did not attend—many due to US policy changes which led to lost funding or fear of not being permitted to return to the US. The worrisome political environment gave ECS United new meaning. Our theme should not be limited to meeting attendees. Clearly, we needed to stand united with those who could not be there. The absence of those 750 people (and countless others from organizations and institutions similarly affected) should serve as a clarion call to take action to ensure that EVERYONE can participate in future ECS meetings. I realized that in order to help change the world, the ECS community must first help change minds—specifically of those currently in power in the US.
To that end, ECS President James Fenton, past ECS Energy Technology Division (ETD) Chair Kathy Ayers, and I recently joined colleagues from the Materials Research Society (MRS) for a series of visits to Capitol Hill. Our goal was to meet with Congressional members from both major US political parties and their staffs to discuss how critical science funding and supporting international students is to the health, vitality, and economic prosperity of the US and the whole world. We strove to remove politics from the discussions, focusing instead on the demonstrated benefits of aggressively funding fundamental
*Sources used in NAFSA’s economic analysis for 2023–2024 Academic Year: U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Open Doors Report
scientific research and keeping US colleges and universities open to international students. We shared facts, including:
• A 2023 Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas study concluded that since the post-World War II era, federal R&D investments yielded returns of 140 to 220 percent.
• International students studying at US colleges and universities contribute $43.8 billion annually to the US economy, resources which flow to all 50 states.
• In Alabama alone, international students contribute $348.6 million and support 2,373 jobs annually.*
While these facts are powerful, I realize that a single visit to Capitol Hill is not going to change the US stance on science funding and education. Achieving this difficult goal will take time, coordination, and tremendous effort. But, considering science funding’s powerful impact, it is impossible to overstate this effort’s critical nature. Cuts to US science budgets have broad and far-reaching effects on the rest of the world due to the vital role the US plays in global research, collaboration, and innovation. The centrality of the ECS community’s work in addressing global grand challenges is clearer than ever!
The Chicago meeting is our next chance to convene the ECS community and build on momentum generated since Montréal to support science and science funding. Therefore, we wanted a 248th Meeting theme that expanded ECS United to reflect the breadth and depth of the Society’s technical domains and how all 13 division and technical interest areas provide unique and vital contributions to human advancement. The result: United through Science & Technology
Consider the myriad ECS technologies at play in an electric vehicle: batteries and fuel cells provide energy; displays provide the interface to control the EV; power electronics efficiently manage the complex energy flow within the vehicle; materials protect the car and help maximize efficiency; and sensors enable the car to navigate the surrounding environment with astonishing precision. I’m sure you can envision countless more examples to showcase our community’s critical work in solving the most important challenges we face, demonstrating the inextricable link between supporting science and education and enabling economic and environmental health and wellbeing.
Looking forward, I hope you join us in Chicago for the 248th ECS meeting. The conference features over 3,400 oral and poster presentations scheduled across 51 symposia, all with the same goal: to advance electrochemical and solid state science for the benefit of humanity. To me, that sounds like being United through Science & Technology!
Christopher J. Jannuzzi ECS Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7293-7404
UNITED THROUGH SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
248th ECS Meeting | October 12–16, 2025 | Hilton Chicago
The 248th ECS Meeting takes place in Chicago, IL, from October 12 to 16, 2025, at the Hilton Chicago. This international conference brings together scientists, engineers, and researchers from academia, industry, and government laboratories to share results and discuss issues on related topics through a variety of formats, including oral presentations, panel discussions, poster sessions, tutorial sessions, Short Courses, professional development workshops, and exhibits. The unique blend of electrochemical and solid state science and technology at an ECS Meeting provides a forum to learn and exchange information on the latest scientific and technical developments in a variety of interdisciplinary areas.
“Unlocking
The Plenary Lecture
Monday, October 13
Electrochemical Processes for Energy Abundance”
Yang Shao-Horn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This lecture covers challenges, opportunities, and recent advances in fundamental understanding of charge transfer processes and dynamics; accelerated discovery of molecules underpinning electrochemical energy storage and making of fuels/ chemicals from water splitting; and reduction of carbon dioxide and molecular nitrogen. Understanding and tuning charge transfer and dynamics at interfaces is key to enabling efficient electrochemical processes and sustainable energy transformation. Recent research learning is reviewed to establish design principles of interfacial kinetics, ion mobility, and dynamics to enhance functions and performance. How covalent and noncovalent interactions can be tuned to alter catalytic activity of water reduction and oxidation is examined. Beyond covalent interactions, tuning non-covalent interactions and solvation environments (such as water breaking and making ions) at the electrified interface can significantly alter the kinetic barriers and rates for proton-concerted electron transfer reactions. Examples of how such concepts can be used to greatly increase the catalytic activity of hydrogen evolution/oxidation and oxygen reduction are discussed, as well as the activity and selectivity of carbon dioxide reduction to methanol.
Also discussed is the use of automated experimentation with machine learning (ML) and generative AI to accelerate the discovery of molecules and materials. This research paradigm represents immense opportunities to accelerate fundamental understanding of molecular processes dictating functions and the optimization and discovery of new molecules and materials for sustainable energy.
Can’t Miss Events
(consult the Online Program for day/times)
Member Reception Celebrating Student Chapters
Before the evening’s Opening Reception, ECS members are invited to celebrate Student Chapters—global hubs of energy, innovation, and community shaping the future of electrochemical and solid state science. Enjoy light food and drinks with fellow ECS members!
Opening Reception
Kick off an exciting week with fellow attendees! Savor small bites, an open bar, ample networking time, and a chance to meet with ECS divisions. Start your meeting experience by strengthening community connections.
Blue & Green Day
Show your ECS spirit by wearing blue and green—the official colors of ECS! Whether you’re presenting research, attending sessions, or networking, let’s visually celebrate the unity of our community!
Student Mixer
Sponsored by Pine Research and Scribner (ticket required)
After a day full of symposia, unwind your mind and meet up with friends old and new over snacks and beverages. Students and earlycareer researchers are welcome.
Technical Exhibition
Discover the latest innovations in instruments, materials, systems, publications, and software as you explore the vibrant Technical Exhibition. Meet face-to-face with leading organizations and experts from across academia, industry, and government, all gathered to showcase what’s next in electrochemistry and solid state science.
General and Student Poster Sessions
Presenters meet and greet peers, professors, and industry representatives; field questions; make connections; and discuss compelling research questions. Browse the aisles and find the posters that draw you in!
Meet the Leaders
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to meet the ECS Executive Committee at the ECS booth. Learn about ECS initiatives, share your thoughts, and discuss the Society’s future. Whether you are a long-time member or new to ECS, this is your chance to engage with ECS leadership!
Meet the Editors
Connect with some of our family of esteemed journal editors, along with ECS Publications Editorial Team members, at the ECS booth. They are on hand to answer your questions about journal processes and discuss editorial opportunities and the vision for ECS Publicationsʼ growth.
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UNITED THROUGH SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(continued from previous page)
248th ECS Meeting | October
12–16,
2025 | Chicago, IL, US | Hilton Chicago
Symposium Topics
A Batteries and Energy Storage
A01 New Approaches and Advances in Electrochemical Energy Systems
Yuliya Preger, Chockkalingam Karuppaiah, Duhan Zhang, Sanjeev Mukerjee, Golareh Jalilvand, James D. Saraidaridis, Loraine Torres-Castro
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Battery, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering
A02 Electrolytes & Interfaces in Li-ion Batteries and Beyond
Phung M-L LE, Lin Ma, Donghai Wang, Chunsheng Wang, Michael Metzger, Tao Gao
ECS Battery, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
A03 Li-Ion Battery and Solid State Battery Technologies: Bridging Research and Application
A04 From in-situ Experimentation to In-line Metrology: Advanced Characterization for Battery Science and Manufacturing
Yijin Liu, Xiaonan Shan, Donal P. Finegan, Kelsey Hatzell, Yaobin
Xu, Joaquín Rodríguez-López
ECS Battery, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
A05 Sodium-ion Batteries
Christopher S. Johnson, Phung M-L LE, Hui (Claire) Xiong, Tao Gao, Linqin Mu, Juhyeon Ahn, A. Irshad Maniyanganam
ECS Battery
A06 Next Generation Aqueous Batteries: Electrodes, Electrolytes, and Interphases
Xiulei Ji, Veronica Augustyn, Ekaterina Pomerantseva, Tao Gao, Ömer Özgür Çapraz, Alexis Grimaud, Antoni Forner-Cuenca, Ertan Agar
ECS Battery, ECS Energy Technology
A07 From Materials Genome to Autonomous Laboratory: In Honor of Gerbrand Ceder
Maria Chan, Elena Arroyo de Dompablo, Pieremanuele Canepa, Dany Carlier, Y. Shirley Meng
ECS Battery
B Carbon Nanostructures and Devices
B01 Carbon Nanostructures: From Fundamental Studies to Applications and Devices
Jeffrey Blackburn, Ardemis Anoush Boghossian
ECS Nanocarbons
C Corrosion Science and Technology
C01 Corrosion General Poster Session
Eiji Tada, Rebecca Filardo Schaller, Dev Chidambaram, Hiroaki Tsuchiya
ECS Corrosion
C02 State-of-the-Art Analytical Techniques in Corrosion Research 4
Masayuki Itagaki, Dev Chidambaram, Eiji Tada, James Noël
ECS Corrosion
C03 Metallic, Organic, Inorganic, and Composite Coatings for Corrosion Protection 2
Michael Rohwerder, Yaiza Gonzalez-Garcia, Geraint Williams, Herman Terryn, Massimo Innocenti
ECS Corrosion, ECS Electrodeposition
C04 Corrosion in Sustainable Energy Systems
Dev Chidambaram, James Noël, Stephen Raiman, Eiji Tada, Rebecca Filardo Schaller
ECS Corrosion, ECS Battery
C05 Corrosion of Emergent Materials
Rajeev Gupta, Rebecca Filardo Schaller, Dev Chidambaram ECS Corrosion
D Dielectric Science and Materials
D01 — Semiconductors, Dielectrics, and Metals for Nanoelectronics 21
Zhi David Chen, Durga Misra, Stefan De Gendt, Steve H. Kilgore, Sunghwan Lee, Kuniyuki Kakushima, Eva Kovacevic, Hiroki Kondo
ECS Dielectric Science and Technology, ECS Electronics and Photonics
D02 Plasma and Thermal Processes for Materials Modification, Synthesis, and Processing 6
Thorsten Lill, Sreeram Vaddiraju, Uroš Cvelbar, Mahendra Sunkara, Peter Mascher, Neelakandan Marath Santhosh, Eva Kovacevic, Dennis Hess, Oana Leonte
ECS Dielectric Science and Technology, ECS Electronics and Photonics
D03 Quantum Dot Science and Technology 4 Dong-Kyun Ko, Vladimir Švrček, Soong Ju Oh, Andrew B. Greytak, Ivan Marri, Qiliang Li, Danielle Reifsnyder Hickey, Susanna Mitrani
Thon
ECS Dielectric Science and Technology, ECS Electronics and Photonics, ECS Nanocarbons
E Electrochemical/Electroless Deposition
E01 Current Trends in Electrodeposition – An Invited Symposium
Natasa Vasiljevic
ECS Electrodeposition
E02 Metal Electrodeposition From Fundamentals to Applications 2 Walther Schwarzacher, Nikolay Dimitrov, Maria Eugenia Toimil Molares, Kristina Tschulik, Daniel E. Hooks, Sudipta Roy, Matthew William Glasscott, Luca Magagnin
ECS Electrodeposition, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
E04 Electrodeposition of Difficult-to-Plate Metals and Compounds
Rohan Akolkar, Philippe M. Vereecken, Nikolay Dimitrov, Adriana Ispas, Andreas Bund, Kent J. X. Zheng, Krista L. Hawthorne, Brian J. Ingram, Justin G. Connell, Rajeev S. Assary, Luca Magagnin
ECS Electrodeposition, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
F Electrochemical Engineering
F01 Advances in Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering
Elizabeth J. Biddinger, Paul J. A. Kenis, Chockkalingam Karuppaiah, Luca Magagnin, Venkateshkumar Prabhakaran
ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Electrodeposition, ECS Electronics and Photonics
F02 Electrochemical Separations and Sustainability 7 Xiao Su, William Abraham Tarpeh, Alice Suroviec, Mohan Qin, Damilola Daramola, Christopher G. Arges, Hui Xu, Duhan Zhang, Taeyoung Kim, Venkateshkumar Prabhakaran
ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Energy Technology, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
F04 Electrochemical Conversion of Biomass 5 Jean-Philippe Tessonnier, Scott Calabrese Barton, Wenzhen Li, Christopher M. Saffron, Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz, Elizabeth J. Biddinger, Paul J. A. Kenis, Chockkalingam Karuppaiah
ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Energy Technology, ECS Organic and Biological Electrochemistry
F05 Industrial Electrochemistry, Industrial Process Electrification, and Integration with the Grid
Chockkalingam Karuppaiah, Saket Bhargava, Christopher G. Arges, Miguel A. Modestino, Paul J. A. Kenis, Katherine E. Ayers, Yuyan Shao, Juan A. Lopez-Ruiz, Elizabeth J. Biddinger
ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Energy Technology
F07 Atomistic Modeling of Electrochemical Systems
Taylor R. Garrick, Jeffrey Lowe, Jose Mendoza, Perla B. Balbuena, Yue Qi, Zhenhua Zeng
ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Battery, ECS Energy Technology
Fred Roozeboom, Stefan De Gendt, Jolien Dendooven, Jeffrey W.
Elam, Oscar van der Straten, Andrea Illiberi, Ganesh Sundaram, Rong Chen, Oana Leonte, Thorsten Lill, Matthias J. Young, Bhaskar Bhuyan, Alexander C. Kozen
ECS Electronics and Photonics, ECS Dielectric Science and Technology
H Electronic and Photonic Devices and Systems
H01 State-of-the-Art Program on Compound Semiconductors 68 (SOTAPOCS-68)
Jennifer K. Hite, Travis J. Anderson, Qiliang Li, Wayne Johnson, Yuji Zhao, Colm O’Dwyer
ECS Electronics and Photonics
H02 Low-Dimensional Nanoscale Electronic and Photonic Devices 18 Yu-Lun Chueh, Federico Rosei, Jyh Ming Wu, Colm O’Dwyer, Johnny C. Ho, Zhiyong Fan, Qiliang Li, Jr Hau He, Gary W. Hunter, Peter Mascher, Lance Li, Daisuke Kiriya, Kuniharu Takei, Sang-Woo Kim, Seokwoo Jeon, Vidhya Chakrapani, Song Jin
ECS Electronics and Photonics, ECS Dielectric Science and Technology
H03 Gallium Nitride and Silicon Carbide Power Technologies 15
Michael Dudley, Noboru Ohtani, Mietek Bakowski, Balaji
Raghothamachar, Jennifer K. Hite
ECS Electronics and Photonics
H04 Semiconductor Process Integration 14
Takahito Ono, Anabela Veloso, Junichi Murota, Cor Claeys, Andreas Mai, Yu Cao, Xiao Gong, Kai Ni, Hiromu Ishii
ECS Electronics and Photonics
I Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers, and Energy Conversion
I01A Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Fuel Cell Catalyst Activity and Durability
Katsuyoshi Kakinuma, Karen Swider-Lyons, Peter Strasser, Yong-Tae Kim, Mehtap Özaslan, Jacob S. Spendelow
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I01B Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Electrolyzer Catalyst Activity and Durability
Bryan S. Pivovar, Shaun M. Alia, Hui Xu, Shigenori Mitsushima, Marian Chatenet, Karen Swider-Lyons
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I01C Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Ionomers, Membranes and Separators for Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers
Ahmet Kusoglu, Sara Cavaliere, Craig S. Gittleman, Karen SwiderLyons
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I01D Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Fuel Cell Electrodes and Diagnostics
Erik Kjeang, Marc Secanell, Jens Eller, Yirui Zhang, Karen SwiderLyons
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I01E Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Electrolyzer Electrodes and Diagnostics
Jasna Jankovic, William Earl Mustain, Yuki Orikasa, Dario R. Dekel, Karen Swider-Lyons
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I01F Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Cells, Stacks and Systems for Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers
Balsu Lakshmanan, Christopher B. Capuano, Cynthia A. Rice, Karen Swider-Lyons, Robert A. Mantz
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I01Z Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells and Water Electrolyzers 25 (PEFC&WE 25) – Plenary Session
Karen Swider-Lyons
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I02 Photovoltaics for the 21st Century 21: New Materials and Processes
Zhi David Chen, Thad Druffel, Meng Tao, Hiroki Hamada, Valentine I. Vullev
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Dielectric Science and Technology, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
I03 Ionic and Mixed Conducting Ceramics 15: In Honor of Mogens Mogensen
Xiao-Dong Zhou, Nicola H. Perry, Wilson Chiu, Tongchao Liu, Karen Swider-Lyons, Yudong Wang, Cortney R. Kreller, Xingbo Liu
I04 Photocatalysts, Photoelectrochemical Cells, and Solar Fuels 15 Nianqiang Wu, Jae-Joon Lee, Tianquan Lian, Heli Wang, Tsukasa Torimoto, Gary P. Wiederrecht, Paweł Kulesza, Tetsu Tatsuma, Dongling Ma
ECS Energy Technology, ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Sensor
J Luminescence and Display Materials, Devices, and Processing
J01 Luminescence and Display Materials, Devices, and Processing
Eugeniusz Zych, Chong-Geng Ma, Marco Bettinelli, Rong-Jun Xie, Won Bin Im, Mikhail G. Brik, John Collins, Tetsuhiko Isobe, Luiz G. Jacobsohn, Ru-Shi Liu, Kazuyoshi Ogasawara, Alan Piquette, Alok M. Srivastava
ECS Luminescence and Display Materials
K Organic and Biological Electrochemistry
K01 Advances in Organic and Biological Electrochemistry
Ariel L. Furst, David P. Hickey, Dylan G. Boucher, Olja Simoska, Lior Sepunaru
ECS Organic and Biological Electrochemistry
L Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, and Photoelectrochemistry
L01 Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, and Photoelectrochemistry General Session
Anne C. Co, Stephen Paddison, Alice Suroviec
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
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UNITED THROUGH SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(continued from previous page)
L02 Computational Electrochemistry 10
Stephen J. Paddison, Zhenhua Zeng, Yue Qi, Robert Warburton
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Energy Technology
L03 Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry in Ionic Liquids 7
Yasushi Katayama, Burcu E. Gurkan, Paul C. Trulove, Adriana Ispas, Andreas Bund, Vito Di Noto, Matthew William Glasscott
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Battery, ECS Electrodeposition, ECS Energy Technology
L04 Charge Transfer: Electrons, Protons, and Other Ions 7
Valentine I. Vullev, Vito Di Noto, Stephen Paddison, Robert Warburton, Jian Xie
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Energy Technology
L05 Education in Electrochemistry 5
Maureen H. Tang, Scott Calabrese Barton, Paul A. Kempler, Alice Suroviec
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering
L06 Redox Flow Systems for Energy Storage: New Chemical Systems and Mechanisms of Operation 2
Paweł Kulesza, Iwona A. Rutkowska, Shelley D. Minteer, Vito Di Noto, Elod Lajos Gyenge, Song Jin, Aaron Hollas, Fikile R. Brushett, Ertan Agar, Antoni Forner-Cuenca, Bertrand J. Neyhouse, Shrihari
Sankarasubramanian
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Energy Technology, ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering, ECS Organic and Biological Electrochemistry
L07 Advances in Analytical Electrochemistry: A Joint Symposium with Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry (SEAC) 2
David E. Cliffel, Leslie A. Sombers, Alice Suroviec
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
L08 Interfacial Analysis for Energy Storage and Conversion
Joaquín Rodríguez-López, Svitlana Pylypenko, Petr Vanysek, A. Robert Hillman, Joseph Quinn, Steven C. DeCaluwe
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, ECS Battery, ECS Energy Technology
L09 Electrochemistry of Lanthanides and Actinides
Johna Leddy, Krysti Knoche Gupta, Perry Motsegood, Matthew William Glasscott
ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry
M Sensors
M01 Recent Advances in Sensors Systems: General Session
Larry A. Nagahara, Dong-Joo Kim, Leyla Soleymani, Praveen
Kumar Sekhar
ECS Sensor
M03 Plasmon and Nanophotonics for Photo-(electro)chemical Reactions, Sensing, and Medical Therapy
Leyla Soleymani, Tianquan Lian, Larry A. Nagahara, Jing Zhao, Fiorenzo Vetrone, Emiliano Cortés, Pengyu Chen, Nianqiang Wu, Prashant K. Jain
ECS Sensor
Z General Topics
Z01 General Student Poster Session
Alice Suroviec, Paul J. A. Kenis, Christopher G. Arges, Ahmed A. Farghaly, Jennifer K. Hite
All Divisions
Z02 Electrochemical / Materials Processing in Space Engineering 2
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Publications Update
by Adrian T. Plummer, MPA, PMP, Senior Director of Publications
As we wrap up the third quarter of 2025, I invite you to take a moment to reflect on the power of recommitment; not just to advancing research goals but to the broader scholarly community that makes ECS thrive.
Some conversations sparked in Montréal during the 247th ECS Meeting centered on strengthening the impact of ECS Publications. As I shared in our June Publications ENews message, sustaining the scholarly record requires not just intellectual excellence but also intentional care as we move forward. The leadership of the ECS Publications portfolio is committed to fostering an environment where scientific rigor and scholarly integrity are the reinforcing pillars of success.
This summer has also marked an exciting period of editorial leadership updates and strategic visioning for our journals.
Dr. Fan Ren, Distinguished Professor at the University of Florida, has been appointed the new Editor-in-Chief of the ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS). Dr. Ren brings deep expertise in electronic materials and a strong commitment to mentoring and collaborative scholarship. His vision for JSS will shape its growth in alignment with the evolving needs of the solid state community.
Keith J. Stevenson, Associate Editor, Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES), Watts kWh, LLC, Austin, TX Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, and Photoelectrochemistry
Fan Ren, Incoming Editorin-Chief, effective January 1, 2026, ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS), University of Florida
With the support of our publishing partner IOP Publishing, we also reaffirmed our commitment to global accessibility through strengthened partnerships with the University of California system and the French national research community (via Couperin). These open access agreements remove article publication charges (APCs) for eligible authors, ensuring that ECS publications remain inclusive and globally impactful.
ECS is more than a publisher. It is a community powered by your engagement. Whether you’re authoring, reviewing, presenting, or mentoring, each act of participation furthers our collective mission. If your 2025 resolution to get more involved in ECS slipped down your to-do list, let this be your reminder: there’s still time. Submit a manuscript. Join a review panel. Share ECS research at your next conference. Your voice strengthens the integrity and vitality of our field.
Let’s close out this year with renewed momentum rooted in purpose, connected by community, and driven by discovery.
With appreciation, Adrian T. Plummer, MPA, PMP, Senior Director of Publications
Editorial Appointments
Ariel Furst, Associate Editor, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sensors
Charles Hussey, Associate Editor (reappointment), Journal of The Electrochemical Society Electrochemical/ Electroless Deposition
Thiagarajan Soundappan, Associate Editor, ECS Sensors Plus, Navajo Technical University
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ECS Board of Directors Report
The ECS Board of Directors held its fall gathering on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in conjunction with the 247th ECS Meeting, which took place in Montréal, Canada, from May 18 to 22. ECS President Colm O’Dwyer called the Board to order and kicked off an agenda-packed meeting. In addition to reports on the Society’s major operations and initiatives, key motions were passed to finalize changes to ECS’s governance structure (regarding the roles and functions of the new Community Inclusion Committee), approve ECS’s first Community Inclusion Committee Chair (a new officer position dedicated to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion), and select a host of meeting sites for 2027 and beyond!
ECS Secretary Gessie Brisard then presented the previous board meeting’s minutes and had the pleasure of announcing recently elected board members: Vidhya Chakrapani, Chair, Electronics and Photonics Division; Minhua Shao, Chair, Energy Technology Division; Ariel Furst, Chair, Organic and Biological Electrochemistry Division; and Anne Co, Chair, Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division. Their two-year terms began immediately following the Montréal Board Meeting and end in May 2027. Congratulations and best of luck to our newly elected Board members!
ECS Executive Director and CEO Chris Jannuzzi presented the next report, calling for a motion to approve the final bylaw changes related to the formation of the Community Inclusion Committee. The motion was unanimously approved, and following that approval, the Board unanimously voted Alice Suroviec to serve as the Society’s first Community Inclusion Committee Chair. Join us in congratulating and welcoming Alice to her new role!
Gessie returned to the podium following Chris to present her report and seek approval for the new committee appointments, which included two new Board members: Maria Inman (Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division) as the new Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittee Chair and Kevin Johnson (Executive Director, Geochemical Society) as the new Nonprofit Financial Professional.
Following the Secretary’s report, ECS Treasurer Lisa PodlahaMurphy discussed the state of ECS’s finances, noting that despite huge increases in meeting expenses (costs have doubled since 2018), and reductions in subscription revenue, ECS cashflow and general finances remain very robust thanks in large part to the strong performance of the Society's investment portfolio.
Past ECS President and Audit Committee Chair Gerri Botte presented the Audit Committee Report for the 2024 audit and Form 990, both of which received very favorable reviews from the committee and auditors thanks to the excellent oversight of ECS’s finances by CFO/COO Tim Gamberzky and his team.
Next, in her role as Nominating Committee Chair, Gerri presented the 2026 ECS Election officer slate. Former board members Uroš Cvelbar (Dielectric Science and Technology Division) and Jennifer Hite (Electronics and Photonics Division) were unanimously approved to be on the slate for the position of 3rd Vice President. In addition, former board members Katherine Ayers (Energy Technology Division) and Paul Kenis (Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division) were approved to be on the slate for ECS Treasurer. This is an incredibly strong slate of dedicated volunteers. Here’s wishing them all the best in the election!
ECS Vice President and Technical Affairs Committee Chair Jim Fenton then provided the Technical Affairs Committee report, which included an update on the ECS Meetings, Publications, and Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittees. In addition, several motions were presented and approved.
• Appointment of Prof. Fan Ren of the University of Florida as the new Editor-in-Chief of JSS for the term beginning in January 2026. (See page 15 for more information.)
• 251st ECS Meeting to be held in Washington, DC, May 30–June 3, 2027
• 252nd ECS Meeting to be held in Detroit, MI, October 3–7, 2027
• 257th ECS Meeting to be held in San Francisco, CA, May 29–June 3, 2030
The meeting concluded with a report from Honors and Awards Chair Adam Weber, who presented the motion to approve the 2025 Class of Fellows, along with this year’s Society Award winners: Paul Kenis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for the Carl Wagner Memorial Award, and Arumugam Manthiram, University of Texas at Austin, for the Olin Palladium Award.
Last, a motion to close the meeting was made, seconded, and unanimously approved. The Board reconvenes in October during the 248th ECS meeting in Chicago, IL.
The winter 2025 issue of Interface will feature the Nanocarbons Division (NANO), guest edited by Jeff Blackburn and Dan Heller. The theme of the issue will be emerging nanomaterial-enabled technologies, and will include articles on:
• Low-dimensional materials for nextgeneration microelectronics by Mark Hersam
• Quantum optics in defect-modified singlewalled carbon nanotubes by YuHuang Wang
• Advanced biological sensing and imaging with carbon nanotubes by Dan Heller
Winter 2025 will also include Society officer candidates, the President’s letter, reports from summer fellows, and the latest news about people, students, and the Society.
69th Annual SVC Technical Conference
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AWARD OF EXCELLENC E
AWARDS FOR PUBLICATION EXCELLENCE
Magazines, Journals & Tabloids
Electronic (includes Web & PDF magazines)
The Electrochemical Society Interface
Kara McArthur, Managing Editor, The Electrochemical Society Interface
Robert Kelly, Editor, The Electrochemical Society Interface
APEX is the Annual Awards for Publication Excellence Competition. It is open to communicators in corporate, nonprofit and independent settings. APEX 2025 is the 37th annual APEX, which began in 1988.
2025–2026 ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellows
The Electrochemical Society (ECS) is proud to announce the 2025–2026 recipients of the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship: Wesley Chang, Jovan Kamcev, Jeffrey Lopez, Gioele Pagot, and Evan Wenbo Zhao. These early-career researchers were selected for their innovative projects in green energy technology.
Now in its eleventh year, the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship continues to support the next generation of scientists advancing battery and fuel cell research. This cycle marks a significant milestone: the program’s expansion beyond North America (US, Canada, and Mexico) to include two researchers based in Europe—broadening the global impact of this initiative.
A partnership between ECS and the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), a division of Toyota Motor North America R&D, the fellowship promotes bold, electrochemistry-based approaches to solving energy and sustainability challenges. Each fellow receives a $50,000 grant to support their proposed research and a one-year complimentary ECS membership.
With this year’s cohort, the program has now supported 38 fellows with more than $1.9 million in research funding—an inspiring investment in a cleaner, more sustainable future.
Wesley Chang
Drexel University, US
“Ultrasonic Tomography of Sodium-ion Batteries for Depth-Resolved State-of-Health Mapping”
Dr. Chang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. His research focuses on battery ultrasound.
Answering the Fellowship Call: Motivation, Mentors, and Momentum
The overarching goal of Wesley’s ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship project is to improve battery safety, a critical component in shifting to electric vehicles to fight climate change. It is also crucial to passenger safety, preventing vehicle damage, and ensuring reliable operation. His prior work with the Toyota Research Institute North America (TRINA) and present collaborations with other automotive manufacturing companies and battery startups convinced Wesley of the importance of proving that there are faster, cheaper, and more spatially resolved techniques than conventional methods that can be tailored for battery manufacturing quality assurance.
The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship provides the opportunity for him to do the enabling science leading to advanced battery diagnostics tools and improved battery safety. If successful, Wesley’s proposed signal processing methods could enable physically accurate tomography of batteries using ultrasound, which is a currently a limiting factor for the technique when applied to batteries. In doing so, the method will impact the ECS community by showing how spatially resolved acoustic signals complement battery electrochemical measurements.
Wesley Chang
Wesley completed his BS (2014) and MS (2016) in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, and PhD (2021) in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Princeton University under the guidance of Daniel Steingart. His PhD thesis focused on interfaces and interphases for anode-free lithium metal cells, developing a new operando ultrasound characterization and imaging technique for batteries, and fast-charging and temperature-driven electrode phase behaviors. At Princeton, Wesley participated in the Scholars Institute Fellows Program, advising first-generation low-income graduate students on STEM careers. During his postdoc at Columbia University, he collaborated with electric vehicle companies. Wesley spent the following year (2022–2023) as the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech, where he worked on lithiummediated electrochemical ammonia synthesis. Outside of academia, he previously consulted for energy and utilities, and regularly serves
as a technical advisor to energy-focused startup companies and investment firms.
In 2025, he received the ACS PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award and ORAU Ralph E Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, and in 2021, the ECS F. M. Becket Fellowship. Wesley is the author of 22 articles with an h-index of 15. An ECS member since 2019, he was a Session Chair for the 244th ECS Meeting and will serve as a Symposium Co-Chair for the 249th ECS Meeting.
Project Proposal
“Ultrasonic Tomography of Sodium-ion Batteries for DepthResolved State-of-Health Mapping” aims to develop methods that enable ultrasound-based 3D tomography for localized state-of-health assessment of sodium-ion batteries. The proposed approach utilizes a Gaussian decomposition signal processing algorithm to deconvolve a transmitted ultrasonic waveform into its individual electrode layer reflections. Unlike the inverse problem that has challenged accurate ultrasonic tomography in complex biological media, the hypothesis is that a Gaussian decomposition method can accurately resolve individual waveform reflections from thin, multilayered battery electrodes. The outcome is a physically accurate reconstruction of the cell stack. This signal processing method will then be applied to sodium-ion pouch cells to generate tomographs of sodium metal plating at low temperature and fast charging conditions, and to quantify variations in electrolyte wetting propagation across electrode layers. Ultimately, the outcomes enable physically accurate, datadriven characterization of individual battery electrodes within fully assembled cells.
Jovan Kamcev
University of Michigan, US
“Alkaline Stable Anion-Exchange Membranes with Ultrahigh Charge Densities and Controlled Water Content”
Dr. Kamcev is Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Macromolecular Science & Engineering at the University of Michigan (UM). The Kamcev Research Group has advanced the fundamental understanding of ion transport in charged polymer membranes for electrochemical applications through a combined experimental/modeling approach.
Answering the Fellowship Call: Motivation, Mentors, and Momentum
Jovan’s ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship project supports global efforts to reduce carbon emissions and transition to cleaner energy systems by improving the efficiency and longevity of devices used to generate clean hydrogen or convert renewable electricity into fuels. In the long term, these advances could help (continued on next page)
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make technologies like hydrogen production and carbon-neutral fuels more accessible and economically viable for the broader public.
The widespread adoption of electrochemical technologies (such as water electrolysis and fuel cells) is critical to building a more sustainable energy future, and depends on developing durable, high-performance materials that can operate efficiently under challenging conditions. Jovan’s work on alkaline-stable anion-exchange membranes with ultrahigh charge densities and controlled water content enables membranes that combine high conductivity, selectivity, scalability, and chemical stability under alkaline conditions. These materials have broad relevance, including applications in water electrolysis, fuel cells, and critical CO2 reduction.
Jovan’s decision to apply for the fellowship followed in the footsteps of other ECS Toyota Fellows whom he greatly respects. His work on alkaline-stable anion-exchange membranes with ultrahigh charge densities and controlled water content addresses critical challenges in electrochemical energy technologies which have broad relevance across the ECS community, including applications in water electrolysis, fuel cells, and CO2 reduction.
Jovan Kamcev
Jovan received his BE in Chemical and Molecular Engineering from Stony Brook University in 2012 and PhD in Chemical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2016 under the guidance of Profs. Benny D. Freeman and Donald R. Paul Prior to joining U-M in 2019, he completed his postdoctoral training in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley (2017–2019) under the guidance of Prof. Jeffrey Long
The author of 40 articles with an h-index of 29, he holds three patents and serves on the Early Career Editorial Board of the Journal of Membrane Science. Notable awards he has received include the 2025 University of Michigan ChE Department Outstanding Faculty Award; 2025 American Chemical Society (ACS) PMSE Young Investigator Award; in 2023, the AIChE 35 Under 35 Award (Chemicals & Materials Category) and NSF CAREER Award; 2021 DOE Early Career Research Program Award; 2021 North American Membrane Society Young Membrane Scientist Award; and the 2019 Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering.
Project Proposal
“Alkaline Stable Anion-Exchange Membranes with Ultrahigh Charge Densities and Controlled Water Content” aims to develop anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) that achieve ultrahigh charge densities while maintaining controlled water uptake and strong alkaline stability. Conventional approaches to increasing AEM charge density are inherently limited by simultaneous increases in water uptake, leading to excessive swelling and mechanical degradation. Here, a fundamentally different strategy is proposed: constructing AEMs entirely from low-molecular-weight, multifunctional charged cross-linkers. This design yields dense, highly cross-linked polymer networks with exceptional volumetric charge densities and ionic conductivities. The research will implement this synthetic approach in chemically robust cationic groups and evaluate the resulting membranes through detailed structural, transport, and stability characterization. By decoupling charge density and swelling, these membranes offer a path to improved electrochemical performance and greater mechanical resilience. Moreover, the synthetic route is compatible with scalable fabrication techniques used in commercial ion-exchange membrane production. Collectively, this work will generate critical insights into structure–property relationships governing ion transport and dimensional stability in ultrahigh charge density AEMs, advancing the development of high-performance materials for electrochemical energy conversion.
Jeffrey Lopez
Northwestern University, US “Binder Engineering for Stable Cycling of Conversion Cathode Materials”
Dr. Lopez is Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University. A pioneer in self-healing polymer coatings to stabilize silicon anode materials and Li-metal electrodeposition, he has significant experience synthesizing and characterizing new materials for battery applications. He has also worked extensively on the development of advanced electrolytes for various lithium-based electrode materials and is an expert on the Li-metal SEI. Jeffrey’s work on artificial SEIs determined that while global lithium morphology depends on the coating quality and mechanics, the local morphology of the lithium particles is strongly influenced by the chemistry of the polymer coating. A systemic study of several rationally chosen polymers with varied chemical and mechanical properties identified polymer dielectric constant and surface energy as two key descriptors of the lithium deposit size. This understanding has continued to provide direction for the design and synthesis of new polymer materials and electrolytes to better stabilize Li-metal anodes.
Answering the Fellowship Call: Motivation, Mentors, and Momentum
Cost reductions and performance improvements in EV batteries are critical to successfully addressing climate change challenges. The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship will allow Jeffrey and his group to push into new research directions and establish a clear proof of concept with new materials. Binder engineering, an underexplored but essential component of electrode architecture, targets a new approach for improving the long-term cyclability of conversion cathodes. Successfully demonstrating binders that enable stable cycling of conversion cathode materials will signal the beginning of a transition to new high-capacity, critical mineral-free cathodes. Conversion cathodes store charge using a fundamentally different mechanism than the intercalation cathodes currently used in lithium-ion batteries, undergoing chemical reactions with lithium changing both the material chemistry and structure. This mechanism allows these cathode materials to store significantly more charge per unit mass and unit volume but also creates issues of volume expansion and impedance buildup which quickly degrade the cathode performance during cycling.
Jeffrey sees this project as opening new research directions for the ECS community—which has always been a hub for innovation in battery science—and contributing to the shared goal of advancing battery technology.
Jeffrey Lopez
After completing a BS in Chemical Engineering at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (2012), and PhD in Chemical Engineering with Zhenan Bao at Stanford University (2018), Jeffrey was an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Fellow with Yang Shao Horn at MIT (2018–2021). The author of 51 articles with an h-index of 38, he holds three patents with two more pending. Jeffrey has received significant awards, including a 2024 NSF CAREER Award; 2024 Scialog Fellow: Automating Chemical Laboratories; 2020 Henkel Award for Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering, American Chemical Society POLY/PMSE Divisions; 2019 Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar – University of Washington, Chemical Engineering; 2019 Metrohm Young Chemist Award; 2018 Eastman Chemical Student Award, American Chemical Society PMSE Division; and 2017 DSM Science and Technology Award Runner Up.
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Jeffrey was the 2013–2016 president of the Stanford Polymer Collective, which supports the polymer research community on Stanford’s campus, and has worked with programs at Stanford and MIT to promote improved access to higher education among students from underrepresented minority groups.
Project Proposal
“Binder Engineering for Stable Cycling of Conversion Cathode Materials” seeks to address the problem of batteries having to become less expensive and more energy dense in order to increase the adoption of electric vehicles and reduce emissions from transportation. Increasing electrification is further complicated by the fact that relevant minerals like cobalt and nickel are overwhelmingly extracted outside the US. To improve the resilience and security of the US battery supply chain and ensure that the US maintains technological leadership in next-generation battery technology, new approaches are needed to obtain high performance energy storage devices without using critical minerals. This project will use binder engineering to stabilize high capacity FeF3 conversion cathode materials, which undergo repeated expansion and contraction during cycling that causes rapid electrode failure. The work will leverage both functional group chemistry and polymer architecture to identify the right combination of molecular interactions and mechanical properties in new binders to stabilize the FeF3 electrodes. Successful demonstrations of binder engineering improving conversion cathode performance will establish a basis for this approach and generate innovation with other conversion cathode materials that suffer from similar limitations.
Gioele Pagot
Università degli Studi di Padova, Italy
“Methodology for Polymer Functionalization in Single-Ion Conducting Solid-State Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium Batteries”
Dr. Pagot is Assistant Professor of Chemistry for Technologies at the Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Padova, and member of the CheMaMSE (Chemistry and Electrochemistry of Materials for the Metamorphosis and the Storage of Energy) research group. His research focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and lab-scale testing of electrode and electrolyte materials for next-generation lithium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and aluminum secondary batteries, as well as redox flow batteries. A key aspect of his work is investigating the relationships between composition, structure, thermal properties, and electrochemical performance in advanced battery materials.
Answering the Fellowship Call: Motivation, Mentors, and Momentum
Gioele’s project addresses some of the most pressing challenges in the field of electrochemical energy storage which are critical to the transition toward cleaner, more efficient energy storage technologies—namely, the development of safe, high-performance solid-state electrolytes suitable for next-generation lithium batteries.
Safer, lighter, and longer-lasting lithium batteries remain a cornerstone of deep decarbonization. Single-ion conducting solid-state electrolytes offer a double benefit: they suppress dendrite formation by eliminating anion concentration gradients and they remove flammable organic solvents from the device. If the functionalization strategy succeeds, it will deliver materials that combine the mechanical robustness of polymers with the high conductivity of liquid electrolytes—without sacrificing sustainability thanks to scalable, solvent-efficient synthesis steps.
The downstream effect could be electric vehicles that charge faster, portable electronics that run cooler, and grid-scale storage that
operates with lower fire-suppression requirements. In other words, a small molecular-level advance can ripple outward into tangible public good. By introducing a generalizable and scalable methodology for the functionalization of polyketones with boron-based functional groups for Li+ coordination, the project contributes to a deeper understanding of how polymer structure influences ion transport, electrochemical stability, and mechanical performance.
Gioele’s decision to apply for the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship, in this, the year it was opened to applicants from Europe, “…was inspired by the scientific and human environment I found within the ECS community. I first took part in an ECS Meeting in 2016 [the year he joined ECS], at the 229th Meeting in San Diego. Since then, ECS has consistently represented the most stimulating and high-level setting for sharing and discussing electrochemical research. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and interact with researchers whose integrity, curiosity, and generosity have left a strong mark on me. In particular, a few of these encounters have led to valuable feedback and support that helped shape both my scientific approach and my aspirations. Applying for this fellowship felt like a natural step—a way to grow further as a researcher and to contribute back to a community that has played an important role in my development.”
Gioele Pagot
Gioele earned his MS in Chemistry (2014) and PhD in Science and Engineering of Materials and Nanostructures (2019) from the Università degli Studi di Padova. Vito di Nota oversaw his PhD research. Following Postdoctoral Fellowships and a Research Fellowship at Padova, he was a Visiting Scientist at Hunter College of the City University of New York working in Steven Greenbaum’s lab. He joined the faculty at Padova in 2023.
The co-author of 74 peer-reviewed papers with an h-index of 20, and four book chapters, he has contributed to over 150 national and international scientific conferences, including one keynote lecture, four invited oral presentations, and three award-winning oral presentations. He holds four patents. Gioele has served as Review Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry – Energy Materials and Frontiers in Chemistry – Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage since 2022; Review Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry – Electrochemistry since 2021; and Topic Editor for Crystals since 2020. He has received significant awards that include the 2020 Fondazione Oronzio e Niccolò De Nora Award for the Best Italian PhD Thesis in Electrochemistry; in 2019, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Raw Materials Future Mobility Thesis Award and Italian Chemical Society Industrial Chemistry Division Best Italian PhD Thesis Award in the field of Industrial Chemistry; 2016 ECS Travel Grant to participate in the 229th ECS Meeting; and 2015 Italian Chemical Society Premio Primo Levi for the Top 10 Papers in Chemical Sciences by Young Researchers in Italy.
Project Proposal
“Methodology for Polymer Functionalization in Single-Ion Conducting Solid-State Polymer Electrolytes for Lithium Batteries” focuses on the development of next-generation solid-state polymer electrolytes (SPEs) for lithium batteries, with the goal of combining safety, efficiency, and scalability. Current battery technologies, often based on flammable liquid electrolytes, are reaching their performance and safety limits. SPEs offer a promising alternative, but they still face critical challenges such as limited room-temperature ionic conductivity and insufficient mechanical stability.
To address these issues, the project proposes a versatile and scalable strategy to functionalize polyketones, a class of polymers known for their excellent thermal and chemical stability. Advanced chemical tailoring introduces boron-based functional groups into the polymer backbone to enhance Li+ coordination and single-ion conductivity. This approach allows the design of high-performance materials adaptable to future battery technologies.
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The project will thoroughly evaluate the final materials in terms of structure, thermal properties, conductivity mechanism, and electrochemical behavior. Key performance indicators include ionic conductivity above 10–4 S/cm, a lithium-ion transference number (tLi+) > 0.9, and an ESW exceeding 4.9 V. Additionally, fluorine-free binders will improve sustainability. The overall goal is to establish a functional platform for safer, high-efficiency solid-state batteries.
“In Situ NMR Reveals the Evolution of Solid-Electrolyte Interphase during Li Metal Deposition”
Dr. Zhao is a tenured Assistant Professor at the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen. His core research focuses on developing operando/in situ NMR methods for studying electrochemical storage and conversion chemistries, including redox flow batteries, electrochemical ammonia synthesis, carbon dioxide reduction, and lignin oxidation.
Answering the Fellowship Call:
Motivation, Mentors, and Momentum
Evan’s decision to apply to the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship in the first year that it was open to applicants from Europe was inspired by past fellowship recipients, rising stars in various applied fields of electrochemistry whose work he follows. A past fellow and former colleague, Dr. Chibueze Amanchukwu, emailed him, encouraging him to apply.
Receiving the fellowship will allow Evan to realize one of his career goals: to popularize the use of magnetic resonance in electrochemical studies by developing tailored methods, demonstrating their practical applications, and making them accessible to the electrochemistry community. In particular, he aims to push the boundaries of operando magnetic resonance techniques to better understand various electrochemical energy storage and conversion systems.
Trained as an NMR spectroscopist, Evan understands the advantages of NMR’s versatility and chemical specificity. NMR (and EPR) allow researchers to analyze battery materials at the molecular and atomic levels, revealing electrochemical processes, chemical and physical changes, and factors affecting battery performance and efficiency. This helps develop strategies for improved battery life and performance—critical to the move away from fossil fuels.
Evan points out, “The impact on the world and the general public is twofold: first, it advances understanding of how lithium-metal deposition and the simultaneous formation of the solid-electrolyte interphase affect the overall performance of lithium-metal-based electrochemical systems, such as lithium-metal batteries and ammonia synthesis. Second, it demonstrates a new type of NMR detector with enhanced spatial selectivity, which is likely to attract interest from the magnetic resonance community, particularly those exploring applications in medical MRI or pharmaceutical drug screening.”
Evan Wenbo Zhao
After receiving his BS from Nanyang Technological University, Evan completed a PhD in Chemistry with Prof. Clifford Russell Bowers at the University of Florida (2017). Evan’s postdoc was with Prof. Dame Clare Grey from 2017 to 2021 at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He joined the faculty at Nijmegen in 2021.
The author of 35 articles with an h-index of 20, he holds four patents. His research has garnered awards that include, in 2024, the Impact Explorer Innovative Project and Spanish I-LINK Project; in 2023, Dutch Research Council Open Competition Awards and RSC Materials Chemistry Horizon Prize; in 2022 and 2023, Dutch Research Council Open Competition Awards; and in 2020, the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council Experimental Design Award and UK Science and Technology Facilities Council Futures Early Career Award. He was a 2014 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Alternate-Sponsored Fellow. Evan has led projects funded by the Dutch Research Council Open Competition Program, Bruker Collaboration, Radboud-Glasgow Collaboration Grants, the Mitacs Globalink Research Award, and others.
Project Proposal
Processes occurring at electrolyte–electrode interfaces play central roles in determining the efficiency and stability of various electrochemical systems. The ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship enables the development and application of a new in situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique, coupled with advanced data analysis, to probe and study these interfacial processes. This NMR technique is based on a patent-pending parallel-line probe with high interfacial selectivity and high-current capability. The project will demonstrate the method by tracking the growth of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) during electrochemical lithium metal deposition—a key process for both Li-ion batteries and Li-mediated ammonia synthesis. It will then systemically investigate and elucidate the effect of the SEI on lithium-metal growth rates and morphologies. The resulting understanding of SEI will guide the design of more efficient electrochemical processes for battery and synthesis applications.
ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowships
Fellows receive a $50,000 grant and one-year of complimentary ECS membership. They are required to submit a midway progress report to ECS and, after one year of funding, a final written report. Within 24 months of the end of the research period, their findings are published in ECS Interface and they deliver a presentation at an ECS meeting. TRINA invites the Fellows to present their research progress semiannually. After their fellowships end, Toyota may choose to enter into research agreements and continue collaborating with the Fellows. Learn more
2024–2025 ECS Toyota Young Investigators Fellowship Selection Committee
ECS gratefully acknowledges the service of the ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship Subcommittee members who reviewed more than 160 proposals for the 2025–2026 program
Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA)
• Timothy (Tim) Arthur, Senior Principal Scientist, Research Strategy Office, TRINA
• Debasish Banerjee, Director, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• Shougo Higashi, Executive Scientist, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• Masato Hozumi, Executive Engineer and Senior Manager, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• Rana Mohtadi, Senior Principal Scientist, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• John Muldoon, Senior Principal Scientist, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• Charles (Chip) Roberts, Senior Research Manager, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• Nik Singh, Principal Scientist, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• John Waugh, Research Scientist, Materials Research Department, TRINA
• Gaohua Zhu, Principal Scientist, Materials Research Department, TRINA
The Electrochemical Society
• Marca Doeff, Affiliate, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Shimpalee Sirivatch, Research Professor, University of South Carolina
• John T. Vaughey, Senior Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory
ECS welcomes its newest institutional partner, a great addition to the Society’s Institutional Partner Program.
Honeywell is a global technology and service company delivering industry-specific solutions that include integrated manufacturing systems for the lithium-ion battery industry Their business is aligned with three powerful megatrends—automation, the future of aviation, and the energy transition—underpinned by the Honeywell Accelerator operating system and Honeywell Forge IoT platform. As a trusted partner, Honeywell helps organizations solve the world’s toughest, most
complex challenges, providing actionable solutions and innovations through their Aerospace Technologies, Industrial Automation, Building Automation, and Energy and Sustainability Solutions business segments that help make the world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information, please visit https:// www.honeywell.com/us/en/news.
To learn more, visit the Honeywell website at https://www. honeywell.com/us/en
ECS’s Institutional Partner Program opens doors to a network that helps organizations meet business goals and objectives. Contact Sponsorship@ electrochem.org for more information.
TECHNIC
Honeywell
Contagious Energy at EnergyWhiz
by Sherri Shields
Minimal clouds and a slight breeze made it a perfect day to see just how fast model-size solar sprint cars could race, how hot solar ovens could get, and how many laps electric go-carts could complete. Nearly 400 students from 31 schools across Florida—from Tallahassee to Tampa to Boca Raton—converged at FSEC®, Florida’s premier energy research center at the University of Central Florida, this year to compete at EnergyWhiz. Described as an Olympics of renewable energy-related competitions, the annual, one-day event brings teams together to compete for trophies and for bragging rights. Fortunately, students get so much more.
Students have the chance to compete in FSEC’s Junior or Senior Solar Sprint, Solar Energy Cookoff, Energy Inspired Art, Critter Comfort Cottage, and Energy Transfer Machine. The Electrathon of Tampa Bay provides high school, college, and adult teams an opportunity to race their electric go-carts at FSEC’s EnergyWhiz too.
“EnergyWhiz provides an opportunity for youth to showcase innovative energy concepts in a fun, creative, and purposeful format,” said Brooks Rumenik, director of Florida’s Office of Energy. “It is evident that these young scientists are ready, willing, and determined to tackle any number of energy challenges they may face.”
In the Critter Comfort Cottage competition, each team designs and builds a cost-effective, comfortable “home” for a critter using energy-efficient, green building design and construction techniques. One middle school team stepped out of the box and demonstrated how to sequester carbon using salps (gelatinous marine creatures) and phytoplankton.
Have you ever wondered whether student-built solar ovens actually work? A high school team–designed solar oven reached 165ºC (325ºF) by 11:30 AM. “Some kids threw some water in to verify, and cheered when the water boiled off,” said Brent Thompson, Solar Energy Cookoff judge.
The Energy Inspired Art competition showcased a variety of eyecatching works of art. “It’s great to hear from students who are excited to talk about their projects and see the hard work and effort they put into them,” said Kaileen Schleith, design judge and professional illustrator. “I always learn something new from the students, and it’s great to see the next generation’s passion for environmentalism.”
EnergyWhiz’s pioneering event, the Junior Solar Sprint (JSS), pitted 39 teams from 18 schools against one another. “Each year, the
cars seem to get better and better,” said Philip Fairey, FSEC’s deputy director and JSS timekeeper. “This year, we had five cars race down the 20-meter-long track in less than seven seconds. Now that’s fast!”
The first-place team, the Solar Racing Rays from Rodgers Middle School, worked on their car every day for several months. The allgirl team said they built two different cars and would test them to see which one performed the best as they made changes.
The winning team advanced to the national JSS event in Nashville, TN, in June, where they placed third out of 76 teams in the race and eighth overall. The team’s sponsoring teacher, Michael Wilson, has a long history of attending EnergyWhiz, having first entered a Junior Solar Sprint team in 2008. One former student of Wilson’s, Kayla Pagan, attended EnergyWhiz this year too, but this time as a spectator. Kayla participated in JSS from 2014 to 2017, then came back to the middle school classroom to mentor other students while she was in high school and college.
“I’ve always enjoyed giving back my knowledge. Mr. Wilson let us figure out things on our own,” said Pagan. “But the students seem to relate to the older students who have done it before, better than the teachers. And when they [students] have fun, they tend to do better.”
Pagan graduated in December 2024 with a degree in mechanical engineering. She now works at TECO (Tampa Electric) and is the only female engineer in her department. Wilson has several former students who are now engineers.
Relationships, fun, and teamwork are important ingredients for success at EnergyWhiz, and the positive energy is contagious. Let’s spread it around!
How It Works
FSEC provides professional development workshops for teachers. These hands-on, instructor-led workshops help teachers feel confident incorporating the renewable energy projects into their curriculum. When a school or group is ready to host a regional event, the FSEC team travels to their region to help get them up and running. Sponsorships, such as that provided by The Electrochemical Society, and volunteers for set-up, judging, and safety, provide additional support.
Students K–12 can participate in the Energy Inspired Art category at EnergyWhiz.
Photo: Sherri Shields
Carbon sequestration using salps demonstrated at EnergyWhiz.
Photo: Nick Waters, FSEC/UCF
Potential for Scaling Up
As technology quickly advances, more engineers and scientists are needed, and EnergyWhiz is a fun way to engage students in the science, engineering, technology, and mathematic (STEM) fields. “Ultimately, our goal is to educate students far and wide about renewable energy, and these hands-on competitions offer a fun and rewarding experience,” said Susan Schleith, director of energy education at FSEC.
Resources
Learn more about EnergyWhiz at https://www.energywhiz.com/
Junior Solar Sprint teams compete for the best time in the race, and also best design.
Photo: Sherri Shields
Resources of Note
Selected for you by
Alice H. Suroviec
Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
This textbook written by Drs. Mark Orazem and Bernard Tribollet provides the fundamentals needed to apply electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to a broad range of applications, including corrosion, implantable devices, and fuel cells. This book has many worked examples, so it will serve those new to the technique as well as those looking to expand their knowledge.
http://bit.ly/4ni5GDz
Introduction to the Theory and Mathematics of EIS
This video is a brief introduction to the math and theory behind EIS. Taught by Dr. Sam Cooper from Imperial College London, the two-hour video not only covers the topics, but also works through several scenarios to help put the mathematics into the context of the whole system. This is part of a lecture series from Imperial College’s Electrochemistry Network.
https://youtu.be/5puDQjCl2pk?si=5c-7Fpi5Bhmsvrfy
Gamry Instruments Application Notes
This application notes provides a beginner-friendly introduction to EIS with minimal math knowledge required. The application notes cover several different topics and will set the reader up to understand at a base level how EIS works.
impedance.py is a python package for making electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis easy to use. The API contains modules for data processing, model fitting, and visualization. The package was developed by Drs. Matthew Murbach, Brian Gerwe, Neal Dawson-Elli, and Lok-kun Tsui to help ease the workload typically required to analyze EIS data.
Alice Suroviec is a Professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry and Dean of the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences at Berry College. She earned a BS in Chemistry from Allegheny College in 2000. She received her PhD from Virginia Tech in 2005 under the direction of Dr.
Mark R. Anderson. Her research focuses on enzymatically modified electrodes for use as biosensors. She is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, ECS Community Inclusion Chair, and Associate Editor of the PAE Technical Division for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society. She welcomes feedback from the ECS community.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9252-2468
Successful Launch of CWRU’s Electrochemical Engineering Workshop
by Jennifer H. Stephenson, Nicholas Sinclair, Laurie Dudik, and Rohan Akolkar
Responding to popular demand, Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) successfully launched an ECS-sponsored electrochemical engineering–focused workshop this year (June 2–4, 2025) in Cleveland, Ohio. The ECS-sponsored workshop series, which gives attendees access to CWRU’s renowned electrochemical expertise, is conducted by ECS Fellow and CWRU electrochemical engineering faculty member Prof. Rohan Akolkar. Each workshop brings together engineers and scientists of different experience levels and backgrounds to learn skills for practicing electrochemical engineering as part of their professions in industry, national laboratories, and academia. Through carefully designed lectures on electrochemistry fundamentals, hands-on laboratory experiments, discussions of emerging topics, and opportunities for networking and dialog with CWRU faculty, participants acquire knowledge of the engineering principles surrounding industrial electrochemical systems. CWRU has long offered an electrochemical measurements workshop through the Yeager Center for Electrochemical Sciences, but this latest workshop is an exciting addition for those looking for an engineering and applications-oriented alternative with an emphasis on engineering principles and design.
In this, the workshop’s inaugural year, CWRU welcomed 17 participants from institutions such as De Nora Tech, Borregaard, Schlumberger (SLB), Moses Lake Industries (MLI), Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Sandia National Labs, University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Michigan, Brigham Young University, and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. From students and postdoctoral researchers to scientists and R&D managers, professionals from all backgrounds came together in a collaborative environment, bringing with them their questions, curiosity, and enthusiasm for electrochemistry.
From Fundamental Electrochemical Principles to Designing Engineered Systems
The workshop hosted attendees at CWRU over the course of three days. All participants received a bound electrochemical engineering lecture handbook and an experiment design laboratory guide paired with safety instructions. On the first day, lectures by Prof. Akolkar
covered a wide range of topics: electrochemical thermodynamics, electrode kinetics, ionic transport, and diffusion boundary layer development in electrochemical systems, among others. On the same day, participants were given the opportunity to apply these concepts to hands-on measurements on Li-ion batteries and the Hull cell. The second day continued the workshop with lectures on current distribution phenomena in electrochemical reactors and their associated scaling analysis; transient phenomena and their applications in electrochemical systems; and porous electrode theory and applications. These didactic sessions interfaced with handson experimentation on a lab-on-a-chip sensor platform as well as classical rotating disk electrodes. The evening rounded out with a networking reception dinner organized in partnership with the ECS Case Western Reserve University Student Chapter to recognize participants, guest speakers, and everyone involved in coordinating the workshop. The final day featured guest speakers who discussed special topics that ranged from ionic liquids (Dr. Burcu Gurkan), computational electrochemistry (Dr. Robert Warburton), diamond electrochemistry (Dr. Heidi Martin), high-temperature molten salt electrochemistry (Dr. Akolkar), numerical simulations (Dr. Akolkar), and batteries for transportation and grid-scale energy storage (Dr. Nicholas Sinclair).
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Prof. Rohan Akolkar and teaching assistant William Lvovich going over the objective of the laboratory experiment on Day 1 of the workshop.
Group photo (from the Day 2 banquet) of all the meeting’s lecturers, speakers, organizers, and participants, along with students from the ECS Case Western Reserve University Student Chapter.
Prof. Akolkar and participant Yuzhou Chen during one of the breaks between lectures.
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SOCIETY NEWS SOCIETY NEWS
Feedback from Participants
We created this workshop to be a high-quality electrochemical engineering experience for the working scientific community. Postworkshop surveys suggest that this goal was met, with participants rating their experience an average of 4.5 out of 5. Participants commented that the workshop was “an excellent refresher,” and “highly valuable.” Here are some direct quotes about the workshop experience from the participants themselves: “As a participant from an industrial background, I found the Electrochemical Engineering Workshop to be highly valuable. The lectures covered a broad range of fundamental concepts that are directly relevant to the work I do, particularly in understanding the design and operation of electrochemical systems. I appreciated the balance between theoretical instruction and hands-on lab activities” (Participant, De Nora Tech). “I thought the workshop was very well run! It’s tough to pack that much information into three days, but I thought there was a good amount of class time without being too much, and all of the speakers were excellent.” (Participant, University of Massachusetts
Lowell). “The course was an excellent refresher for me. The third day was also great, giving access to some of the ongoing research studies.” (Participant, SLB).
Stay Tuned
CWRU’s subsequent offerings of the electrochemical engineering workshop will likely include multiple sessions throughout the year. The next session will be offered in early June 2026 with other dates and announcements released shortly thereafter. Registration windows, enrollment details, and other information will be shared on the workshop’s website
Acknowledgements
We sincerely thank ECS for its sponsorship and support in making this workshop possible and for its commitment to electrochemistry education. We also thank all the guest speakers, student TAs, and staff at CWRU who helped make this workshop a pleasant and rewarding experience for the attendees.
Allen J. Bard Center for Electrochemistry 2025 Workshop on Electrochemistry
The Allen J. Bard Center for Electrochemistry (Bard CEC) at the University of Texas at Austin hosted its biannual Electrochemistry Workshop from April 28 to 30, 2025. The ECS-sponsored event brought together electrochemists from across academia, industry, and national labs for three days of technical talks, poster sessions, and hands-on demonstrations using advanced electrochemical instrumentation.
For many years (since 2010), the Bard CEC Workshop on Electrochemistry has convened experts in the fields of engineering, materials science, and electrochemistry to focus on key topics in important areas of electrochemical research. The workshop features scientists and researchers from top universities, national laboratories, and the electrochemical industry discussing cuttingedge electrochemical science, and addressing challenges related to the mechanisms of electron transfer. This year, the traditional twoday workshop format was expanded to a three-day event by adding a “Day 0” focused on student-centric talks, tours, and hands-on instrumentation and live software demonstrations. Attendees toured the Bard Center’s state-of-the-art facility, including demonstrations of scanning electrochemical probe microscopy and battery cyclers.
The following two days continued the workshop’s tradition of featuring outstanding speakers in a collegial, interactive setting that encourages interaction among leading researchers and emerging scholars from across the United States and abroad to explore foundational and cutting-edge topics in electrochemical science.
This year’s speaker lineup reflected the field’s breadth and energy, featuring 12 invited talks from leaders in both fundamental and applied electrochemistry. Prof. Anna Wuttig (University of Chicago), Prof. Long Luo (University of Utah), and Prof. KyoungShin Choi (University of Wisconsin–Madison) spoke on topics that ranged from interfacial control in electrosynthesis to alternating current electrolysis and biomass conversion. Prof. Karsten Reuter (Fritz-Haber-Institut) discussed computational catalyst design beyond crystalline surfaces, while Prof. Kimberly See (Caltech)
explored anion redox mechanisms in high-energy battery cathodes. Prof. Kelsey Stoerzinger (University of Minnesota) presented recent work on nitrate reduction, cation effects, and competitive adsorption at the electrochemical interface.
Other invited speakers included Prof. Hang Ren (University of Texas at Austin) on electrochemical correlative microscopy; Prof. Justin Sambur (Colorado State University) on bandgap renormalization in 2D electrodes; and Prof. Lane Baker (Texas A&M) on electrochemical mass spectrometry. Prof. Jenny Yang (University of California, Irvine) highlighted electrochemical CO₂ capture and utilization, while Dr. Manan Pathak (BattGenie Inc.) shared insights into model-based battery management systems. Prof. Shigeru Amemiya (University of Pittsburgh) concluded the talk series by presenting his group’s latest research on hydrogen evolution reactions, conducted using scanning electrochemical microscopy on a single-crystal platinum electrode.
A dynamic poster session featured more than 50 presentations by graduate students and postdocs, showcasing new materials, methods, and modeling strategies. Poster presenters received feedback from faculty and peers, sparking lively discussion and potential new collaborations.
By design, the Bard CEC Workshop promotes both technical depth and cross-disciplinary exchange. The 2025 event continued that tradition, offering a vibrant and inclusive platform for discussion, networking, and education in electrochemistry. With attendees from more than 20 institutions, the workshop fostered rich scientific exchange and networking. Plans are underway for the next biannual edition in 2027, continuing the Bard CEC’s mission to promote collaboration and innovation in electrochemistry.
The workshop was organized by Prof. Michael J. Rose (Director, Bard CEC), Dr. Lubhani Mishra (Associate Director, Bard CEC), and Dr. Xiaole Chen (Facility Manager, Bard CEC), with support from the College of Natural Sciences, UT Austin, event sponsors, and the ECS UT Austin Student Chapter.
2025 Workshop on Electrochemistry came from more than 20 countries and included students and post-docs; early-career researchers; luminaries in the field; and researchers from national labs, academia, and industry.
Participants in the Allen J. Bard Center for Electrochemistry
247th ECS Meeting Highlights
MONTRÉAL, CANADA | MAY 18–22, 2025
The 247th ECS Meeting convened in Montréal, Québec, Canada, from May 18 to 22, 2025. One of ECS’s largest spring meetings—with almost 2,500 registrants and 20 guests representing 69 countries—the gathering encompassed 53 symposia with 441 sessions. The total of 3,184 accepted abstracts included 2,449 oral talks and 585 posters. About a third of the accepted abstracts were from students (814 presented orally and 334 posters). The meeting featured 726 invited talks and 18 ECS award and keynote talks.
The meeting’s theme was ECS United—a reflection of our community’s shared commitment to collaboration, inclusion, and advancing electrochemical and solid state science. The theme echoed throughout the program, reflecting values of breaking down barriers between disciplines, connecting researchers across the world, and collaborating to solve the greatest challenges in energy, sustainability, and beyond. Researchers, students, and industry leaders came together to push the boundaries of science to create a more sustainable future.
ECS Member Reception Celebrating 12 Million Downloads
Brittany PelletierVilleneuve shares the positive impact of her involvement with ECS at the ECS Member Reception Celebrating 12 Million Downloads.
ECS welcomed members from around the world to the sold-out ECS Member Reception Celebrating 12 Million Downloads. The event recognized the collective impact of ECS members and hailed the major milestone of ECS downloads. Incoming ECS President James (Jim) Fenton kicked off the evening with a heartfelt reflection on his personal ECS journey. Prof. Rohan Akolkar, Editorin-Chief of ECS Advances, shared the exciting news that the journal has been indexed in the Web of Science, marking a significant step forward in the journal’s visibility and impact. Thomas Boulanger and Brittany PelletierVilleneuve, student leaders from the ECS Montréal Student Chapter, shared how their involvement with ECS has enriched their educational journeys, strengthened their networks, and created leadership opportunities on campus and beyond.
These lucky ECS members received raffle prizes:
• 249th ECS Meeting Five-Night Seattle Hotel Stay: Arshad Khan, National Tsing Hua University, ECS Student Member since 2024
• ECS Lifetime Membership: Nils Lamouche, Université de Montréal, new ECS Student Member
• Complimentary 248th ECS Meeting registration: Mayank Sabharwal, University of Calgary, ECS member since 2017
• $250 Amazon Gift Cards: Victoria White, Huntsman Corporation, ECS Early Career Member since 2025, and Jiayao Cui, University of Alberta, ECS Student Member since 2022
Opening Reception
Executive Director and CEO Christopher J. Jannuzzi welcomes attendees at the ECS Awards and Recognition event.
Recognition event.
The 247th ECS Meeting Opening Reception was a full house with almost 1,000 attendees enjoying food and an open bar while reconnecting and forging new connections before the formal program began.
ECS Awards and Recognition Highlights
ECS Executive Director and CEO Christopher J. Jannuzzi welcomed event participants to the 247th ECS Meeting in Montréal, Canada, and introduced Gessie Brisard, ECS Secretary and proud Montréal resident. They tag teamed, delivering the meeting’s opening remarks together. Chris gave an overview of the week ahead. Gessie introduced the first official meeting theme: ECS UNITED, noting that while participants’ stories about how they got to the Montréal meeting and this point in their careers are unique, everyone came together as a united science community. Chris and Gessie described different ways ECS is UNITED:
• Through collaboration and learning engendered at meetings: More than 1,000 sessions between the 245th Meeting and PRiME;
• ECS continuing education and learning: Approximately 3,400 education-related event attendees in 2024 engaged in nearly 30 learning opportunities across 42,800 hours;
Making
Socializing at the Opening Reception.
ECS
ECS Secretary Gessie Brisard takes the stage at the ECS Awards and
• Access to the greatest minds in the field: ECS Lecturers, including Yury Gogotsi and Hiroshi Nishihara in 2024;
• Research: Which grows, adapts, and evolves as others build upon it through publications, forums, and peer connections;
• More than 12 million journal downloads: Evidence of ECS making research easy to find, cite, and trust;
• Honors & Awards: Recognizing a diverse group of researchers for their groundbreaking work across electrochemical and solid state science;
• UNITED work undertaken by the ECS community: Addressing critical challenges in clean energy, environmental sustainability, and advanced materials development.
• Generations of scientists mentoring each other: A community where pioneers in the field pass their torch to early-career professionals, who go on to lead the next innovation wave.
Notable landmarks in 2024 included:
• Membership skyrocketed to 9,604 members representing 70 countries, the highest total ever.
• ECS Student Chapters ballooned to 154.
• Meetings in 2024 attracted almost 7,800 attendees.
• ECS sponsored and/or exhibited at 14 events in nine US states and other countries, including Canada, Estonia, and Rwanda.
Chris and Gessie acknowledged recent dramatic changes to the field and the need for membership to be UNITED in meeting these challenges. The Society is positioned to partner with other organizations to advocate for science.
Chris thanked Gessie, then encouraged non-members to join and lapsed members to rejoin, promising the first 100 to do so an exclusive thank-you gift. He thanked meeting sponsors, symposia sponsors, institutional partners, exhibitors, and ECS Divisions and Sections, all of whom made the meeting possible.
Chris introduced ECS President Colm O’Dwyer who described coining the phrase “ECS United” as a calling card that spoke to the common ground between electrochemical and solid state disciplines in the drive for a sustainable future. With ECS staff and the Executive Committee, the theme expanded to include the communal closeness of the broader scientific community, uniting for science, being advocates for its importance and necessity, and being part of a global network of an evidencebased, logical, and scientifically literate community.
Colm informed the audience about high points of the past year:
• 2024 biannual ECS Meetings saw more submissions and attendees than ever in the Society’s history.
• The milestone of ECS publications downloads is a remarkable achievement for an organization of this size with a relatively small suite of journals.
• The first ECS Education online courses on battery materials and cell-level characterization launched.
Colm shared exciting upcoming changes:
• ECS for Sustainability in…, a new initiative to support sustainability goals planned by Colm and Jennifer Hite, Chair of the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittee, will be introduced after the Chicago, IL, meeting.
• A new Community Associate Membership level.
• A Community Inclusion Officer will join ECS to embed Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Engagement in Society leadership and society-wide activities.
MAY 18 – 22,
Colm recounted how John Lewis, ECS Senior Director of Meetings, discovered that Nikola Tesla was a founding member of the Society, concluding that we are united also through our storied past and those on whose shoulders we now stand: Isamu Akasaki, John Goodenough, M. Stanley Wittingham, Allen J. Bard, Mildred Dresselhaus, Thomas Edison, Fritz Haber, Irving Langmuir, Rudolph Marcus, Nikola Tesla, and many others.
Thierry Brousse was honored for completing 12 years as JES Associate Editor.
Colm opened the Awards and Recognition Ceremony by acknowledging the ECS Division and Section Award winners and encouraged participants to attend their presentations.
He acknowledged Thierry Brousse who completed his 12-year term as Associate Editor for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) in December 2024.
Colm announced the Society Awards, starting with the ECS Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology, awarded to Hideo Hosono, Institute of Science Tokyo, for his research on the creation of novel functional materials based on his design concept, and achievements including the material design of transparent oxide semiconductors such as InGaZnO (IGZO) and their TFT applications for state-of-the-art displays; the creation of stable electrodes and their application to catalysts for ammonia synthesis; and the discovery of high-Tc iron-based superconductors. The Moore Medal recognizes outstanding contributions to the fundamental understanding and technological applications of solid state materials, phenomena, and processes. ECS established the award in 1971 as the Solid State Science and Technology Award. In 2005, it was renamed in honor of longtime ECS Member Gordon Moore
Prof. Hosono’s award talk, “Progress in Oxide Semiconductors and Oxide TFTs,” described the development of oxide semiconductors and their TFTs in comparison with Si and gave a comprehensive view to understand the doping ability and p/n orientation from band alignment.
Colm introduced Prof. Doron Aurbach, Bar-Ilan University, who received the John B. Goodenough Award of The Electrochemical Society. The Society honored Prof. Aurbach as the inventor and leader of the rechargeable magnesium battery field. His research focuses on energy storage, advanced materials, rechargeable batteries, and supercapacitors, with expertise extending to the waterenergy nexus and innovations in desalination, microfiltration, green hydrogen production, CO2 sequestration (for agricultural purposes), disinfection, and the extraction of important minerals from seawater.
The award is named for longtime ECS member and Nobel laureate John Goodenough. ECS established it in 2022 to recognize distinguished contributions to the fundamental and technological
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Hideo Hosono, Institute of Science Tokyo, receives the 2025 ECS Gordon E. Moore Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Solid State Science and Technology
Prof. Doron Aurbach, Bar-Ilan University, receives the 2025 John B. Goodenough Award of The Electrochemical Society.
ECS President Colm O’Dwyer addresses the Plenary Session.
247th ECS MEETING
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aspects of electrochemical materials science and engineering. It recognizes outstanding contributions to materials innovations in the areas of batteries, solid ion conductors, fuel cells, transition-metal oxides, and/or magnetic materials.
Prof. Aurbach’s award talk, “Following The Heritage of J. B. Goodenough – The Challenge of High Energy, Safe, Durable, Rechargeable Batteries: From Basic Science to Practical Devices,” reflected his more than 40-year journey inspired by the heritage of J. B. Goodenough, who enabled his success through pioneering, systematic, highly prolific, long-term research efforts. Prof. Aurbach traced the development of high energy density, long running rechargeable Li-ion batteries that successfully power all mobile electronic devices, and can be considered as the greatest success of modern electrochemistry.
Colm closed the ECS Awards and Recognition Ceremony with a recognition of ECS members celebrating milestone anniversaries. Their names were posted on the back of the Ribbon Wall in the registration area.
ECS Plenary Lecture
Colm introduced the ECS Lecturer, David P. Wilkinson, Professor and Associate Department Head of Chemical Engineering and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clean Energy and Electrochemical Technologies at the University of British Columbia (UBC). Before that, Prof. Wilkinson held the Methanex Professorship and was Executive Director of the UBC Clean Energy Research Center. His research covers a wide range of electrochemical areas, including fuel cells, electrolyzers, battery research, carbon dioxide and nitrogen conversion, electrochemical approaches to clean energy and fuels, and electrochemical treatment of wastewater and drinking water. He developed rechargeable Li-metal batteries as Electrochemistry Group Leader at Moli Energy Ltd. (1986–1990) and served as Director and Vice President of R&D in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Technology at Ballard Power Systems Inc. (1990–2003). He was briefly Group Leader and Principal Research Officer with the Canada National Research Council. The holder of more than 82 issued US patents, Prof. Wilkinson has published more than 250 refereed journal publications, a co-authored book, and a number of edited books and book chapters. Awards he has received include the Order of Canada, Grove Medal, Lifetime Award of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Association, and fellowships from the Engineering Institute of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Chemical Institute of Canada, and Royal Society of Canada.
In “Harnessing Protons and Electrons for NetZero 2050,” Prof. Wilkinson discussed the energy transition based on the Net Zero 2050 Roadmap, and the progress, challenges, and opportunities in transitioning to electrochemical processes. He stressed that the urgency of this massive undertaking may require different approaches to traditional electrochemical research. In some cases, particularly in the short-term, hybrid systems, integrating both thermochemical and electrochemical processes, represent a promising approach to bridging existing technologies with sustainable solutions. Fundamental science and engineering are still required to close some technical gaps related to performance, selectivity, scalability, cost, durability, operational flexibility, and manufacturing. Research and development in these gap areas, and at the intersection of different applications, can lead to new and integrated multifunctional solutions with multiple benefits. His discussion of these areas included examples from his own research and that of others.
Chris took the stage at the end of the ECS Lecture, pointing out the sea of blue and green—ECS colors sported by many audience members. He announced the formation of seven new ECS Student Chapters. Chris updated participants on ECS’s ongoing advocacy efforts:
• With partners the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the Materials Research Society, ECS signed a message to US Congressional leadership to emphasize the critical role members’ work plays in addressing the grand challenges facing humanity.
• ECS, with than 50 other organizations, signed a letter to US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum urging funding in the FY26 federal budget of the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area (EMA) at the same level as in the FY25 budget, to ensure that its important work continues.
• In June, ECS with MRS met with the leadership of the United States on Capitol Hill and engaged in conversation related to the support of the Society’s mission and leveraging the electrochemical and solid state sciences to improve the human condition.
Chris encouraged the audience to visit the Exhibit Hall and view the posters, participate actively in the 247th ECS Meeting, and plan to attend the 248th ECS Meeting in Chicago, IL, October 12–16, 2025. He announced the 248th Meeting’s theme: United through Science & Technology
Division Awards
During the meeting, 10 division awards (including three student awards) were presented.
• Battery Division M. Stanley Whittingham Mid-Career Award: Alejandro Franco, Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, “Battery Manufacturing: From Digital Models to the Metaverse”
• Electronics and Photonics Division Award: Junichi Murota, Tohoku University, “Atomically Controlled Processing for Group IV Semiconductors by Ultraclean Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition”
• Energy Technology Division Graduate Student Award Sponsored by BioLogic: Raul Marquez, The University of Texas at Austin, “Intermittency Intensifies Catalyst Transformations and Degradation in Liquid Alkaline Water Electrolysis”
• Energy Technology Division Research Award: Gang Wu, Washington University in St. Louis, “Single Metal Site Catalysts for Sustainable and Clean Hydrogen Energy”
• Energy Technology Division Supramaniam Srinivasan Young Investigator Award: Karthish Manthiram, California Institute of Technology, “Electrification and Decarbonization of Chemical Synthesis”
• Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division H. H. Dow Memorial Student Achievement Award: Dean Miller, Stanford University, “From Atoms to Agriculture: Engineering Electrocatalytic Reactive Separations for Wastewater Nitrate Refining”
• Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division New Electrochemical Technology (NET) Award: Chockkalingam Karuppaiah, Ohmium International, “Commercialization of PEM Based Hyper Modular Electrolyzer System”
• Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division Ralph E. White Outstanding Student Award: Kaustubh Girish Naik, Purdue University, “Mechanistic Interrogation of Solid-State Electrode Architectures”
• Nanocarbons Division Robert C. Haddon Research Award: Yury Gogotsi, Drexel University, “MXenes and Their Hybrids with Graphene and Other Materials”
David P. Wilkinson, University of British Columbia, presents the ECS Lecture.
• Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division David C. Grahame Award: Yang Shao-Horn, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Unlocking Interfacial Water for Efficient Making of Hydrogen Carriers”
Z01—General Student Poster Session
More than 128 posters were submitted to the General Student Poster Session. The session’s award winners are:
1st Prize: $1,500 award
Samaneh Salek, Université du Québec à Montréal
Z01—3050 “Single Particle Electrocatalysis Using Scanning Electrochemical Cell Microscopy (SECCM)”
2nd Prize: $1,000 award
Elisa Silva, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)
Z01—2977 “Study and Fabrication of Cu-Composites for High Ampacity Materials”
ECS thanks the Society members who served as 247th ECS Meeting Z01—General Student Poster Session reviewers.
In-person Judges
Scott Calabrese Barton, Michigan State University
Tali Dotan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
David Hall, Universitetet i Stavanger
Qingye (Gemma) Lu, University of Calgary
Virtual Judges
Damilola Daramola, Northeastern University
David Hall, Universitetet i Stavanger
David Hickey, Michigan State University
Ellie Honarvar, Ford Motor Company
Ahamed Ishrad, Stanford University
Vivek Kamat, Florida International University
Luca Magagnin, Politecnico di Milano
Peter Mascher, McMaster University
Joseph Quinn, Pacific Northwest National Lab
Leah Rynearson, University of Rhode Island
Eiji Tada, Institute of Science Tokyo
Sreeram Vaddiraju, Texas A&M University
ECS is especially grateful to Alice Suroviec, Berry College, for organizing the Z01—General Student Poster Awards symposium.
Symposia Best Presentation and Poster Awards
Some 247th ECS Meeting symposia presented much-appreciated awards for best posters, presentations, and papers. The symposia organizers thank the sponsors who generously supported these awards.
A05—Battery
Characterization and Diagnosis
Best Student Oral Presenter: $500
Marie-Chloé Michaud Paradis (A05—0631), Université de Montréal
Best Student Poster Presenter: $500
Mahla Bakhshi (A05—0534), Universitetet i Agder
A08—Interplay between Temperature and Battery Phenomenon 2
Best Presentation: $1,000
Catherine Folkson (A08—0830), Imperial College London
Best Presentation: $1,000
Kelsey Cavallaro (A08—0834), Georgia Institute of Technology
Best Presentation: $1,000
Jarom Sederholm (A08—0832), University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign
L07—New Horizons in Spectroelectrochemistry and Photoelectrochemistry
Best Presenter: $200
Lahiru Pasikku Hannadige (L07—2749), Texas Tech University
Best Student Oral Presenter: $150
Yamini Kumaran (L07—2750), University at Albany, State University of New York
Best Student Oral Presenter: $150
Ranil Clement Temgoua Tonleu (L07—2720), Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung
Student Mixer
The sold-out Student Mixer was packed with about 185 students and early career professionals, who mingled, compared notes, and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. Everyone received Student Mixer t-shirts. Special thanks to Pine Research Instrumentation and Scribner for supporting our younger members and sponsoring the event.
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friends and making new ones!
Z01—General Student Poster Session Award Winners (from left to right:)
Samaneh Salek, Elisa Silva, and Elizabeth McDonnell
Student attendees enjoy the bustle and hustle of the Student Mixer, a perfect atmosphere for reconnecting with old
247th ECS MEETING
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Annual Society Business Meeting and Luncheon
The Annual Society Business Meeting and Luncheon (ASBM) took place on May 20. Over a plated lunch, attendees heard the Society’s senior leaders reviewed the successes and the challenges of 2024 and previewed exciting plans for the coming year.
ECS Executive Director and CEO Christopher Jannuzzi welcomed attendees, thanked the general meeting sponsors, and introduced ECS President Colm O’Dwyer. Colm described the 247th Meeting theme as speaking to the common ground between electrochemical and solid state disciplines in the drive for a sustainable future, and ECS and the broader scientific community as a whole. He stressed the importance of advocating for science.
for the Society’s future
He noted that:
• Together, the San Francisco and PRiME meetings received 8,250 abstracts with 7,750 attendees.
• A significant milestone of more than 12 million full-text downloads was reached, a remarkable achievement for an organization ECS’s size, with a relatively small suite of journals.
• ECS Advances is now indexed by Web of Science.
• ECS Education courses on battery materials and cell-level characterization launched online.
• Membership growth has been phenomenal.
• A new ECS Sustainability initiative launches after the 248th Meeting.
• The Community Associate Membership level, gathering the large community who engage in ECS activities into the ECS fold, takes off soon.
• The ECS Presidential Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Engagement’s recommendation that the Board create a Community Inclusion Officer service position on the Executive Committee to ensure that DEI is integrated into the fabric of ECS governance and activities will be implemented in the coming year.
Colm asked ECS members to encourage the larger scientific community to make ECS the place they showcase their work. He thanked ECS staff, his fellow executive committee members, volunteers, exhibitors, and student volunteers.
Colm established that the meeting had a quorum and opened the meeting. Secretary Gessie Brisard asked for a motion and second to approve the last ASBM minutes. She introduced the new officers: President James (Jim) Fenton and 3rd Vice President Marca Doeff. Gessie reported:
• Meeting attendance at the two 2024 biannual meetings was outstanding: 7,600 attendees, 98 symposia, and 8,144 abstracts received from nearly 70 countries
• Over $283,000 was awarded in symposia funding for invited speakers
• Upcoming ECS Meetings include:
o 248th ECS Meeting, Chicago, IL, fall 2025
o 249th ECS Meeting, Seattle, WA, spring 2026
o 250th ECS Meeting, Calgary, Canada, fall 2026
• Membership increased by 20 percent from 2023 to 2024
• As of spring 2025, there are 9,604 members, over one-third of whom are students and early career researchers
• At the next board meeting, seven new ECS Student Chapters seek approval, which will bring the total to 154 around the world
• ECS awarded fellowships and grants to support research:
o $155,455 for biannual meeting travel was awarded by ECS divisions
o $150,000 for three ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowships
o $20,000 for four ECS Summer Fellowships
o $5,000 for one ECS Colin Garfield Fink Summer Fellowship
• The addition of three new Institutional Partners (BMW, easyXAFS, and Next Machinery Group) brings the total number of partners to 51
• In 2024, publications:
o Published 1,623 journal articles including 581 open access (OA) papers
o 37.8 percent of all content downloaded was OA
o Over 12.1 million articles and abstracts were downloaded
Colm then introduced ECS Treasurer Elizabeth PodlahaMurphy. She reported that 2024 was a strong financial year, primarily due to the investment portfolio. Revenue in 2024 was $7.8M (excluding investment income) with the majority (91%) coming from three program areas: Meetings (51%), Publications (32%), and Membership (8%). The remaining revenue came from rental income (6%) and constituent programs, contributions, grants, and other revenue (3%). A surplus in investment revenue increased the Society’s assets offset expenses of $9.1M, resulting in a strong 2024 financial year.
ECS Executive Director and CEO Chris Jannuzzi took the stage, outlining the coming year’s challenges, which include pressure on publications revenue and rising meeting costs. Recent shifts in the US political climate resulted in about 700 canceled 247th Meeting registrations. He described actions already taken and actions planned to ramp up ECS advocacy efforts. Chris encouraged those present to advocate for science. Colm then introduced President-elect James (Jim) Fenton.
ECS President Colm O’Dwyer welcomes meeting attendees to the Annual Society Business Meeting and Luncheon and informs attendees about the past year’s successes and plans
Front from left to right: Noel Buckley, University of Limerick, incoming ECS 3rd Vice President Marca Doeff, Alanah Fitch, Loyola University Chicago; Second row from left to right: E. J. Taylor, Faraday Technology Inc., Alice Suroviec, Berry College; Third row from left to right: Paul J. A. Kenis, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and David E. Cliffel, Vanderbilt University, applaud speakers at the Annual Society Business Meeting and Luncheon
Jim explained that ECS has been his professional home since he joined the Society in 1982. He is honored to serve the Society as president and described “servant leadership” as the model for his past and future ECS service. While these are challenging times, it is also incredibly exciting to be part of the ECS community, meeting the world’s greatest challenges. He listed Society accomplishments from the last year and stressed the importance of ECS membership benefits. These valuable resources for seasoned professionals inspire future pre-college, graduate, and undergraduate students to choose careers in electrochemical and solid state research. Younger members, mentored by more seasoned members, will develop technologies that tackle critical problems in energy, health, education, the environment, national security, global development, and climate change. ECS members, United through Science and Technology (the next meeting’s theme), are uniquely positioned to address global issues at the international and local levels. He encouraged the formation of local Student Chapters and support for science education at the K-12 level. He invited the audience to join him in defining and implementing new visions and new initiatives to enable today’s and tomorrow’s members to solve global grand challenges.
Colm thanked Jim and as there was no new business, adjourned the meeting.
Notable Special Events
Blue and Green Day
On Monday, meeting attendees were encouraged to show their ECS United spirit by wearing blue and green, ECS’s official colors. Lots of people got in on the action. Blue and green hair, clothes, and accessories were spotted during this visual celebration of the community’s unity.
Esteemed ECS journal editors answered questions about publishing, peer review, journal scope, their vision for the growth of ECS Publications, and more at the ECS Booth. Present were Alice Suroviec and John Staser from Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES); Peter Mascher and Yue Qi from the Journal of Solid State Science and Technology (JSS); Kent Zheng from ECS Advances (ECSA); and Trisha Andrew and Praveen Sekhar from ECS Sensors Plus (ECSSP).
Buckley, University of Limerick, hosts It Could be Verse, kicking off the event with a rousing Irish poem.
It Could be Verse: An Evening of Poetry and More Noel Buckley, University of Limerick, and Petr Vanusek, Brno University of Technology, organized the evening of international poetry and performance. The event, which debuted at the 244th ECS Meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden, was enthusiastically received by the Montréal audience. ECS members and meeting attendees showcased a wide variety of cultural and linguistic backgrounds through poetry and music.
Sponsors and Exhibitors
ECS applauds the meeting sponsors and exhibitors whose support and participation contributed directly to the meeting’s success.
Thank you for developing the tools and equipment driving scientific advances, sharing your innovations with the electrochemical and solid state communities, and providing generous support for the 247th ECS Meeting!
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ECS Treasurer Elizabeth Podlaha-Murphy delivers the financial report
ECS United fans show off their blue and green.
From left to right: Paul J. A. Kenis, Technical Editor, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, and Paul Cooper, ECS Editorial Manager, answer questions at Meet the Editors.
Spectro Inlets shows off new products in the Exhibit Hall.
Noel
247th ECS MEETING
(continued from previous page)
247th ECS Meeting – Meeting Sponsors
Thank you to the 247th ECS Meeting sponsors!
247th ECS Meeting – Exhibitors
Thank you to the 247th ECS Meeting exhibitors!
247th ECS Meeting – Symposia Sponsors
Thank you to the 247th ECS Meeting symposia sponsors!
It Could be Verse, Spring 2025 Edition
by D. Noel Buckley
It Could be Verse, an evening of international poetry and song organized by Noel Buckley and Petr Vanysek, was once again a feature of the ECS Meeting at Montréal. As at its debut at the Gothenburg meeting, the evening featured ECS scientists and guests displaying their artistic sides. Reflecting the diversity of our ECS community, the program contained a selection of poetry and song in a variety of different languages, including English, French, Polish, Irish, Catalan, Marathi, and Latin. Poetry ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime, from Ogden Nash (Johna Leddy) to The Aeneid (Noel Buckley), resounded around the room. Indeed, it was easy to imagine being in the Australian outback as Stephen Paddison’s wonderful rendition of The Man from Snowy River evoked images of wild bush horses, mountain horsemen, and fierce riding while Pau Farras took us back to the origins of the universe with a science-inspired poem in Catalan by physicist David Jou. Alanah Fitch also recited poems inspired by science and mathematics, from her book Sublime Lead and her play Cold Fusion. A unique, fun feature of the evening was a kazoo concert, believed to be a historical first at a scientific conference. Kazoos were distributed to the audience members and Past-President Johna Leddy led them in several popular tunes.
The ECS leadership team was well represented. President Colm O’Dwyer led the charge with ¡A.I. Caramba!, a composition in the style of his native Limerick, while Secretary Gessie Brisard entertained us with some beautiful French poetry by Baudelaire and La Fontaine. Treasurer Elizabeth Podlaha-Murphy’s poem, What Can an ECS Treasurer Do added some more lighthearted wisdom to a theme she had addressed at Gothenburg in Musings of an ECS Treasurer. JSS Editor-in-Chief Krishnan Rajeshwar
sang songs from Elvis Presley and Simon & Garfunkel accompanied by Executive Director Chris Jannuzzi on guitar. Vice-President Bob Savinell reminisced on his meeting with working-man poet Joe Romero and recited a beautiful pair of his unique love poems. Anna Olsen and Sarah Hazuka contributed beautiful haikus and Marca Doeff gave us food for thought with her recitation of Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken Varad Modak recited a poem in his native Marathi and Cate Chason contributed a touching poem articulating a mother’s grief upon the loss of her daughter. Additional spontaneous contributions included beautiful songs in her native Polish by Alicja Głaszczka and an inspiring poem by Senior Director of Publications Adrian Plummer. JES Editor-in-Chief Dave Cliffel rounded off a most pleasant evening with the words of the traditional concluding song of the famed ECS karaoke sessions.
Meeting attendees visited with industry leaders in the Exhibit Hall.
Ingrid Milošev Awarded the 2025 European Corrosion Medal
On September 8, 2025, at the European Corrosion Congress held in Stavanger, Norway, the president of the European Federation of Corrosion presented Prof. Ingrid Milošev with the 2025 European Corrosion Medal. The European Corrosion Medal recognizes “achievements by an individual working in corrosion research and development within academia and/or industry targeted at furtherance of fundamental knowledge, innovation, and/or best practices underpinning the sound application of corrosion science, technology, and/or engineering in the widest sense.” The award consists of a bronze medal, a diploma, and a sum of 1000 Euros. The laureate is invited to give a lecture related to the work for which the medal was awarded.
In Memoriam ...
Digby D. Macdonald (1943–2025)
Digby Macdonald passed away on June 11, 2025, at the age of 81. A native New Zealander, Digby earned his BSc and MSc in Chemistry from the University of Aukland, New Zealand, and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Calgary in Canada. He held several positions in his career, starting as Assistant Research Officer at the Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., from 1969 to 1972. He was at SRI International, Menlo Park, California, from 1984 to 1991 and 1998 to 1999. Digby’s academic positions included Lecturer in Chemistry, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, from 1972 to 1975, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of the Fontana Corrosion Center at The Ohio State University from 1979 to 1984, and Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University from 1991 to 2012, where he retired as an emeritus professor. His final appointment was as Professor in Residence, Departments of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley.
Digby published more than 600 papers and received many awards for his work, including the following awards from ECS: Carl Wagner Memorial Award in 1991, Fellow of The Electrochemical Society in 1995, Corrosion Division H. H. Uhlig Award in 2001, and the Olin Palladium Award in 2015. Other awards include the W. B. Lewis Memorial Lecture by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in 1993, recognizing his pivotal contributions to the development of nuclear power; the U. R. Evans Award, the highest honor in corrosion science from the UK’s Institute of Corrosion, in 2003; the Faraday Memorial Trust Gold Medal from the Michael Faraday Memorial Private Trust in 2012; the Gibbs Award from the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam in 2013; the 2014 Frumkin Memorial Medal from the International Society of Electrochemistry; the Ad Augusta Award from the Auckland Grammar School; the Khwarizmi
Prof. Milošev is the Head and Chief Scientist of the Department of Physical and Organic Chemistry at the Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her more than 234 original scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals have received >12,500 citations (Google Scholar) and she has an h-index of 57 (Scopus). Her editorial appointments include associate editor of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society and of ECS Advances. She is the vice president of the ECS Europe Section.
Laureate in Fundamental Science from Iran; Docteur Honoris CausaINSA Lyon; and De Tao Master from China. In addition to ECS, he was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Society of New Zealand, NACE-International, and ASM International. In 1981, while at Ohio State University, he published two papers in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society with his graduate students C. Y. Chao and L.-F. Lin, laying out the foundations of the point defect model (PDM) for which Digby is best known. He went on to publish 154 more papers on the PDM, including another paper in JES in 1992 that has garnered almost 1400 citations. The first 1981 paper, with Chao as the lead author, described the PDM and applied it to passivity and passive film growth. A search of Web of Science indicates over 1000 papers with the topic of “point defect model.” The PDM applies Kroger-Vink terminology and the approaches of high temperature oxidation to passive film formation. Digby always argued that the high field model, which is commonly used to describe passive film growth, did not apply because a high field would cause dielectric breakdown of the thin passive film. In his view, the passive film field strength verged on but did not exceed the conditions for dielectric breakdown. Therefore, he could apply linear transport equations for cation vacancies. By setting up the reactions at the film/ metal and film/electrolyte interfaces and assuming that the potential drop at the film/solution interface was linearly dependent on potential and pH but independent of film thickness, the PDM predicts direct logarithmic film growth. This represented a significant advance because the high field model predicts inverse logarithmic film growth, whereas experimental data align better with direct logarithmic film growth.
The second 1992 paper with L.-F. Lin as the first author addresses passive film breakdown. It is assumed that a void will form at the metal/film interface if the rate of hole production from the arrival of cation vacancies exceeds the rate of submergence of vacancies into the metal bulk, and when the void reaches a critical size, the passive film will collapse locally, forming a pit. The filling of anion vacancies at the film/solution interface by chloride ions leads to an increase in cation vacancy concentration and thus cation vacancy flux across the film, thereby promoting film breakdown.
Small changes in the PDM have been implemented over the years, but the fundamentals outlined in these two papers remain its foundation. One advantage of the PDM is that it provides analytical equations that can be used to predict passive film behavior and damage, allowing its application to a wide range of applications in corrosion science.
Digby was extremely gregarious with a ready smile and chuckle. He enjoyed food and drink, but nothing more than a challenging
technical discussion during which he would make use of his deep understanding of chemistry and physics. He was an avid sailor, having owned several yachts during his lifetime, and was a fan of rugby, which he played in his youth.
He is survived by his wife and technical collaborator Mirna Urquidi-Macdonald and their children Leigh, Matthew, Duncan and Nahline, and five grandchildren.
Contributed by Dr. Gerald Frankel.
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Reports from the Frontier
edited by Scott Cushing, Interface Contributing Editor
This feature is intended to let ECS award-winning students and post-docs write primary author perspectives on their field, their work, and where they believe things are going. This month we highlight the work of Eric M. Fell, recipient of the 2024 ECS Battery Division Student Research Award.
To Understand Flow Battery Redox-Active Stability, Leverage (Electro)Chemical Kinetics
by Eric M. Fell and Michael J. Aziz
Global warming—and its anthropogenic origin—is now common school curriculum in science-accepting nations. The imperative for rapid decarbonization of the fossil fuel–powered energy sector has led to rapid growth in renewable energy technology deployment across the globe. An industry-defining “However,” is the reality that the sun does not always shine and the wind does not always blow—renewables are intermittent. Modern society demands nonzero power at all times. Enter large-scale long-duration energy storage, capable of alleviating intermittency issues by storing energy at peak electricity production (ample sun and wind) and discharging during times of electricity demand. Geographically unconstrained energy storage systems like lithium-ion batteries have experienced significant recent deployment, most ardently for electric vehicles but also for grid energy storage at discharge durations up to roughly 8–10 hours. However, the required 12+ hour long-duration energy storage needed for a reliable, increasingly renewables-heavy electricity mix requires alternative technologies that scale more cost-effectively 1 Redox flow batteries (RFB) constitute one such technology.2,3 Employing redox-active species dissolved in electrolytes that are pumped from external tanks into electrochemical stacks, RFBs allow for decoupled energy (electrolyte volume) and power (stack size) capacities. A growing interest in alternative chemistries to replace the incumbent vanadium-based RFB design—the deployment of which may be hindered by mining constraints and uneconomic vanadium extraction—stems from the vast library of synthetically accessible redox-active organic molecules (RAOMs). Redox potential, (electro) chemical stability, aqueous solubility, and electrochemical kinetics can all be tuned synthetically for candidate molecules for use in aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFBs).4,5 As research and commercial focus shifts toward the exploration of aqueous RAOMs, the inherent tendency of organic molecules to degrade over time—a marked change compared to the incumbent, molecularly stable vanadium—warrants increased scrutiny of molecular stability to enable improvements in AORFB performance. The cost per kWh of energy storage capacity for systems with high energy:power ratios is dominated by the cost of electrolyte materials—and RAOM lifetime often dictates total electrolyte cost for decadal long-duration energy storage.6–9
High-Throughput Characterization of Battery Active Material
Quantifying degradation mechanisms that lead to capacity fade in AORFBs is needed to guide tailored improvements for individual chemistries. Work by Goulet and Aziz introduced the volumetrically unbalanced compositionally symmetric cell (same redox couple on both sides of the RFB) as a tool to interrogate the lifetime of a single RAOM of interest.10 They showed that the temporal capacity fade rate can be dependent on the state of charge (SOC) (i.e., the reduced or oxidized state of a RAOM may be more stable than the other), and suggested that molecular lifetime is dominated by chemical rather than electrochemical mechanisms. Therefore, when assessing electrolyte calendar stability, accurate characterization of capacity fade—and the ability to fully access available capacity across all states of charge— is critical to predicting decadal operation of AORFBs.
Necessitated by the exceedingly large library of RAOMs that are potential candidates for AORFBs, we developed a high-throughput setup for battery cycling. This setup not only provided benchmark datasets of capacity fade rates across commercial RAOMs, but also enabled comparison of common electrochemical cycling protocols used in battery cycling.11 Key findings gleaned from this work included the drastic change in accessible capacity during galvanostatic cycling that can occur due to small fluctuations in lab temperature (and thus ohmic overpotentials)—exacerbated at high applied current densities and/or high cell area-specific resistance. Utilizing cycling protocols that end with a voltage hold (CCCV or potentiostatic) ensured that total accessed capacity was unaffected by temperature fluctuations.
A consequential result from cycling many nominally identical AORFBs simultaneously was the display of capacity fade as a function of battery cycling protocol. Previous work suggested that temporal capacity fade rates of RAOMs that demonstrate first-order degradation mechanisms should be agnostic to applied current densities, but capacity fade rates for higher order mechanisms should differ as a function of current density during the constant-current section of CCCV cycling.12 Because RAOM loss rates can be SOCdependent—and the fraction of cycle time spent in a given SOC range is dependent on the current density of a CCCV cycling protocol—
Fig. 1. Constant current constant voltage (CCCV) cycling of nominally identical AORFB symmetric cells. All cells began with 10 potentiostatic cycles to access full capacity, before switching to CCCV cycling. Semi-log plots of (a) temporal discharge capacity; (b) cycle-based discharge capacity; and (c) temporal discharge capacity normalized by the first discharge capacity. (d) Temporal coulombic efficiency, with every other cycle plotted for clarity. Instantaneous capacity fade rates during CCCV cycling as functions of (e) applied cell current density; and (f) cell ohmic overpotential. Cycle-based capacity fade rates during CCCV cycling as functions of (g) applied cell current density; and (h) cell ohmic overpotential. Adapted from Ref. 11.
varying current densities in cycling protocols can induce different fade rates. This effect was demonstrated for an aqueous RAOM that decomposes partially due to bimolecular disproportionation,13 as seen in Fig. 1.
Accelerated Lifetime Testing
cycling of AORFBs. Capacity fade rates of aqueous RAOMs as functions of temperature were evaluated, with multiple chemistries demonstrating Arrhenius-like behavior in temporal capacity fade rates.18 This quantitative demonstration of the effect of temperature on capacity fade rates in AORFBs motivates accelerated lifetime testing to expedite the screening process of candidate molecules for long-lifetime RFBs, as seen in Fig. 2. This result should be readily verifiable across numerous previously demonstrated unstable RFB redox actives for both aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes, as rapidly degrading chemistries best enable high-throughput screening.
Promoting rapid degradation to increase capacity fade rates of very stable RAOMs5,14,15 could expedite screening of the innumerable AORFB candidates. Motivated by the work of Dahn and coworkers in the use of high-precision coulometry16 and accelerated lifetime testing,17 the high-throughput setup also enabled elevated-temperature (continued on next page)
Fig. 2. Potentiostatic cycling of nominally identical AORFB symmetric cells of 1,8-dihydroxy-2,7-dicarboxymethyl-9,10-anthraquinone (DCDHAQ19) heated at various temperatures. (a) Semi-log plot of temporal discharge capacity normalized by the first discharge capacity; (b) Instantaneous capacity fade rates as functions of temperature; and (c) Arrhenius plot with dashed line of best fit. Adapted from Ref. 18.
Electrochemical Cycling Protocols Can Dictate Capacity Fade
As Mother Nature controls a given chemical reaction mechanism according to rate laws, orders, and constants, a battery operator can potentially turn reaction mechanisms on and off via charging or discharging an AORFB. Many complex, coupled (electro) chemical reactions have been demonstrated in redox systems.20 It is anticipated that through selection of unique battery cycling protocols, different capacity fade–dependent trajectories could be traversed. The variety of specific use cases of RFBs (e.g., renewable-energy profiles) motivate further exploration of the coupling of degradation mechanisms and cycling protocols.
Through the development of open-source software employing zero-dimensional modeling to simulate electrochemical cycling of RFBs,21 our work demonstrates that, in an operating AORFB, molecular lifetime is coupled to the user-defined battery-cycling protocol (e.g., constant-current, constant-voltage, etc.) due to (electro) chemical degradation(s) inherent in a given RAOM. Examples we have explored include the effects on measured capacity fade of chemical degradation, self-discharge, dimerization, and membrane crossover.21–23 As is often the case, confounding experimental results have stimulated the development of theoretical models to better Fell and Aziz
understand AORFBs. However, this work also highlights that the combination of user-defined electrochemical cycling protocols and degradation mechanisms can result in diverse capacity fade rates and trajectories in an AORFB. With this software, we have—for better or worse—provided a roadmap to demonstrating artificially high RAOM stability by (in)judicious selection of cycling protocols.
Perspective and Outlook
Development of novel redox-active molecules suitable for AORFB applications continues with breathtaking speed. The possible molecular templates are virtually innumerable, and so it should come as no surprise that synthesis of new redox-active molecules has kept apace. However, while the down selection of chemistries—in silico or in the lab—on the merit basis of amenable solubility or redox potential is low-hanging fruit, the uptake of long-term stability testing of RAOMs has been less than swift. Furthermore, the use of temperature to accelerate degradation mechanisms is still relatively underexplored in the AORFB field. New chemistries are often still being evaluated via purely galvanostatic cycling techniques. The repeatably demonstrated result10,11,18 that cell voltage during constant current cycling is affected by fluctuations in cell resistance, drastically altering accessible battery capacity, is gaining traction too slowly, wasting many person-years of effort. The institution
of active electrolyte temperature control as a standard operating procedure in RAOM lifetime studies would also greatly accelerate the advance of our understanding of this topic. Finally, we underscore that zero-dimensional modeling is a relatively simple but powerful tool for untangling the multiple reactions and fluxes in AORFBs and provides a readily verifiable capacity fade trajectory inherent to the mechanism(s) behind observed cycling behavior.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge support from the US DOE award DEAC05-76RL01830 through PNNL subcontracts 535264 & 654799.
Eric M. Fell, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Education: BS in Chemistry (Simon Fraser University), SM and PhD in Engineering from Harvard University under Prof. Michael Aziz. Work Experience: Electrochemical science research director at Ionomr Innovations, 2024 (current affiliation). Postdoc in electrochemical engineering at Harvard University, 2024. Research Interests: Electrochemical energy storage, Electrolysis, CO2 capture.
Work Experience: Past appointments include Dept. of Energy
EERE Postdoctoral Fellow, Prof. Stephen Leone Group University of California, Berkeley with a Co-Appointment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Currently Senior Research Advisor for Pacific Integrated (PI) Energy, San Diego, CA.
Awards: 2022 Cottrell Scholar, 2022 Shirley Malcom Prize for Excellence in Mentoring, 2019–2021 Young Investigator awards for DOE, AFOSR, ACS, and Rose Hill Foundation.
Work with ECS: ETD Division: assist with organizing and chairing symposium. Member for >15 years.
1. P. Albertus, J. S. Manser, S. Litzelman, Joule, 4, 21 (2020)
2. Y. V.Tolmachev, JES, 170, 030505 (2023).
3. C. Roth, J. Noack and M. Skyllas-Kazacos, Eds, Flow Batteries: From Fundamentals to Applications Wiley-VCH, Weinheim (2023).
4. J. Winsberg, T. Hagemann, T. Janoschka, M. D. Hager, et al., Angew Chem, Int Ed, 56, 686 (2017).
5. D. G. Kwabi, Y. Ji and M. J. Aziz, Chem Rev, 120, 6467 (2020).
6. R. Dmello, J. D. Milshtein, F. R. Brushett and K. C. Smith, J Power Sources 330, 261 (2016).
7. F. R. Brushett, M. J. Aziz, and K. E. Rodby, ACS Energy Lett, 5, 879 (2020).
8. K. E. Rodby, M. L. Perry, and F. R. Brushett, J Power Sources, 506, 230085 (2021).
Work with ECS: Co-founder of Harvard ECS student chapter. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2046-1480
Michael J. Aziz, Gene and Tracy Sykes
Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Education: BS from Caltech, SM and PhD from Harvard, all in Applied Physics
Research Interests: His recent research interests involve electrochemistry for a sustainable economy in topics such as stationary energy storage, hydrogen storage, CO2 capture, and green manufacturing; through these programs he has cofounded startup companies Quino Energy and Adiabatic Materials.
Publications: Over 350 peer-reviewed publications; h-index of 82; over 100 invited talks and lectures.
Awards: 2019 Energy Frontiers Prize from Eni; 2016 Bruce Chalmers Award from TMS; fellow of MRS, APS, and AAAS.
9. T. D. Gregory, M. L. Perry and P. Albertus, J Power Sources, 499, 229965 (2021).
10. M.-A. Goulet and M. J. Aziz, JES, 165, A1466 (2018).
11. E. M. Fell and M. J. Aziz, JES, 170, 100507 (2023).
12. S. Modak and D. G. Kwabi, JES, 168, 080528 (2021).
13. Y. Jing, E. W. Zhao, M.-A. Goulet, M. Bahari, et al., Nat Chem, 14, 1103 (2022).
14. M. Wu, Y. Jing, A. A. Wong, E. M. Fell, et al., Chem, 6,1432 (2020).
15. J. Xu, S. Pang, X. Wang, P. Wang, et al., Joule, 5, 2437 (2021).
16. D. A. Stevens, R. Y. Ying, R. Fathi, J. N. Reimers, et al., JES, 161, A1364 (2014).
17. T. Taskovic, A. Eldesoky, W. Song, M. Bauer, et al., JES, 169, 040538 (2022).
18. E. M. Fell, T. Y. George, Y. Jing, R. G. Gordon, et al., JES, 171, 040501 (2024).
19. M. Wu, M. Bahari, E. M. Fell, R. G. Gordon, et al., J Mater Chem A, 9, 26709 (2021).
Scott Cushing, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Caltech
Education: BS in Physics, emphasis in Material Science and Chemistry and PhD in Physics, under Nick Wu and Alan Bristow (West Virginia University).
Research Interests: With a multidisciplinary background spanning Chemistry, Materials Science, and Physics, his research focuses on the creation of new scientific instrumentation that can translate quantum phenomena into practical devices and applications. The Cushing lab is currently pioneering the use of attosecond X-ray, time-resolved TEM-EELS, and ultrafast beams of entangled photons for a range of microscopy and spectroscopy applications.
20. J.-M. Savéant, Elements of Molecular and Biomolecular Electrochemistry: An Electrochemical Approach to Electron Transfer Chemistry, Wiley, Hoboken (2006).
21. E. M. Fell, J. A. Fell and M. J. Aziz, J Open Source Softw, 9, 6537 (2024).
22. E. M. Fell, D. De Porcellinis, Y, Jing, V. Gutierrez-Venegas, et al., JES, 170, 070525 (2023).
23. T. Y. George, E. M. Fell, K. Lee, M. S. Emanuel,, et al., Energy Adv, 3, 2910 (2024).
The Chalkboard
Aqueous Batteries 2.0: A Noble Pursuit or a Fool’s Errand?
by Aashutosh Mistry
Lithium-ion batteries are a shining example of our community’s contribution to the world.1 While the pre-lithium-ion world was dominated by aqueous batteries such as lead-acid, alkaline zinc, and nickel–metal hydride (i.e., Aqueous Batteries 1.0), the switch to nonaqueous electrolytes was critical to expanding the voltage stability window,2 and in turn, enabling high energydensity lithium-ion batteries. Such a leap in energy density was instrumental to new technologies like passenger electric vehicles, smartphones, and powerful laptops. The prominence of lithium-ion research and development over the past decades has (somewhat rightly) lured us away from aqueous batteries. However, in recent years, interest in aqueous batteries has renewed—as a viable technology for storing energy on the grid for long durations—and multiple chemistries such as iron-air and quinone-based flow batteries are being explored (Aqueous Batteries 2.0). At this juncture, an important question for our community is whether we should dedicate sizeable efforts to enabling a new generation of aqueous batteries as opposed to our ongoing pursuit of energy-dense beyond–lithium-ion batteries for hard-to-electrify transportation modes such as aviation.
Energy density has driven much of battery development over the past century. This pursuit reflects in the transition from starter lead-acid batteries supporting combustion-engine cars to lithiumion batteries driving electric vehicles. Similarly, increasing the energy density of batteries was essential to the evolution of bricksized mobile phones to smaller units to larger screen smartphones.3 Since the energy stored in a battery is a combination of its voltage and its charge (also known as capacity in the battery literature), the argument of higher voltage leading to greater energy density was central to battery development over the past couple of decades. Consequently, we shifted away from aqueous electrolyte batteries with the 1.23 V stability window of water to nonaqueous electrolytes offering voltage stability in excess of 4 V. This approach has proven quite fruitful and has resulted in commercial technologies.4 And the ongoing research in lithium metal5 and solid state6 batteries is a continuation of this pursuit of energy-dense batteries.
On the other hand, our transition to more intermittent renewable energy sources7 such as solar and wind, combined with the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events,8 has emphasized the need for low-cost energy storage.9–11 To better contextualize this need, note that while batteries have long been employed to supplement power grids, for example, storing excess electricity from rooftop solar panels, and backup power supply for power outages, these commonplace applications span only a few hours. In contrast, the emerging need is to supply power for durations of 10+ hours (i.e., a charge-discharge cycle for such batteries would range from a day to a few months). Technoeconomic analysis12 suggests that for such an application, the 20-year lifetime cost of the battery storage system (including batteries, supporting technologies like battery management systems, and other operational and maintenance costs) has to be ≲$100/kWh for daily cycling, ≲$30/kWh for weekly cycling, and ≲$5/kWh for monthly cycling. For comparison, the cost of a state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery pack13 is $110/kWh, and is expected to decline to ~$80/kWh over the next decade.14 Thus, lithium-ion batteries are at best suited for daily cycling. And we need cheaper battery chemistries that are suited for emerging long duration energy storage (LDES) applications 15,16
To understand the various factors that contribute to the cost of state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery packs, consider Fig. 1. It is evident that the cell materials are the dominant contribution (~$69
out of $110/kWh) to the battery cost. Aqueous battery proponents often point to the cost of cell materials and argue that cheaper materials will lower the overall battery cost, and outshine state-ofthe-art lithium-ion batteries for LDES. In parallel to this argument for non-flowing batteries, the equivalent flow battery17 argument is driven by the electrolyte cost per unit of stored energy ($/kWh) since for battery systems with very large tanks, the cost is dominated by the electrolytes. (Note that many advocates also side with aqueous batteries for a diversified materials supply chain18 amidst increasing geopolitical concerns. However, there are ongoing nonaqueous battery efforts around similar electrode materials, such as zinc, and aqueous batteries are not the only approach to a diversified battery supply chain.) The counterarguments to the new generation of aqueous batteries are twofold:
1. While various cell materials can lower the battery price, the corresponding reduction in the system-level pricing is not necessarily as pronounced.
2. Many next-generation aqueous batteries (e.g., rechargeable Zn-air), are still not ready for commercial use, and require dedicated research and development.
And it is likely that by the time the next-generation aqueous chemistries mature, ongoing advances will render nonaqueous batteries cost-competitive through a combination of economies of scale4 (i.e., decreased $) and improved energy density (i.e., increased kWh).
Based on these arguments for and against aqueous batteries, it is evident that we should selectively invest research and development efforts in aqueous chemistries that have a system-level economic advantage compared to the nonaqueous batteries of tomorrow. Such a judicious investment offers multiple pathways to achieving the 2050 climate goals as cheaper aqueous and nonaqueous batteries are developed with the cost per unit of energy stored as the metric of progress.
An obvious follow-up question is how to focus research and development efforts on advances that lead to system-level economic advantages. Based on Fig. 1, we can postulate that merely using cheaper electrode materials with minimal price volatility19,20 will not lead to a battery storage system cost.21 In fact, to achieve a meaningful cost per unit of energy stored, we must reimagine nearly
Fig. 1. State-of-the-art lithium-ion battery packs cost $110/kWh.13 Cell materials, additional materials needed to make the modules and packs (referred to as “other materials”), and manufacturing costs are three key contributors to the pack cost. Of the various factors contributing to these categories, the ones that differ for aqueous batteries are quantitatively identified. The numerical values are rounded off to the nearest integer. In batteries, the –ve electrode is typically referred to as an anode, while the +ve electrode is known as the cathode.
every aspect of the battery system through a combination of scientific research and engineering redesign. As a thought experiment, consider aqueous zinc batteries. While alkaline Zn-MnO2 chemistry has long been used as a primary cell,22 recent material advances 23–25 have enabled its reversible counterpart. Interestingly, concurrent advances in lithium-ion battery manufacturing have rendered them cost competitive with rechargeable Zn-MnO2 variants on a $/kWh basis.14,26,27 Hence, we need to further advance aqueous zinc batteries by simultaneously increasing energy density and decreasing cost.
An interesting possibility is an acidic zinc-air battery (sketched in Fig. 2):
• Thermodynamically, in contrast to the zinc electrode in contact with the alkaline electrolyte, which suffers from low solubility of zincate and passivating zinc oxide,28 acidic electrolyte enables a reversible zinc electrodeposition reaction, and offers electrochemically superior zinc anodes.29 Compared to MnO2 cathodes, the acidic air cathode has four distinct advantages (higher thermodynamic voltage, higher theoretical capacity, lower mass, and lower cost) that collectively offer improved energy density and reduced electrode-material costs.
• With the use of a cheaper oxygen electrocatalyst,30,31 an inexpensive anode current collector, and a mass-produced porous carbon current collector on the cathode, we can reduce the current collector and electrode preparation costs considerably compared to those shown in Fig. 1.
• The electrolyte costs can also be minimized with the use of water and mass-produced zinc salts,18 as long as expensive additives are used only in small quantities.
• While ion selective membranes are a sizeable portion of a redox flow battery cost,16,17,32 the cell reactions (Fig. 2) are such that species crossover does not lead to additional unwanted reactions. Hence, the acidic zinc-air cell should function with simple, mass-produced separators, and will likely not introduce the scientific challenge of discovering a new separator material.
• A key disadvantage of acidic Zn-air is the presence of excess protons (H+) near the anode and thermodynamically spontaneous hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) that deteriorates the cell performance. While the literature reports kinetically suppressed HER,33–38 it is not clear if this can be achieved in a cost-competitive fashion. Alternatively, HER may be an acceptable compromise, depending on how many full cycles the battery is expected to undergo over its lifetime, since unlike an automotive lithium-ion battery, a high coulombic efficiency is not an absolute requirement for LDES12 (note that standard Pb-acid batteries require water replenishment to make up for water loss due to hydrogen and oxygen evolution side reactions on the negative and the positive electrodes, respectively39).
• Unlike specialized cell manufacturing conditions, the zincair cell can be assembled under less stringent oxygen and moisture constraints,40 which in turn reduces cell assembly costs.
• It is often claimed that aqueous batteries are significantly safer compared to nonaqueous batteries given nonflammable water-based electrolytes. However, as others have pointed out, 6, 51 the safety of large aqueous batteries has not been assessed, and it can be a concern if the total hydrogen evolution at the pack level is considerable or leakage of toxic and corrosive electrolytes can occur. Combining such safety characteristics with the low heat generation rates of the slow LDES application, the cost of the support systems (e.g., thermal management) and associated materials can be decreased. However, this will have to be judiciously balanced against the cost of the air supply system for large battery packs.41
• Given the widespread use of primary zinc batteries in a variety of forms, their recycling is heavily investigated42–45 and industrial-scale recycling operations46,47 exist. We should be able to leverage this existing infrastructure for the new acidic zinc-air batteries.
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Thus, acidic Zn-air can be a commercially viable battery chemistry for long duration energy storage if its research and development are guided by the aforementioned cost considerations. And a similar optimistic case can be made for a few other aqueous chemistries.
In summary, lithium-ion battery development has foremost been a journey of discovering materials that work well together, and only recently of cost decline due to economies of scale.27 Unfortunately Aqueous Batteries 2.0 cannot follow the same sequential development cycle if they are to be widely deployed by the 2050 deadline, since 2050 is ~25 years away and energy technologies have historically exhibited a ~40-year commercialization timeframe.48 Instead, we must strategically combine past knowledge with the latest tools and techniques, techniques (such as artificial intelligence49 and advanced imaging50) as well as financial and material supply chain trends to create the next generation of aqueous batteries!
Aashutosh Mistry, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineeriing and Faculty Fellow, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines
Education: PhD in Mechanical Engineering Research Interests: Electrochemistry, Irreversible thermodynamics, Transport phenomena, Active interfaces, Technoeconomic analysis, and Energy technologies
Work Experience: Colorado School of Mines since 2023; Argonne National Laboratory 2019 – 2023 Pubs + Patents: 65 peer-reviewed publications, h-index 29, 22 invited talks, 2 ECS Interface articles, 16 articles in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society
Honors & Awards: (Most recently) Inaugural Early Career Board member, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces; Invited speaker, 2025 Oxford Battery Modeling Symposium; Invited speaker, 2025 Telluride Workshop, “Ions in Solution: Biology, Energy, and Environment”
Work with ECS: 9 years of membership, affiliated with the Battery Division; Faculty advisor, Colorado School of Mines ECS Student Chapter since 2023
13. K. Knehr, J. Kubal, and S. Ahmed, Estimated Cost of EV Batteries 2019 - 2024 (accessed 2025-06-14).
14. K. Knehr, J. Kubal, and A. Shabbir, Cost Analysis and Projections for U.S.-Manufactured Automotive Lithium-Ion Batteries; ANL/CSE-24/1187177; Argonne National Laboratory, 2024. (accessed 2024-04-03).
15. E. D. Spoerke, E. S. Takeuchi, J. G. Connell, and S. Tepavcevic, Zinc Batteries Technology Strategy Assessment; DOE/OE-0034; 2023.
Fig. 2. A schematic diagram showing an acidic Zn-air cell with relevant species and reactions. Arrows depict the species motion during discharge.
16. V. Sprenkle, B. Li, L. Zhang, L. A. Robertson et al, Flow Batteries Technology Strategy Assessment; DOE/OE-0033; 2023.
17. R. M. Darling, K. G. Gallagher, J. A. Kowalski, S. Ha et al, Energy Environ Sci, 7(11), 3459 (2014).
18. A. Innocenti, D. Bresser, J. Garche, and S. Passerini, Nat Commun 15(1), 4068 (2024).
33. L. Cao, M. Skyllas-Kazacos, C. Menictas, and J. Noack, J Energy Chem, 27(5), 1269 (2018).
34. C. -C. Kao, C. Ye, J. Hao, J. Shan et al, ACS Nano, 17(4), 3948 (2023).
35. A. Bayaguud, Y. Fu, and C. Zhu, J Energy Chem, 64, 246 (2022).
36. Q. Nian, X. Zhang, Y. Feng, S. Liu et al, ACS Energy Lett, 6(6), 2174 (2021).
WEBINAR SERIES
Looking at Patent Law: : Patenting an Invention for High-Rate Charging and Electrowinning without the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation: A Case
by E. Jennings Taylor and Maria Inman
Study
In this installment of the ‟Looking at Patent Lawˮ articles, we present a case study of a patented invention for a highrate pulse reverse electrodeposition process for battery charging and electrowinning while avoiding the adverse effects of dendrite formation. The subject invention aligns with an important focus of The Electrochemical Society (ECS) on sustainable technologies and with the technical interests of several divisions, including Battery (BATT), Energy Technology (ETD), Electrodeposition (ELDP), Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering (IE&EE), and Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry (PAE). The case illustrates avoiding United States Patent & Trademark (USPTO) rejections with a detailed understanding of the prior art and the nuances between technical obviousness and legal obviousness. In addition, the case provides an example where patent drawings and the corresponding technical manuscript drawing are essentially the same. Further, the case illustrates that claims directed to the same statutory class, in this case ‟methodˮ claims, may still be subjected to an election/restriction requirement. Finally, the case introduces ECS members to an emerging technology of interest to both academia and industry.
Recall from our previous article,1 the prosecution history of a patent application is publicly available in the file wrapper available at the USPTO Patent Center.2 With the USPTO Patent Center system as the primary source of information for this case study, we illustrate the prosecution “events” encountered during the examination of US Patent No. 11,411,258; “Pulse Reverse Current High-Rate Electrodeposition and Charging while Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation.”3 The ‘258 patent issued on August 9, 2022, with inventors E. Jennings Taylor, Maria E. Inman, Timothy D. Hall, and Danny Xin Liu. The inventors consist of a team of researchers from Faraday Technology, Inc, an electrochemical R&D company focused on developing innovations based on pulse/ pulse reverse electrolytic principles.4 The company commercializes its electrochemical inventions via licensing or selling the associated patents to strategic partners/customers.5 The patented invention that is the focus of this article is assigned to Faraday Technology, Inc.
The high-rate electrodeposition technology associated with the ‘258 patent was developed with Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding from the US Air Force, Air Force Research Labs (AFRL), Wright Research Site. The subject invention is directed toward a pulse reverse current electrochemical method for high-rate electrodeposition, including battery charging and electrowinning, while avoiding the adverse effects of dendrite formation. The
technology was described in a recent perspectives article in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.6 The high-rate pulse reverse current electrodeposition sequence is depicted in Fig. 1. The article figure and corresponding patent figure are discussed further herein. The ‘258 patent abstract generally describes the invention as follows:
“The problem of high rate electrodeposition of metals such as copper during electrowinning operations or high rate charging of lithium or zinc electrodes for rechargeable battery applications while avoiding the adverse effects of dendrite formation such as causing short-circuiting and/or poor deposit morphology is solved by pulse reverse current electrodeposition or charging whereby the forward cathodic (electrodeposition or charging) pulse current is “tuned” to minimize dendrite formation for example by creating a smaller pulsating boundary layer and thereby minimizing mass transport effects leading to surface asperities and the subsequent reverse anodic (electropolishing) pulse current is “tuned” to eliminate the micro- and macro- asperities leading to dendrites.”
Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated technical problems and benefit summaries of the ‘258 patent using OpenAI (ChatGPT)7 are: (continued on next page)
Taylor and Inman
(continued from previous page)
Technical Problem Summary
Figure 1. Schematic representation of sequential “micro-profile” and “macroprofile” waveform for high-rate charging or electrowinning. (from E. Jennings Taylor 2024 J. Electrochem. Soc. 171 083503)
“The widespread adoption of lithium-ion batteries across consumer, industrial, military, and automotive sectors is limited by the challenge of enabling fast charging while preventing dendrite formation, which poses serious risks to battery safety, performance, and lifespan. Dendrites—needle-like or fractal metallic structures—form during high-rate electrodeposition, especially as current densities approach the limiting current. Their formation is inherently stochastic and difficult to eliminate, even with advanced techniques like electrolyte additives or porous electrodes. Additive-based approaches used in conventional electroplating are unsuitable for sealed lithium batteries due to replenishment impracticalities and incomplete suppression of dendrite growth.
Despite over five decades of research, a mechanistic understanding of dendrite nucleation and growth remains incomplete, particularly in distinguishing between lithium whiskers (at lower current densities) and dendrites (at higher current densities). This uncertainty further hampers the development of universally effective mitigation strategies. Porous substrates offer promise by distributing charge and confining deposits internally but fail to prevent dendritic growth at exposed surfaces.
Therefore, a key technical problem is to develop an effective, additive-free, scalable method to suppress or eliminate dendrite formation during high-rate charging of lithium (and similar) batteries, and during metal electrowinning—without compromising efficiency or manufacturability.”
Benefit Summary
“The disclosed invention offers a transformative advancement in high-rate electrodeposition technology for both metal electrowinning and secondary battery charging (particularly lithium and zinc systems). By employing additive-free pulse reverse electrolysis—a method proven in prior metal plating applications—this technology effectively suppresses dendrite formation, which is a major limitation in current highperformance energy storage and metal extraction systems.
Key benefits include:
• Enhanced Safety and Reliability: Suppression and elimination of dendrite formation reduces the risk of short circuits and thermal runaway in lithium batteries, significantly improving safety.
• Faster Charging without Degradation: Enables highrate charging by controlling and removing surface asperities before they can evolve into dendrites, without compromising electrode integrity or cycle life.
• Additive-Free Operation: Eliminates the need for replenishable chemical additives, making the system more suitable for sealed battery applications and reducing environmental and maintenance burdens in industrial processes.
• Scalability and Versatility: Applicable to both battery systems and metal electrowinning operations, with tunable process parameters adaptable to a wide range of metals and charging scenarios.
• Cost Reduction: Supports economically viable battery technologies (e.g., <$150/kWh lithium-ion cells) and more efficient metal extraction, contributing to overall lower system costs in energy and resource sectors.
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of sequential “micro-profile” and “macroprofile” waveform for high-rate charging or electrowinning. From E. J. Taylor, J Electrochem Soc, 171 083503 (2024).
• Improved Electrode Morphology: By precisely sequencing and tuning deposition and polishing pulses, both micro- and macro-asperities are mitigated, resulting in smoother, more uniform deposits and longer-lasting electrodes.
Overall, this invention provides a robust, flexible, and costeffective approach to high-rate electrochemical systems unlocking performance gains critical to next-generation batteries, sustainable resource extraction, and advanced defense and aerospace technologies.”
Patent Applications
This article summarizes the prosecution history of U.S. Utility Patent Application No. 16/560,172 leading to U.S. Patent No. 11,411,258. In Table I, we list the patent applications related to Patent Application No. 16/560,258. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/727,105 was filed on Sept. 5, 2018. Recall, claims are not required in a provisional patent application8 and a provisional patent application expires one year from its filing date.9 The inventor team used the provisional patent application as a placeholder while additional experimental activities progressed and were captured in subsequent patent applications. US Utility Patent Application No.16/560,172 was filed on Sept. 4, 2019, within one year of the original provisional patent application, and therefore has a priority date of Sept. 5, 2018. US Utility Patent Application No. 16/560,172 issued as US Patent No. 11,411,258 on Aug. 9, 2022. US Utility Patent Application No. 17/852,444 was filed as a division of 16/560,172 on June 9, 2022. The divisional patent application met the requirement that it must be filed during the pendency (i.e., prior to the issuance of the parent application).9 The divisional patent application issued as US Patent No. 11,527,782 on December 13, 2022. The ‘258 and ‘782 patents have the priority date of the original provisional patent application, Sept. 5, 2018.
Field and Detailed Description of the Invention
The “FIELD OF THE INVENTION” for the ‘258 patent states “The subject invention relates to high-rate electrodeposition processes such as electrowinning in general and to high rate charging of batteries in particular.”
Several figures from the “DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION” illustrate the subject invention. In Fig. 2, we reproduce Figure 6 with its description from the ‘258 patent:
Table I. Patents/Patent Applications Associated with the ‘258 US Patent.
US Provisional Patent Application
US Utility Patent Application
62/727,105 N/A Pulse Reverse Current High-Rate Electrodeposition and Charging while Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation
16/560,172 11,411,258 Pulse Reverse Current High-Rate Electrodeposition and Charging while Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation
US Utility Patent Application 17/852,444 (Division of 16/560,172) 11,527,782 Pulse Reverse Current High-Rate Electrodeposition and Charging while Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation
“…we anticipate that during the timescales desired for long cycle life lithium batteries, we anticipate the lithium surface may contain both whiskers (nascent dendrites) and growing dendrites. Consequently, we may find it desirable to sequence and loop the pulse reverse electrodeposition and charging waveforms between microprofile and macroprofile parameters as illustrated in Fig. 6.”
Fig. 2 is the patent drawing equivalent of the technical figure illustration in Fig. 1. The USPTO has specific requirements for patent drawings. If these requirements are not followed, the patent application is rejected. Patent drawings are reviewed by the Office of Patent Application Processing (OPAP) during preliminary examination. Drawings not in compliance will not be in the examination queue until corrected patent drawings are submitted. This patent drawing (Fig. 2) is surprisingly like the technical manuscript illustration (Fig. 1), except that it is in black/white instead of color. The USPTO guidelines generally specify black and white drawings.10 Color patent drawings may be used in special cases where color is11
“…the only practical medium by which to disclose the subject matter to be patented…”
Generally, reference numbers are required in patent drawings to distinctly point out key elements of the invention which generally appear in the claims. Elements of the invention which appear in more than one patent drawing must use the same reference number.12,13 In this case, the addition of concise text in the patent drawing itself replaced the need for elements reference numbers. While we have
Sept. 05, 2018 Expired
Sept. 04, 2019 Issued Aug. 09, 2022
Jun. 09, 2022 Issued Dec. 13, 2022
reviewed some patent drawing requirements, there are numerous other requirements, and we recommend consultation with a qualified draftsman or patent attorney/patent agent for preparation of patent drawings.14
The patent application included two independent claims and four dependent claims. Independent Claims 1 and 4 are reproduced herein.
1. A method of charging a battery, the method comprising:
a. applying a microprofile charge to the battery including: i. forward cathodic pulses to deposit metal on the battery anode, and
ii. between selected successive forward cathodic pulses, applying one or more reverse anodic pulses to polish the battery anode, and
iii. subsequent to the application of the microprofile charge to the battery,
b. applying a macroprofile charge to the battery including: i. forward cathodic pulses to deposit metal on the battery anode, and
ii. between selected successive forward cathodic pulses, applying one or more reverse anodic pulses to polish the battery anode, and
c. said microprofile charge and macroprofile charge applied sequentially.
4. A method of electrowinning a metal, the method comprising:
a. applying a microprofile charge to the electrowinning cell including:
Figure 2. Illustration of sequential “micro-profile” and “macro-profile” waveform for high-rate charging or electrowinning from the ‘258 patent.
Fig. 2. Illustration of sequential “micro-profile” and “macro-profile” waveform for high-rate charging or electrowinning from the ‘258 patent.
i. forward cathodic pulses to deposit metal on the electrowinning cathode, and
ii. between selected successive forward cathodic pulses, applying one or more reverse anodic pulses to polish the electrowinning cathode, and
iii. subsequent to the application of the microprofile charge to the electrowinning cell,
b. applying a macroprofile charge to the electrowinning cell including:
i. forward cathodic pulses to deposit metal on the electrowinning cathode, and
ii. between selected successive forward cathodic pulses, applying one or more reverse anodic pulses to polish the electrowinning cathode, and
c. said microprofile charge and macroprofile charge applied to the electrowinning cell sequentially.
The independent claims are essentially the same, apart from claim 1 and claim 4 being directed to charging a battery and electrowinning a metal, respectively. For both battery charging and electrowinning, cathodic pulses are employed for electrodeposition and anodic pulses are employed to polish the surface and remove dendrites. Microprofile and macroprofile waveforms are applied sequentially to remove nascent and growing dendrites, respectively. Term definition
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is very important and not always straightforward.15 These inventors explicitly defined terms in the specification to remove ambiguity. In addition to the specification, the applicant submitted the filing fee and inventor declarations with the patent application.16 The declaration included an assertion by the inventors stating,
“The above-identified application was made or authorized to be made by me. I believe that I am the original inventor or an original joint inventor of a claimed invention in the application.”
The declaration included an acknowledgement that the inventors were aware of the penalties for a false statement,17
“I hereby acknowledge that any willful false statement made in this declaration is punishable under 18 U.S.C. 1001 by fine or imprisonment of not more than five (5) years, or both.”
Importantly, the “named inventor” must be correctly represented on a US patent application.18 Specifically, inclusion of a colleague as a co-inventor who did not participate in the conception of the invention is known as a misjoinder and may invalidate an otherwise valid patent. Similarly, the exclusion of a co-inventor who participated in the conception is known as a nonjoinder and may invalidate an otherwise valid patent. If an inventor is erroneously omitted or erroneously included as an inventor, the misjoinder/nonjoinder may be corrected and the patent remains valid.19
Establishing and Maintaining a Filing Date
To establish a filing date, a utility patent application must include 1) Specification20
“…a written description of the invention, and the manner and process for making it…to enable any person skilled in the art… to make and use [the invention] …”
2) Minimum of one claim21
“…particularly pointing out…the subject matter…as the invention…”
3) Drawings22
“…where necessary for understanding the subject matter…to be patented…”
To maintain the filing date, the following additional criteria are required
1) Filing fee in accordance with the current USPTO fee schedule23
2) Inventor oath or declaration asserting24
a. The patent application was authorized by the inventor(s),
b. The inventor(s) believe he/she is the original inventor, or they are the original joint inventors.
The patent application was filed on September 4, 2019. As summarized above, the specification included a background and summary of the invention describing various embodiments of the invention; claims directed toward the invention; drawings illustrating the “elements” of the subject invention; the filing fee; and the inventor oath.
March-in Rights
The work leading to the high-rate electrodeposition invention was supported with funding from the USAF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The Bayh-Dole Act stipulates that an invention made with government funding include a government rights statement.25 The subsequently issued patent included the following statement
“This invention was made with Government support under Contract FA8650-19-P-2024 awarded by USAF/AFMC, AFRL Wright Research Site. The government may have certain rights in the invention.”
Regarding march-in rights, a key policy objective of the BayhDole Act is26
“…to ensure that the Government obtains sufficient rights in federally supported inventions to meet the needs of the Government and protect the public against nonuse or unreasonable use of inventions…”
To our knowledge, the government has never exercised BayhDole march-in rights in any invention.
Inventor Assignment and Power of Attorney
The inventors were employed by Faraday Technology, Inc. at the time of the invention. Consequently, the patent application was assigned to Faraday Technology.
The patent application included a statement that the applicant appointed patent attorneys/agents from Iandorio, Teska & Coleman, LLP to prosecute the patent application at the USPTO.
Information Disclosure Statement
The applicants submitted an “Information Disclosure Statement” (IDS) to the USPTO after filing the patent application and prior to the first office action addressing patentability. The IDS included prior art references, including those of the inventors as required by the “Duty of Candor.” The “Duty of Candor” requires that the inventor(s) submit an IDS within a reasonable time of submission of the patent application disclosing27
“…to the Office [USPTO] all information known to that individual to be material to patentability…”
The “Duty of Candor” is specific to any existing claim and requires that the IDS be continually updated while the claim is pending. The “Duty of Candor” ceases only when the claim is allowed, and the patent issue fee is paid.
The “Duty of Candor” extends to any individual associated with the filing of the patent application including 1) Inventor(s), 2) Patent Counsel, or
3) Persons who are substantially involved in the preparation or prosecution of the patent application.
Substantial involvement in the preparation of the patent application could include technical assistants, collaborators, or colleagues. Substantial involvement would generally not extend to clerical workers. Furthermore, the inclusion of a reference in an IDS28
“…is not taken as an admission that the reference is prior art against the claims.”
If a finding of a violation of the “Duty of Candor” resulting in “inequitable conduct” regarding any claim in a patent is determined, then all the claims of the subject patent are rendered invalid.29 The Taylor and Inman
Consequently, the initial filing of the patent application and associated documents met the requirements to both establish and to maintain a filing date and thereby avoided being abandoned. On October 21, 2019, the USPTO issued a filing receipt and assigned the patent application number 16/560,172.
applicant is cautioned not to “bury” the examiner with a long list of non-material references in hopes that the examiner will not notice the relevant material references.30 The specific guidance from the USPTO is to31
“…avoid the submission of long lists of documents if it can be avoided…If a long list is submitted, highlight those documents which have been specifically brought to the applicant’s attention and/or are known to be of most significance.”
Publication
The USPTO began publishing patent applications 18 months after their priority date for patent applications filed on or after November 29, 2000. The patent application was published March 5, 2020, as publication number US 2020/0076010. The publication date was 18 months from the priority date of September 5, 2018, associated with the US provisional patent application.
Requirement for Restriction/Election
The patent application contained independent claims 1 and 4, which were directed toward high-rate battery charging and electrowinning, respectively. These embodiments were described in the specification, illustrated in the drawings, and cited in the claims. All the independent and dependent claims were directed toward a single statutory class (i.e., a method/process invention). Despite the single statutory class of invention, the USTPO stated there were two distinct inventions, battery charging and electrowinning. Specifically,
“…the inventions as claimed do not encompass overlapping subject matter and there is nothing of record to show them to be obvious variants.”
Per the patent statute, the USPTO issued a restriction requirement on April 6, 2022, and directed the applicants to elect a single invention for examination.32 After the prosecution of the initial invention is complete, the other inventions can be elected for subsequent examination. The applicants picked the claims associated with the electrowinning embodiment to be prosecuted first.
Office Action
On June 6, 2022, the USPTO issued a notice of allowance stating the examiner’s rationale
“…the closest prior art is the applicant’s own works wherein applying micro-profile and macro-profile charges in sequential order…as well as applying forward cathodic pulses followed by anodic pulses. However, the prior art fails to give a compelling motivation as to why one of ordinary skill in the art would modify these known parameters of applying current in an electrowinning process to make obvious the steps appearing in claim 4.”
The cited art consisted of published patent applications previously filed by Faraday Technology Inc. One of the patent applications described an anodic pulse process for removal of overplated metal layers from integrated circuits.33 The other patent application, which subsequently issued as a patent, described a sequential pulse reverse process for electrodepositing a metal into different size interconnects for printed circuit boards.34
The prior art references contained all the elements of the subject invention: pulse reverse plating, pulse metal removal, and sequential application of the waveforms. However, for prior art references to be combined to support an obviousness rejection, there must be a motivation for a “person having ordinary skill in the art” (PHOSITA) to combine them.35 As stated by the examiner, there was no “motivation to combine,” so the references could not be used to support an obviousness rejection.
It is somewhat unusual for patent applications to be allowed without receiving a non-final rejection from the USPTO. In this case, the sequential pulse reverse electrowinning method was novel and non-obvious even though the inventor’s own prior art contained all the elements of the invention. The applicants were intimately aware of their own prior art and its application to sequenced pulse reverse electrowinning was technically obvious to them. One of the inventors is admitted to the patent bar and appreciates the distinction between technical obviousness and legal obviousness, which requires a PHOSITA to have a motivation to combine the elements from the prior art reference. The inventors understood that they possessed extraordinary skill in the art in contrast to ordinary skill in the art
The inventor’s understanding was confirmed by the examiner’s allowance without a non-final rejection. An important takeaway is that electrochemists and solid-state scientists may solve a technical issue that is obvious to them and assume the solution is not patentable. However, a patent practitioner should be consulted as the technically obvious solution may not be legally obvious.
The applicants paid the issue fee, and the patent application issued as US Patent No. 11,411,258 on August 9, 2022.
As indicated previously in Table I, a divisional patent application 17/852,444 was filed on June 9, 2022 (prior to the issue of the parent application). The ‘444 patent application was directed toward highrate battery charging as detailed in Claim 1 above. On October 21, 2022, the USPTO issued a notice of allowance citing one prior art reference.36 The examiner’s rationale for allowance is that the cited prior art
“…teaches applying varied pulsed current techniques including reverse current inversion to reduce dendrite formation in charging and discharging of a battery… but the prior art fails to claim sufficiently teach the steps required by the limitations of claim 1.”
This patent application was also allowed without receiving a non-final rejection from the USPTO. In this case, the sequential pulse reverse battery charging method was novel and non-obvious considering prior art.
During the applicant’s review of the high-rate battery charging literature, they noted that many efforts focused on battery electrolyte additives, analogous to the brighteners, levelers, and the like used for plating. Since the applicants had considerable experience with developing plating processes utilizing pulse reverse waveforms in lieu of electrolyte additives, they were confident that their plating knowledge could be applied to high-rate battery charging. In addition, while the applicants had noted some pulse charging and pulse reverse charging reports in the literature, the known prior art did not enable or teach the macroprofile and microprofile waveforms included in the subject invention. The applicant’s understanding that the prior art had not considered sequenced pulse reverse battery charging was confirmed by the examiner’s allowance without a non-final rejection.
The applicants paid the issue fee and the patent application and issued as US Patent No. 11,527,782 on Dec. 13, 2022.
Summary
In this installment of the “Looking at Patent Law” articles, we present a case study of a patented invention for high-rate pulse reverse electrodeposition for battery charging and electrowinning while avoiding the adverse effects of dendrite formation, “Pulse Reverse Current High-Rate Electrodeposition and Charging while Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation.” The ‘258 and ’444 patents were issued on August 9, 2022, and October 21, 2022, respectively, with inventors E. Jennings Taylor, Maria E. Inman, Timothy D. Hall, and Danny Xin Liu. The inventors consist of a team of researchers from Faraday Technology, Inc, an electrochemical R&D company focused on developing innovative technologies based on pulse/pulse reverse electrolytic principles. The case study begins with a brief synopsis of the background of the invention followed by 1) summary of a drawing and the specification of the invention, 2) inventor assignment and (continued on next page)
Taylor and Inman
(continued from previous page)
power of attorney designations, 3) march-in rights for governmentsponsored research, 4) submission of the Invention Disclosure Statement (IDS) and associated Duty of Candor, and 5) summary of the notice of allowance without a non-final office action rejecting the patent application for novelty and/or obviousness. The case illustrates avoiding USPTO rejections with a detailed understanding of the prior art and the nuances between technical and legal obviousness. Specifically, the inventors understood that an obviousness rejection based on multiple prior art references required a motivation to combine by a person having ordinary skill in the art. In contrast, the inventors possessed extraordinary skill in the art. An important takeaway is that electrochemists and solid-state scientists may solve a technical issue that is obvious to them and assume the solution is not patentable. However, a patent practitioner should be consulted as the technically obvious solution may not be legally obvious. In addition, the case illustrates a specific case where patent drawings and the corresponding technical manuscript drawing are essentially the same. Further, the case illustrates that claims directed to the same statutory class, in this case “method” claims, may still be subjected to an election/restriction requirement. Finally, the case introduces ECS members to an emerging technology of interest to both academia and industry. With this case study, we hope to de-mystify the patent prosecution process and better prepare electrochemical and solid-state scientists, engineers and technologists to interact with their patent counsel regarding their inventions.
“An important takeaway is that electrochemists and solid-state scientists may solve a technical issue that is obvious to them and assume the solution is not patentable. However, a patent practitioner should be consulted as the technically obvious solution may not be legally obvious.”
About the Authors
E. Jennings Taylor, Founder of Faraday Technology, Inc.
Research Interest: Founder of Faraday Technology, Inc., a small business focused on developing innovative electrochemical processes and technologies based on pulse and pulse reverse electrolytic principles. Until his recent retirement, Taylor led Faraday’s patent and commercialization strategy and negotiated numerous patents via field-of-use licenses as well as patent sales. He is admitted to practice before the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) in patents cases as a patent agent (Registration No. 53,676). He is a Member of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).
Pubs & Patents: Numerous technical pubs and presentations, inventor on 40 patents.
Work with ECS: Member for 42 years, ECS Fellow.
References
1. E. J. Taylor and M. Inman, Electrochem Soc Interface 26(4), 57 (2017).
2. Patent Center
3. E. J. Taylor et al., “Pulse Reverse Current High Rate Electrodeposition and Charging while Mitigating the Adverse Effects of Dendrite Formation” US Patent No. 11,411,258 issued August 9, 2022.
4. E. Jennings Taylor et. al. in Advances in Electrochemical Science and Engineering, Electrochemical Engineering: The Path from Discovery to Product R.C. Alkire, P.N. Bartlett, M. Koper (Eds.) Chapter 7 (Vol. 18) Wiley-VCH (2018).
Maria Inman, Vice President, Faraday Technology, Inc.
Work Experience: Dr. Inman manages Faraday Technology’s pulse and pulse reverse research project portfolio and business development activities.
Pubs + Patents: >108 publications and 7 patents.
Work with ECS: Member for 27 years, Chair of the IE&EE Division.
35. E. Jennings Taylor et al. “Sequential Electrodeposition of Metals using Modulated Electric Fields for Manufacture of Circuit Boards having features of Different Sizes” US Pat. Pub. No. US2002/0038764, Published April 4, 2002.
36. Virtek Vision International ULC v. Assembly Guidance Systems, INC., DBA Aligned Vision, Nos. 2022-1998, -2022 (Fed. Cir. (PTAB) Mar. 27, 2024).
37. Bernard Bugnet “Oxidatively Pretreated Conductive Ceramic for Zinc Anode” US Pat. Pub. No. US2005/0121655, Published June 9, 2005.
Low Voltage Formation Process for Lithium Ion Battery Cells
During the formation of Li-ion batteries, initial cycles are used to generate protective interphase layers that are important for cell operation. The formation process is an important cost in the production of Li-ion batteries, and reducing the time and energy input for formation is a goal. A team at the University of Münster conducted a study comparing three formation procedures. Two were constant current charges to 4.2 V at 0.05 C and 1 C, respectively. The third was a charge to 3.1 V at 0.05 C followed by a charge to 3.6 V at 0.5 C. This two-stage 3.6 V formation reduced the formation time by 85% and 25% and the overall energy by 82% and 81% compared to the 0.05 C and 1 C methods to 4.2 V. Differential capacity analysis showed that the 0.05 C and 3.6 V methods produced the same additive decomposition peaks in the same proportions and at the same potentials. In addition, the 3.6 V cells showed 3.5% better resistance development over 600 1 C cycles. However, cells using all three formation methods had similar irreversible capacity losses over this period. This demonstrated that formation can be accomplished below 3.6 V, contrary to some reports.
From: C. Clephas, B. Heidrich, et al., J Electrochem Soc, 172, 050504 (2025).
Analysis of Optimal Conditions of Hydrophobic Film Formation by FilmForming Amines on Carbon Steel Film-forming amines (FFA) have recently gained traction for their corrosion protection of carbon steel in applications, such as commercial power plants, with extended periods of water/steam exposure. FFA are known to be hydrophobic, and past research has shown both the adsorption of the amine to the metal surface and the stacking of the amines to influence the corrosion protection provided by the film. Researchers at the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in Japan recently advanced the knowledge base on FFAs through a study examining several types of amines and an amide for their hydrophobicity and corrosion protection of carbon steel. An electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM), for measuring the mass adsorbed onto the steel surface, along with contact angle and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was utilized to develop correlations between mass and electrochemical properties. Laboratory results demonstrated that an amine with a high molecular weight formed a more hydrophobic/corrosion resistant film than either a lower molecular weight amine, a diamine, or an amide. Additional conclusions were drawn around an upper limit for corrosion protection tied to conditions during film formation. Further research could strive to optimize those conditions.
From: N. Ida, J. Tani, and M. Domae, J Electrochem Soc, 172, 041502 (2025).
Quantifying Sources of Voltage Decay in Long Term Durability Testing for PEM Water Electrolysis
To reduce the operational cost of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolyzer, its lifetime needs to be longer than 40,000 hours. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Argonne National Laboratory have tackled the quantification of loss mechanisms and reported their results in the Focus Issue on Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell and Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzer Durability III. They conducted life tests with different catalyst loadings and operating current densities and with steady state as well as dynamic profiles. The voltage loss component from resistive mechanisms was estimated from the high frequency resistance (HFR); Tafel analysis of the HFRfree polarization curve helped with kinetic loss estimation; and EIS analysis helped with estimation of catalyst layer resistance. Microstructural analysis helped quantify the movement of iridium through the membrane and the catalyst layer. The team found that the major contributor to the degradation mechanism was related to the transition of iridium oxide from an amorphous phase to a crystalline phase. Increase in current density and decrease of the anode loading also contributed to increased degradation, while the dynamic condition did not adversely affect the cell performance. The authors explain the methodology they followed in detail. The authors conclude with a call for action to expand the scope of degradation research to enable commercialization of PEM water electrolyzers.
From: E. Padgett, H. Yu, S. J. Blair, et al., J Electrochem Soc, 172, 054508 (2025).
Electrochemical Processes Breaking Strict Phase Electroneutrality in Microemulsions
In biphasic oil-water systems where the working and counter electrodes are in two different phases, ion transfer must accompany electron transfer reactions to maintain electroneutrality within each phase. This rule has been proven to apply to phase dimensions from macro-sized two-phase structures down to micron-sized emulsions. But what if the size becomes much smaller? A clear answer of “no” was provided experimentally in a recent report by researchers from the University of Tennessee and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, both of the USA. The authors used toluene-water-surfactant systems to form different biphasic domain sizes. Rubrene, an extremely hydrophobic molecule, was used as the redox active species to ensure that it stayed only in toluene at both of its redox states; while NaOH, which can only stay in water, was the only electrolyte. As expected, no oxidation of rubrene could be realized with micron-sized emulsions because of the
phase electroneutrality restriction. However, when nanometer-sized microemulsions were formed, oxidation current of rubrene was observed clearly from cyclic voltammetry–indicating the “breaking” of the phase neutrality rule. Further research is being conducted to elucidate the mechanism of local electroneutrality maintenance.
From: B. Barth, A. Imel, and T. Zawodzinski, J Electrochem Soc, 172, 056501 (2025).
High
Charge Transfer and Power Density Performance of CNT/PANI@Ag Nanocomposites for Long- Term Flexible Supercapacitor Applications
The growing demand for flexible, highperformance energy storage in portable electronics and internet of things (IoT) devices has highlighted the limitations of traditional lithium-ion batteries and conventional capacitors. Supercapacitors offer a promising alternative, combining relatively high power density with fast charge-discharge rates. However, achieving both mechanical flexibility and high power density remains a challenge. Flexible electronics are a key enabling technology for next-generation applications such as wearable devices and smart textiles, where adaptability to dynamic form factors is essential. In this study, researchers have developed supercapacitor composite electrodes consisting of silver nanoparticles, polyaniline, and carbon nanotubes (Ag NPs/PANI/CNTs) using a scalable spray coating technique. Cyclic voltammetry tests exhibited a specific capacitance of 350 F g−1 when cycled with a scan rate of 5 mV s−1. Galvanostatic chargedischarge testing demonstrated a specific capacitance of ∼320 F g−1 when cycled with a constant applied current of 1 mA. This study highlights the benefits of integrating Ag NPs, PANI, and CNTs into composite electrodes for supercapacitors, to exploit the inherent properties of the composite’s individual components, including enhanced mechanical flexibility, increased electrical conductivity, and improved conductive pathways.
From: F. H. Albaqal, Z. N. A. Mubarak, F. A. Almomen, et al., J Solid State Sci Technol, 14, 051004 (2025)
Tech Highlights was prepared by Joshua Gallaway of Northeastern University, Mara Schindelholz of Sandia National Laboratories, David McNulty of University of Limerick, Zenghe Liu of Abbott Diabetes Care, Chock Karuppaiah of Vetri Labs and Ohmium International, and Donald Pile of EnPower, Inc. Each article highlighted here is available free online. Click on the article citation at the end of a summary to access the full-text version of the article.
Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
by Mark E. Orazem and Masayuki Itagaki
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is an integral part of electrochemical studies, with application to diverse topics such as fuel cells, batteries, corrosion, sensors, and biomedical devices. Here, we provide three contributions from leaders in the use of impedance spectroscopy.
Burak Ülgüt, from the Department of Chemistry at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, provides an overview of impedance instrumentation, including a historical perspective on the evolution of EIS instrumentation. Prof. Ülgüt discusses the use of reference electrodes, the factors that constrain impedance measurement to a specified envelope, and the conditions under which galvanostatic modulation is preferred over potentiostatic modulation and vice-versa. While he claims that the user cares only about how well an impedance measurement can be made and not the details of the hardware and the algorithm, the insight he provides into the trade-offs required to make a good measurement is essential knowledge for the practitioner.
Yiming Zhang, Kei Ono, and Jianbo Zhang, from the State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Green Vehicle and Mobility at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, provide a detailed discussion of the impedance of porous electrodes. Porous electrodes are essential in many electrochemical devices. Analogical, analytical, and numerical methods for interpreting impedance data are outlined, and the authors assert that all three types of EIS modeling can be both physics-based and mechanistic. Selection of the optimal model is inherently an iterative process that demands a systematic approach in the design and execution of both the EIS data acquisition and the subsequent data processing and validation. The authors discuss, as well, the limitations of the EIS technique, along with strategies to address them.
Arthur Dizon, Argonne National Laboratories, and Christopher L. Alexander, University of South Florida, illustrate the use of finite elements to model the impedance response of an electrochemical system. They show that, for nonlinear systems, the first step is to calculate the steadystate condition. The impedance calculation takes place in a second step, using, as needed, the steady-state values of potential and concentration. The impedance model is set up using phasor notation. The authors show that, by subtracting the interfacial impedance from the global impedance, the complex frequency-dependent ohmic impedance can be obtained. A very fine nonuniform meshing is required to make these calculations, and the authors provide guidance.
As described by Ülgüt, the instrumentation available for impedance measurement has improved over the past century, enhancing ease of use and facilitating rapid collection of data. As noted by Zhang et al., the interpretation of impedance measurements in terms of physically meaningful parameters requires, however, a system-specific model. While this is not the emphasis of their contribution, we would argue that, in addition, quantification of the error structure is required. The error structure is used to assess what part of the spectrum is inconsistent with the Kramers-Kronig relations and should be discarded, and the stochastic part of the error structure is used to weight regressions, placing appropriate emphasis on each part of the spectrum. Code for assessing the error structure is available free for use.1 Dizon and Alexander show that skillful use of finite-element programs can yield insight into electrochemical systems that would not be available from measurement alone.
Impedance analysis has been compared to the old Buddhist tradition of the blind wise men brought to an elephant, each touching a different part of the elephant and coming to a unique conclusion as to what the elephant is.2 In the present case, the elephant is the impedance technique itself, and our authors have each provided a different vision of the elephant. Application of impedance spectroscopy is very much like feeling an elephant that we cannot see. Measurement of current and potential under a steady state
yields some information concerning a given system. By adding frequency dependence to the macroscopic measurements, impedance spectroscopy expands the information that can be extracted from the measurements. While impedance measurements alone are not sufficient, the models developed may guide selection of additional observations that can allow us to gain confidence in the model identification.
Mark E. Orazem, William P. and Tracy Cirioli Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Florida
Education: BS and MS (Kansas State University) and PhD (University of California, Berkeley) in Chemical Engineering
Relevant Work Experience: Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, the William P. and Tracy Cirioli Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies, University of Florida. Co-authored, with Bernard Tribollet of the CNRS in Paris, a textbook entitled Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, now in its second edition. Prof. Orazem has been teaching short courses on impedance spectroscopy for The Electrochemical Society and industry since 2000.
Honors & Awards: Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, the International Society of Electrochemistry, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as president of the International Society of Electrochemistry. Prof. Orazem received the Henry B. Linford Award of The Electrochemical Society, The Electrochemical Society Corrosion Division H. H. Uhlig Award, and with his co-author Bernard Tribollet, the 2019 Claude Gabrielli Award for contributions to electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3668-7767
Masayuki Itagaki, Professor of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science
Education: PhD in Metallurgical Engineering (Tokyo Institute of Technology, presently Institute of Science Tokyo)
Work Experience: Joined Tokyo University of Science in 1994 as an Assistant Professor, in 1998 was named a Lecturer, in 2001 an Associate Professor, and in 2005 a full Professor
Honors & Awards: Include 2021 ECSJ Fellow and 2024 ECS Fellow. Work with ECS: Chair of the ECS Corrosion Division (2018–2020) and a Member of Board of Directors, ECS (2018–2020). Conference chair, 9th International Symposium on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Okinawa, Japan, 2013 (EIS 2013) and 2nd Asian Symposium on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Tokyo, Japan, 2017 (AEIS 2017)
References
1. W. Watson and M. E. Orazem, EIS: Measurement Model Program, Version 1.8, ECSArXiv, 2023, 10.1149/osf.io/g2fjm.
2. M. E. Orazem and B. Tribollet, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-118-52739-9.
The Electrochemical Society book series provides authoritative, detailed accounts on specific topics in electrochemistry and solid state science and technology. These titles are sponsored by ECS and published in cooperation with Wiley.
ECS members receive 20% off all Wiley books. ECS members use promo code ECS18 at checkout.
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Impedance of Porous Electrodes
by Yiming Zhang, Kei Ono, Jianbo Zhang
Electrochemical processes, including electric double-layer charging and discharging, electrosorption of reaction intermediates and electrolytes, and charge-transfer reactions, occur at the electrode-electrolyte interface (EEI). Maximizing the rates of these electrochemical processes requires increasing the electrode’s surface area while maintaining efficient mass transport. Porous electrodes meet these competing requirements by introducing interconnected pore networks into the electrodes.
Porous electrodes are essential in a variety of electrochemical devices, including electrochemical energy devices, sensors, and electrochemical synthesis. Porous electrodes are also, unfortunately, involved in various corrosion processes. The catalyst layers (CL) in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) and the electrodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are good examples because of their widespread commercialization, richness in both theoretical treatment and engineering exploration, and distinct features in structure and functionality.
A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy of gaseous fuels and oxidants into electrical energy through electrochemical
processes. Fig. 1a shows a schematic of the structure of a typical PEFC. The close-ups on the right depict the mass transfer of the reacting species at the three-phase interface (TPI) near platinum (Pt) particles for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode and hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) at the anode. As the oxygen and hydrogen diffuse across the pores in the CL to the reaction sites, this type of porous electrode is referred to as a gas diffusion electrode (GDE). The ORR is notoriously sluggish and constitutes the ratelimiting step of the electrochemical processes in PEFCs. Since the best electrocatalyst for ORR in acid media is based on the precious metal Pt, the priority in CL design is to maximize the effective use of the Pt.
The effective use of Pt can be enhanced through three key strategies: (1) finely dispersing nanosized Pt particles on carbon supports, (2) constructing a proton-conducting ionomer network in the CL, and (3) optimizing reactant/product transport in the porous electrode. The efficiency of mass transport depends sensitively on the operating conditions such as the current density and the levels of humidification. Liquid water saturation in pores tends to increase under high current densities or degraded pore surface hydrophobicity. Such flooding of the GDE, which severely impedes O2 diffusion and incurs significant concentration overpotential, is one scenario that has attracted extensive R&D efforts. Conversely, drying of the GDE near the inlet under low or no humidification, or operating at high temperature (T>90 °C), reduces the proton conductivity of the membrane and the ionomer in CL, resulting in significant ohmic as well as activation losses. The complex interplay among multiple processes in the CL, gas diffusion layer (GDL), and flow channel determines how robustly the fuel cell operates and how effectively Pt can be utilized at high current densities.
A LIB, operating via the reversible intercalation and deintercalation of Li ions to and from the active materials, is an electrochemical device for both energy storage and energy conversion. Fig. 1b shows a cross-sectional SEM image of the positive and negative electrodes in a typical LIB. The close-ups on the right show the pathways of lithium ions and electrons relative to the positive and negative active materials during discharge.
The design priority for LIB electrodes is to balance the competing requirements of energy density and power density. Increasing the energy density requires a greater volume fraction of active materials in the electrodes, yet overly compacted electrodes cannot accommodate high charging/discharging rates and therefore compromise power capability. As the volume fraction of solid contents in the electrode is typically greater than that of the pores, the LIB electrodes are often termed composite electrodes. As electrolyte permeates the electrode pores, this type of porous electrode is also referred to as flooded electrodes.
(continued on next page)
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic (left) and close-ups (right) of a typical PEFC. (b) Cross-sectional SEM image of the positive and negative electrodes (left) and close-ups (right) of a typical LIB.
(continued from previous page)
Table I compares the major characteristics of the porous electrodes in PEFCs and LIBs. PEFCs employ GDEs with thin and highly porous CL to reduce gas diffusion losses. In contrast, LIBs employ thick, flooded, and densely compacted composite electrodes to ensure sufficient storage capacity for Li ions while maintaining low ionic and electronic resistances.
To optimize electrode design in response to ever-increasing demand, both electrochemical methods (including time and frequency domains) and physicochemical characterization methods (including element, morphology, and structure analysis, etc.) are needed to characterize the porous electrodes. Under ideal conditions, the direct current (DC) method in the time domain and the alternating current (AC) method in the frequency domain contain the same information, and are mathematically interconvertible. However, under realistic conditions, factors such as noise, equipment resolution, and the information content at different frequencies may favor one method over the other. Generally speaking, time-domain methods are welldeveloped for studying steady or transient state problems. In contrast, EIS is powerful in resolving multiple processes occurring at wellseparated characteristic frequencies, which is just the case for porous electrodes.
Features and Signatures of EIS of Porous Electrodes
Fig. 2 compares the Nyquist-format impedance spectra of electrodes across three pairs of charts: blocking electrodes (Fig. 2a and 2b), cathode in fuel cells at a certain current density (Fig. 2c and 2d), and intercalation electrodes in LIBs at a certain open-circuit voltage (OCV) (Fig. 2e and f). Each pair contrasts the responses of flat (left) versus porous (right) electrodes with red curves showing theoretical predictions and blue schematics representing typical experimental data. To facilitate the intra-/inter-plot comparison, units and numerical values of the impedance are not included. The direction of increasing frequency is indicated by an arrow along the spectrum from the model prediction.
The EIS of porous electrodes under blocking conditions is commonly employed to characterize their ohmic and structural properties. A blocking electrode operates in an inert atmosphere without electroactive species within the tested potential range, thus preventing faradaic current. Consequently, the system simplifies to include only double-layer charging and discharging processes.
Difference Between Blocking and Non-Blocking Electrodes
The primary difference in impedance spectra between blocking (Fig. 2a and 2b) and non-blocking electrodes (Fig. 2c–2f) is the presence or absence of semicircles in the intermediate frequency range. These semicircles arise from the charge-transfer reactions of electroactive species or the adsorption and desorption of the intermediates, impurities, or electrolytes. Each semicircle contributes a new time constant to the spectra. More time constants make it more challenging for EIS to resolve the underlying processes.
In the low frequency range, the blocking electrode demonstrates capacitive behavior corresponding to the electric double layer (Fig. 2a and 2b). In contrast, the fuel cell spectra converge toward the real axis, following the behavior of planar Warburg impedance under finite-length diffusion boundary conditions (Fig. 2c and 2d). The LIB spectra in the low frequency range also show a capacitive behavior (Fig. 2e and 2f). However, this behavior is attributed to the charging and discharging of the active materials, rather than the electric double layer.
Difference Between Flat and Porous Electrodes
The primary difference in the spectra between flat and porous electrodes is the slope of the high-frequency intercept with the real axis. The model predicts slopes of 90° for the flat electrodes and
Table I. Comparison of the Porous Electrodes in PEFCs and LIBs PEFCs LIBs
Type of devices Energy conversion Energy conversion and storage Type of thermodynamic system Open Closed
Type of porous electrode
Gas-diffusion, partially wetted electrode
Composite, flooded electrode
Limiting step/process ORR Li dendrite formation
0.2~0.6 A/cm2 (standard operation)
Current density range
Typical values of electrode parameters
Ionic conductivity (bulk) and conduction mechanism
45° for the porous electrodes. An electrode behaves more like a flat electrode than a porous one when the pore depth is sufficiently small, or the porosity is sufficiently large, or the ionic impedance is sufficiently lower than the interfacial impedance:
al Z Vp e,effloc 2 1 (1)
where aV is the volumetric electrochemical surface area, lp is the thickness of the porous electrode, Ke,eff is the effective ionic conductivity, and Zloc is the local impedance at the electrode/ electrolyte interface.
Under these conditions, the penetration depth of the AC signal is significantly greater than the pore depth (the electrode thickness). Consequently, the impedance of the porous electrode Zpe is equivalent to the interfacial impedance Zloc diminished by the roughness factor:
Z Z al pe loc Vp = (2)
Such a porous electrode is essentially a rough electrode, serving as a transition between flat and porous electrodes. Its spectra do not display a 45° line segment at the high-frequency region. Therefore, a line segment with a 45° slope at the high-frequency region, whether under blocking or non-blocking conditions, can be considered a signature of a porous electrode.
Line segments with slopes of 1/2 or 1/4 of 45° have been measured and analyzed through modeling. Itagaki explained the halving of the slopes for activated carbon capacitors from the effects of a double or triple fractal structure within the carbon particles.16 Huang predicted the 22.5° slope observed for an electrode composed of secondary particles in LIBs with a three-scale impedance model,2 and asserted that the slope of the line segment halves with each increase in the scale of the microstructure. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, line segments with slopes approximating 22.5° have not been reported in PEFCs. This absence suggests that the agglomerate model may not accurately represent the true structure of CLs in PEFCs. The format of
Fig. 2. Nyquist-format impedance spectra for (a) flat blocking electrode, (b) porous blocking electrode (ωt is the characteristic frequency of ion conduction), (c) flat cathode in fuel cell, (d) porous cathode in PEFC (ωct, ωdCL and ωdGDL are the characteristic frequencies of charge transfer, gas diffusion in CL and gas diffusion in GDL, respectively), (e) flat intercalation electrode, (f) porous positive/negative electrode in LIB (ωds and ωde are the characteristic frequencies of diffusion in solid and diffusion in electrolyte, respectively). The formulas for the characteristic frequencies are as follows:1 t eeff aCvdlt l (κe,eff : effective ionic conductivity of the electrolyte in the electrode, av : volumetric area of the EEI, Cdl: electric doublelayer capacitance, lt : electrode thickness), ct ct RCdl 1 (Rct : charge-transfer resistance), d eeff t D l , 2 (De,eff : effective diffusion coefficient).
the data presentation influences the visual assessment of the spectra’s correct shape. The Journal of The Electrochemical Society requires Nyquist plots to have a 1:1 aspect ratio of the real and imaginary axes to properly evaluate conformity to or deviation from the 45° slope or semicircular arcs.
The line segment in the high frequency range of a porous electrode introduces a new time constant ωt, which corresponds to the duration required for an AC perturbation signal to reach the bottom of a pore. In Fig. 2f, four characteristic frequencies (ωt, ωct, ωds, and ωde) are annotated, corresponding to the time constants of the ion conduction in the pore, the charge transfer at the EEI, the diffusion in solid particles and the diffusion in pore electrolytes, respectively.
Although EIS outperforms DC techniques in resolving multiple processes with distinct time constants, an excessive number of time constants within the limited bandwidth will inevitably lead to the overlapping of several time constants, making their resolution a challenging task.
Under the blocking condition, the real part of the impedance of a porous electrode at the low frequency limit is greater than that of its flat electrode counterpart by 1/3 of the pore resistance (to be further discussed in Fig. 3).
Difference Between Model-Predicted and Measured Spectra
Closed-form analytic models are derived under simplified, one-dimensional (1D), and ideal conditions which typically assume uniformity in geometry, structure, or the interfacial and bulk properties. However, nonuniformities occur unavoidably along and across the electrode in practical systems. These include: (1) complex pore and particle structures (such as size distribution, shape variations, and fractal features); (2) time-dependent structural changes (e.g., dynamics of water saturation); and (3) spatial distributions of reactants, products, current density, and overpotential during high current density operation. These nonuniformities lead to frequency dispersion, which manifests as lines with slopes deviating from 90° at the low frequency limit, and from 45° at the high frequency limit (Fig. 2a and 2b). In the intermediate frequency range, the frequency dispersion manifests as depressed semicircles (Fig. 2c–2f).
In addition, the measurement results are affected by the limited capabilities of the equipment, including bandwidth and accuracy contours, as well as factors such as cable inductance and stray capacitance at high frequencies, non-stationarity of the test sample at low frequencies, ambient electrical noise, and the use of a two-electrode configuration instead of a three-electrode configuration.
Modeling of EIS for Porous Electrodes
Three Types of EIS Modeling
As an indirect technique, EIS requires a model for interpretation. Consequently, EIS studies involve a close interaction between models and measurement, as well as an intimate interplay between hardware and software development. The modeling of EIS for porous electrodes can be categorized into three types: analogical, analytic, and numerical. Analogical modeling employs an equivalent electric circuit (EEC) to simulate the response of electrodes to AC perturbations. For flat plate electrodes, the EECs with lumped elements, such as the Randles circuit,3 can provide satisfactory predictions. In contrast, for porous electrodes, EECs with distributed elements in the form of a transmission line (TML), first developed by de Levie,4 are frequently employed.5 In practical applications, a constant phase element (CPE)6 is usually used instead of a pure capacitor. While this versatile element can significantly improve
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the fitting, the relationship between the circuit element and the pore structure or process parameters is not always clear. Analogical modeling, being simple, rapid, and intuitive, is the most widely used EIS modeling approach in the literature. However, it can also be the most misused or even abused approach, to the degree that some EIS experts regard EECs merely as analogs rather than true models. Indeed, using lumped EECs for porous electrodes, or employing CPEs just for a better fitting without any discussion about the underlying physics is considered poor practice.
Analytic modeling derives the governing equations in the frequency domain from those in the time domain using a small perturbation assumption and a Fourier transformation. Closed-form solutions as algebraic expressions can be obtained under simplified conditions, typically involving either uniform distributions or limiting cases in which certain processes become negligible. Compared to analogical or numerical modeling, the analytic solutions provide a direct link between the impedance spectra and the electrode parameters, which can be exploited to parameterize for the electrode satisfying the simplified conditions. Analytic solutions also make it easy to conduct parametric studies and to identify the rate-limiting processes. Analytic modeling demands both physical insights to find limiting cases so as to make drastic simplifications, and mathematical prowess to beat a way through the maze of coupled differential equations to find a closed-form solution, hence representing the fundamental advance in EIS methodology. Some EIS theorists even argue that the true power of EIS can only be realized with analytic modeling.
However, the analytic models often lack a straightforward correspondence with the basic elements in EEC. Therefore, the use of a box is recommended in EECs to represent processes that cannot be reduced to pure resistor, capacitor, or inductor.7 For example, a Randles circuit may include a box representing a Warburg element in series with the charge-transfer resistance, to account for diffusion processes that may dominate the impedance in some systems in the low frequency range. The Warburg element, an analytic solution in itself, can be represented with a distributed EEC having a semi-infinite series of R and C elements. Therefore, there is not always a clear-cut distinction between the analogical and the analytic modeling.
Numerical modeling applies a small-amplitude perturbation of current or potential to the coupled nonlinear system of differential equations in the time domain for the porous electrode, and then calculates the impedance from the Fourier transformation of the input and output signals.8 By exploiting the computing power of modern computers and advanced algorithms, it circumvents the difficulty in deriving analytic solutions for nonuniform conditions, while maintaining the richness of information contained in the system of differential equations. Numerical modeling can readily handle distributions, gradient design, multiphysics, etc. However, the interpretation becomes more challenging, as the features in the calculated spectra tend to become blurred due to the multi-dimensional distribution and the overlapping of concurring processes.
Physical EIS Models of Porous Electrodes
Physical EIS models of porous electrodes have been elegantly reviewed by Lasia9 and Huang.10 While Lasia organized the model evolution primarily according to the explicit pore description, Huang organized it primarily via implicit pore description. Here the explicit pore description means the exact geometry of the pore or pores is treated in detail, and the intrinsic transport parameters are used. In contrast, the implicit pore description employs the averaged structural parameters of porous media (e.g., porosity, tortuosity, and specific surface area), and uses effective transport parameters corrected for pore structures. Explicit pore description is intuitive and capable of capturing the essential features of the porous electrode even with a drastically simplified picture of the porous media. However, it has difficulties handling complex pore structures at the electrode scale. In contrast, implicit pore description employs the measurable quantities of the porous media. In many cases, the analytic models derived from explicit and implicit descriptions are mathematically equivalent and convertible.
The physics treated in these models includes the interfacial and transport processes under different limiting cases. For the porous electrode under blocking condition, an analytic model for cylindrical pore considering only ionic potential drop in the electrolyte has been developed by de Levie,4 initiating the use of EIS for studying the porous electrodes. The effects of pore shape other than cylindrical have been investigated by Levie,11 Keiser,12 and Lasia.13 The effects of pore size distribution have been examined by Song.14 The effects of the top layer capacitance of porous electrode have been treated by Jurczakowski.15 The effects of fractality in double or triple scales have been simulated by Itagaki.16 In cases where the electronic resistance and ionic resistance of the electrode are comparable, a closed-form solution was derived by Bisquert.17
For porous electrodes under non-blocking conditions, there are a greater variety of limiting cases as more combinations of processes can be conceived. At OCV, the impedance of a porous electrode with negligible electronic resistance is given by the same model developed by de Levie, and that for non-negligible electronic resistance is given by the same Bisquert model, with the interfacial impedance modified from a pure electric double-layer capacitance (Cdl) to Cdl in parallel with charge-transfer resistance Rct. For electrodes under small current densities, an analytic solution of pore impedance can be obtained when there is uniform potential yet nonuniform reactant concentration in the pore.18 In the case of uniform concentration yet nonuniform potential,13 or the general case when both concentration and potential gradients are present, a numerical solution is needed.18,19 Notably, spectra corresponding to the uniform electrolyte potential yet nonuniform reactant concentration do not exhibit a 45° line segment in the high-frequency range.
In Huang’s review,10 four foundational theoretical works predating the de Levie model are first described to set the historical context. The classical de Levie model is then rederived, followed with a thorough analysis of its five simplifying assumptions. The major body of the review then recounts the modeling efforts to relax these assumptions. Specifically, Huang categorizes the extensions of the de Levie model into three directions: physics, structures, and orders. In the extension in physics, a general theoretical framework describing the AC response of porous electrodes is first developed using volumeaveraging and coordinate transformation. Huang’s formulation differs from Newman’s approach20 in that it provides explicit expressions for the ion activity coefficient and effective transport properties, accounting for both the ion size effect and the structural properties of the porous media. Then, a general analytic solution under uniform conditions is derived, from which four limiting cases are further identified. Notably, Huang’s review adopts a didactic approach. Detailed derivation, as well as source codes, are included in the main text (49 pages) and supporting materials (36 pages), to facilitate the entry into analytic modeling for prospective EIS enthusiasts.
Application of EIS to Porous Electrodes
Choose the Right Sample and the Right Model for the Right Purpose
All three types of EIS modeling have their strengths and limitations. No single model can serve all purposes equally well. On the whole, analytic models seem to strike a good balance of simplicity, rigor, and versatility.
Nevertheless, the authors believe that the so-called physics-based, mechanistic model is not synonymous with, nor restricted to, analytic models. All three types of EIS modeling can be physics-based and mechanistic, depending on the test samples and operating conditions. The key to EIS application lies not merely in the models, but also in the matching of models with the test samples at hand and the issues in question. Identifying the right match is an iterative process that requires a systematic approach to both the design and the execution of the EIS acquisition, as well as to the subsequent data processing and validation. In short, one should choose the right sample and right model for the right purpose.
Example Application of EIS in the Life Cycle of LIBs/PEFCs
EIS has been extensively applied throughout the life cycle of electrochemical energy devices, particularly during the stages of design and operation, as well as in the second-life applications of LIBs. Qualitatively, EIS is employed for mechanism exploration (LIB aging21 and PEFC sub-zero-start failure22), rate-limiting intercalation step identification,23 performance loss attribution in PEFC,24 state monitoring to enable control in PEFC,25 and early warning for thermal-runaway in LIB.26
Quantitatively, EIS facilitates the parameterization of the structural parameters (e.g., tortuosity of separator and electrode in LIB,27 tortuosity of ionomer in PEFC,24 pore size distribution,14,28 contact area and triple phase boundary in SOFC29), interfacial parameters (e.g., double-layer capacitance30), kinetic parameters (e.g., chargetransfer resistance31 and activation energy of ORR in PEFC32), and transport properties (e.g., Li ion transference number,33 diffusion coefficients of adsorbed gasses on porous solid,34 O2 diffusion in the GDL35 and CL,36 and proton conductivity37), of the porous electrodes. Recently, the scope of EIS application has been extended to the examination of the slurry behavior during the electrode fabrication stage (e.g., the visualization of particle dispersion during slurry mixing,38 and the analysis of mass transfer during the drying of coated CL39). The extensive application of EIS in LIB and PEFC can be found in comprehensive reviews.40,41 In what follows, the procedures and precautions for the most utilized EIS techniques are elaborated.
Procedures and Precautions for the Most Utilized EIS Techniques
Measurement setup4A common mistake for novices in impedance measurement is connecting a potentiostat with EIS capability to an operating cell under load. In this configuration, the measured EIS will include that of the load in parallel with the cell. The correct procedure is to put the cell under the total control of the potentiostat. That is, the potentiostat acts both as a DC load or charger, and as an AC perturbator and analyzer. For electrochemical devices such as LIBs and PEFCs, complications may arise as the operating current may exceed the limit of the potentiostat, which is typically below
Fig. 3. (a) The high-frequency Nyquist plot confounded by HFI (The black line) and the corrected plot (The red line); (b) The high-frequency Nyquist plot for electrode with poor electronic conductivity. The meanings of the symbols in the figure are as follows: Rs: high frequency resistance, Rs,meas: the resistance at the intersection of the measured high-frequency impedance spectra with the real axis, Rs, CL: the combined ionic and electronic resistance of CL at high frequency, ∆Rs,CL: the projection length of the high-frequency 45° line segment of CL on the real axis.
1~2 A. In such cases, a current booster is required. However, for EIS measurement, the frequency response capability of the booster itself must be checked to ensure it covers the frequency range relevant to the processes of interest in the test sample.
High-frequency resistance (Rs)4In PEFCs, the high-frequency resistance (Rs) primarily consists of the membrane resistance (Rmem), the contact resistance between the flow fields and the GDL (RFF/GDL), the contact resistance between the GDL and the CL (RGDL/CL), and the bulk resistance of the GDLs (RGDL). This Rs is typically measured at high frequencies (≥1 kHz). The specific frequency suitable for Rs measurement varies with material properties, cell assembly, and testing conditions, necessitating the measurement of high-frequency impedance spectra to determine the intercept Rs,meas with the real axis in Nyquist plots. The Rs,meas is often affected by the high-frequency inductance (HFI) effects, particularly in low-impedance systems where HFI is large and can incur significant errors. To minimize the interference of HFI, the following measures are recommended: (1) minimizing the lead wire length, (2) reducing the loop area between current-carrying and voltage-sensing wires through tightly twisted-pair configurations, (3) maximizing the distance between current-carrying and voltage-sensing wires, and (4) reducing the cell assembly non-uniformity. However, since the HFI interference cannot be eliminated completely, it is recommended to maximize the upper measurement frequency to obtain more inductance information for subsequent fitting and correction.
Ideally, an inductor in series with Rs appears as a line parallel to the imaginary axis in the fourth quadrant in Nyquist plots (Fig. 3a, α = 1). However, frequency dispersion caused by the distributed inductance often results in a line or curve with an angle deviating from the imaginary axis (Fig. 3a, αL = 0.75), exhibiting behavior similar to a CPE with a non-integer exponent. In such cases, a CPE element ZL,α = (jω)αLQL, instead of a pure inductor, may be used for fitting and correction42 (QL is the pseudo inductance and αL is the inductance dispersion coefficient).
For porous electrodes with poor electronic conductivity, such as the positive electrodes in LIBs, the non-PGM cathodes in PEFCs, or the anodes in PEM water electrolyzers, the Rs,meas contains contributions from both the electronic and ionic resistances of the CL, Rs,CL, as shown in Fig. 3b.
One method to address this issue is to perform ex-situ measurements and sum up all the bulk and interfacial resistances (Rs) of the cell components other than the CL. The resistance of CL at high frequency (Rs,CL) is given by:
R RR l s s,C Ls,meas t se (3) where lt is the CL thickness, while σs and σe denote its electronic and ionic conductivities, respectively.
The projection length of the high-frequency 45° line segment of CL on the real axis (∆Rs,CL) satisfies: R ll l tt t s,C L se se 33 (4)
Knowing the CL thickness allows both to be determined by solving equations (3) and (4) simultaneously.
Another method to address this issue, eliminating the need for ex-situ measurement, was developed by Kulikovsky.43 This approach is based on the linear relationship of the imaginary part of the impedances (ZCL,im) with 1/√ω (ω = 2πf, f is the measurement frequency) at high frequencies, where the slope k satisfies:
C 1 3 2 1 2 e s edl (5)
Knowing both the lt and the double-layer capacitance (Cdl) of the CL allows σs and σe to be determined by solving equations (4) and (5) simultaneously. Subsequently, Rs,CL can be calculated according to equations (3), and Rs is the difference Rs,meas − Rs,CL.
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Zhang et al.
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Ionic resistance of the porous electrode (Rion)4The estimation of the ionic resistance (Rion) of cathode CL in a PEFC is based on de Levie’s model under blocking conditions. Therefore, cyclic voltammetry (CV) should be performed prior to EIS measurements to identify the electric double-layer region and select a suitable measurement potential. As recommended by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO),44 the measurement potential is selected to be 0.45 V vs anode. After HFR
Fig. 4. NEDO’s protocol for estimating the CL ionic resistance (Rion). In the electric double-layer region, similar impedance spectra are obtained under nearly blocking conditions. To standardize measurements, NEDO specifies 0.45 V vs anode as the potential for EIS measurement.44 Point A is the intersection of the high frequency spectrum to the real axis after correction of HFI. Point B is the intersection of two asymptotic lines from the high and low frequency ranges of the spectra. Point C is the projection of point B onto the real axis.
and HFI correction, the Nyquist plot typically shows a line segment at high frequencies with a phase angle of 45°. As the frequency decreases beyond the characteristic frequency ωt of ionic conduction, the slope of the impedance spectrum increases sharply. However, due to the heterogeneous structure of the ionomer within the CL, this slope generally remains below 90°, making it inaccurate to estimate Rion simply by extrapolating the low-frequency line to the real axis. To address this issue, the NEDO protocol44 (as shown in Fig. 4) recommends extrapolating the impedance lines on both the high and low frequency ranges to determine the intersection point B, and using the projection of B on the real axis to determine the Rion. The length between points A and C equals 1/3 of Rion
In EIS measurements, it is important to minimize the impact of H2 crossover from the anode. The rapid H2 oxidation reaction at the cathode may distort the 45° line segment in the Nyquist plot, particularly in electrodes with low Rion. The use of diluted H2 is beneficial for diagnostics and parameterization.
Double-layer capacitance (Cdl )4In electrochemistry, the doublelayer capacitance (Cdl) is usually estimated using CV. Ideally, the charging and discharging current densities are proportional to the potential scan rates, with the slope being the Cdl. However, porous electrodes present complexities such as the distributed resistance and capacitance, and the adsorption and desorption, which collectively lead to CPE behavior. Additionally, the CV potential range may be restricted under certain testing conditions (e.g., CO adsorption on Pt surfaces). In such cases, estimating Cdl via EIS may be beneficial.
Transforming the imaginary part of the impedance at low frequencies is a simple and commonly used method for estimating Cdl 24 For a blocking electrode, its behavior approximates an ideal capacitor (Cdl = − (ωZ'')-1) at low frequencies in which the ionic penetration depth far exceeds the electrode thickness. Thus, Cdl can be estimated from the imaginary parts of the low-frequency impedance, as indicated by the red line in Fig. 5a. For a non-blocking electrode with negligible mass transport resistance and current distribution, the equivalent electric circuit of the CL can be simplified to a parallel Rct||C connection. The imaginary part of the impedance satisfies the equation −(ωZ'')-1 = (CdlR ct )-1ω-2 + Cdl. Plotting −(ωZ'')-1 against ω-2, the y-intercept of the line fitted to the low-frequency data points gives an estimate of Cdl, 30 as shown by the red line in Fig. 5b.
However, due to the complex structure of porous electrodes, this ideal behavior is rarely observed in measurement. More commonly, the measured data (black dots, Fig. 5a and 5b) deviate from the ideal case. Fitting the imaginary part of the impedance using an EEC
Fig. 5. Comparison of double-layer capacitance estimation using EECs with pure capacitor vs CPE from the imaginary part of the impedance. (a) Blocking cathode CL under H2/N2 atmosphere at 0.45 V vs anode; (b) non-blocking cathode CL with H2/Air atmosphere at 0.1 A/cm2 The Pt loading of the cCL is 0.3 mg/ cm2. The catalyst used is TEC10V50E and ionomer-to-carbon ratio (I/C) is 0.6.
with a pure capacitor results in significant errors (red line), whereas replacing the pure capacitor with a CPE yields a much better fit (blue line). For CPE behavior arising from the planar or normal distribution of resistance and capacitance, an equivalent capacitance Cdl,eff can be calculated via well-defined formulas.45 However, the CPE behavior in porous electrodes appears to be more complex, possibly resulting from the combined effect of two or more distributions. The challenge of how to accurately calculate the Cdl,eff using the fitted pseudocapacitance QC,α and the CPE coefficient αC remains unresolved.
In addition to the graphical methods mentioned above, it is also possible to estimate Rion and Cdl using the transmission line model (TLM). This approach is applicable to both blocking and nonblocking electrodes. For non-blocking electrodes, the experimental conditions must be carefully controlled to minimize mass transport resistance, and the distribution of reactants, water, and current within the electrode, so as to closely approximate the model assumptions. Such conditions can be achieved by using a small-area cell, supplying pure O2 at a high flow rate, and operating at a low current density. This approach is clearly demonstrated in the work of Baker et al.46
Words of Caution and Consolation
Despite the power and elegance of EIS, the technique has several serious limitations that must be kept in mind. First, EIS is an indirect method, requiring models to interpret the measured spectra. Second, analytic models are only strictly applicable to idealized conditions like uniform distribution, one dimension, etc. In addition, modelers typically disregard practical issues such as noise and bandwidth limitations, which consistently plague experimentalists. Third, spectral resolution becomes challenging when two features with time constants within one order of magnitude coexist in the spectra.
To address the first limitation, researchers should complement and corroborate EIS results with other, non-frequency domain or non-electrochemical techniques. For example, the chemical diffusion coefficients of Li ions in cathode materials are measured using CV, EIS, and GITT, and are cross-validated.47 The structural parameters estimated from the impedance data are critically compared with that extracted from 3D tomography.48
To address the second limitation, small or differential cells (with high stoichiometry ratios), or locally resolved EIS49 can be used to mitigate in-plane non-uniformity. Alternatively, non-porous electrodes, such as single particles,50 flat plate electrodes, or thin-film rotating disk electrodes (RDEs), can be utilized to avoid or minimize the influence of distribution in the porous electrodes. The measurable/ reliable frequency range can be extended by choosing EIS equipment with a broader bandwidth, and by optimizing the electrode and the cell setup.51 Noise can be significantly reduced by placing the entire test setup in a Faraday cage.
To address the third limitation, researchers can use graphical methods1 or distribution of relaxation times (DRT) methods,52 or systematically vary cell designs and operating conditions to enhance the feature recognition capability. On the other hand, symmetrical cells,53 three-electrode setups with reference electrode tailored for impedance measurement,54 or subjecting the cell to a blocking condition55 can be employed to reduce the number of time constants.
Despite or because of these limitations, EIS, only a frequencydomain technique among the vast number of electrochemical methods, boasts its own dedicated international triennial symposium series (since 1989),56 Asian biannual conferences (since 2015),57 and European annual workshops (since 2008).58 In the US, four-day annual short courses on EIS have been held since 1988.59 Tutorials on EIS are common and well-attended at electrochemistry-related conferences.60,61 Driven by the relentless efforts of theoretical modelers, data processing algorithm developers, and instrumentation providers, EIS has been continuously advanced with growing impact across electrochemistry, bioscience, environmental science, material science, sensors, and the semiconductor industry.
Acknowledgement
We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China for financial support under grant number 22179069.
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Instrumentation for Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
by Burak Ülgüt
At its most basic, impedance can be defined as the resistance to current flow under oscillating applied potential or current.1 Rigorously speaking, this definition is not limited to sine waves, yet typically, sine waves are implied whenever the term impedance is invoked. Analogous to Ohm’s law, the definition is:
where V and I represent the AC voltage and current at a given frequency, Z represents the impedance with the real component of Z' and the imaginary component of Z'' and j = −1. Because the signal is oscillating, impedance must be characterized by an amplitude and a phase to account for phase shifts as well as amplitudes.
Impedances are routinely measured for characterizing components that have a frequency-dependent response, such as capacitors and inductors. Instruments known as LCR meters (inductance, capacitance, resistance meters) effectively measure impedance at a given (typically fixed) frequency to display the inductance or the capacitance values in Farads or Henrys respectively.2 A method that is closer to the implementation in electrochemistry comes from solidstate electronics and is called dielectric spectroscopy.3 It is employed to understand the dielectric and loss (i.e., leakage) characteristics of materials as a function of frequency.
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a relatively lower-frequency version of similar measurements which measures the impedance spectrum of an electrochemical system. Typically, EIS systems have access to much lower frequency ranges (down to µHz), must deal with small AC signals over large DC offsets, and have provisions for decreasing the noise for the best chemical information. Electrochemical systems range from very insulating and capacitive (e.g., anti-corrosion coatings) to very conducting and inductive (e.g., batteries and fuel cells). The instrumentation requirements for this range of systems vary widely.
The aim of this tutorial is to describe in some detail a few of the instrumental issues of importance to researchers. The issues discussed here are choices that researchers practicing EIS routinely face while selecting instruments to purchase and parameters for measurement.
Analog vs. Digital Measurement
The instruments and the methodology used to measure EIS have evolved considerably throughout the history of electrochemistry. To the author’s knowledge, the first example of an oscillating signal to probe electrochemistry is reported by Heyrovsky and Forejt in 19434 using an analog instrumentation system read out by an oscilloscope. Later in the 70s, phase-selective detectors were incorporated into instrumentation.5 This advance paved the way for the use of lockin amplifiers.6 All these instruments allowed for analog recording of the signal, with lock-in amplifiers significantly increasing the performance because the frequency of interest was much better isolated with the rest of the frequencies suppressed.
Eventually instruments started sampling in the time domain before transforming to the frequency domain.7 Commercial adoption of various technologies came later and for a while a number of methods were competing. A quick review of currently available instruments shows that almost all manufacturers adopt time-domain sampling followed by a transform to the frequency domain, though there are a couple that maintain the more analog approaches. As will be discussed below, most of the time the specifics of the method do not concern the end-user.
For cost, miniaturization, and performance reasons, digitization is the currently accepted approach. Remembering that impedance is the ratio of voltage to current, the amplitude ratio must be measured in addition to the phase difference. Due to the nature of lock-in amplifiers, this is inherently achieved by using the applied signal as the reference to the measured signal. When switching to digital measurements, this difference does not follow as flawlessly as it does in the case of lock-in amplifiers. In digitized measurements, both quantities are required to be known with a high degree of precision and accuracy, along with precise timing on both. This need requires that the instrument used have two independent offset and gain stages along with analog-to-digital converters. In electrochemical instrumentation, it is sometimes preferred to measure current only in the potentiostatic mode and voltage in the galvanostatic mode. The underlying assumption is that the signal is faithfully reproduced in the cell. Though this is mostly true (or the “overload” light comes on), there are always time delays and amplitude offsets that put such an assumption into question. This situation in turn causes data that has the wrong phase and inaccurate amplitude results. When choosing instruments, questioning the existence of independent voltage and current conditioning and digitization hardware is important.
2, 3, 4 Electrodes –How Many Are Necessary?
Though this is true for all electrochemical measurements, the number of electrodes (i.e., the number of connections) necessary for a measurement typically comes up during discussions of impedance spectroscopy. This discussion can be best understood starting from a four-point probe conductance analogy. When measuring conductance, only two electrodes are technically necessary: one on either side of the sample under test. The researcher then applies some voltage, measures the resulting current, and calculates the resistance. This approach measures the resistance across the two contacts, which includes the resistance of the sample under test, in addition to the cabling resistances and contact resistances between the leads and the sample. Four-point measurement is a way to isolate the resistance of the sample. In addition to the two electrodes used to apply the voltage, two more are placed in the medium of interest and the potential difference between them is measured. Because the current and the voltage are measured across different electrodes, the impedance at the contact points does not affect the voltages that are measured on the other two leads.
In electrochemistry, the current-voltage characteristics of a halfreaction are often investigated. For this purpose, three electrodes are typically used. The working electrode is the surface on which the half-
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reaction is occurring, along with a reference electrode for the voltage measurement, and a counter electrode for the current measurement. In this way, the current passing through the counter electrode does not affect the voltage of the reference electrode. This isolation of the voltage measurement from the passing current is similar to the fourpoint probe conductance measurement. Three-electrode measurement is designed such that the reaction on the counter electrode does not limit the response that is measured, while the interfacial impedance of the working electrode is captured.
In cases where the current is small (ultra micro electrodes) or the counter reaction is well-characterized (Li/Li+), a two-electrode measurement can be employed. Further, in cases where a reference electrode is unavailable or inconvenient, two-electrode measurements are routinely used in systems such as commercial fuel cells, electrolyzers, and batteries. It is up to the researcher to design the measurement for a proper analysis. Changing electrode geometries or making comparative measurements under different conditions are often required in order to isolate the response of the two electrodes.8
Four-electrode measurements are used for studying the properties of free-standing membranes. Out of the four, the two inner electrodes are typically symmetric reference electrodes used to measure the potential across the membrane while the outer electrodes are used to supply/measure the current. All four approaches are shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Connection modes for electrodes. While three electrodes are standard for electrochemical measurements (middle), two electrodes can be used if reference electrodes can sustain the amount of current necessary (left), and four electrodes are used for standalone measurements. Green arrows show the path of the current.
Accuracy Contour Plots
What matters to the user is how well an impedance measurement performs and not the details of the hardware and the algorithm. Because impedance measurement is complex and the bottlenecks depend heavily on the actual values, the accuracy of measurement systems cannot simply be defined with a single number. Instead, a measurement envelope must be prepared, and this envelope is typically presented in the form of an accuracy contour plot (Fig. 2). It is plotted with the impedance magnitude on the y-axis and the frequency on the x-axis, typically on a log-log scale. At low frequencies, the limits of the impedance are mostly resolution limits and are amplitudedependent. In the high-impedance limit, the current resolution at the applied voltage limits the available resistance measurement, whereas at the low-impedance measurement, the current available for a given applied potential limits the available resistance range.
At higher frequencies, on the other hand, the impedance limit tends to be dependent on the frequency. This result is simply because there is a capacitor in parallel and an inductor in series
with the electrochemical cell. Though mostly due to the cable used, these physical limitations can be due to connectors, printed circuit boards, electrode geometries, or battery casings. At relatively high impedances, the accuracy is limited by the capacitance in parallel and the series inductance limits the high frequency at low-impedance values. These areas are typically not affected by the excitation amplitude as the limitations are due to physical material properties. They may change due to range changes or differences in cabling arrangements. Details are explained in Orazem and Tribollet.9
Although accuracy contour maps are useful when comparing instruments, the best way to test these limits is to do control experiments with dummy cells (i.e., physical combinations of resistors, capacitors, and inductors) using the excitation mode, amplitude, cabling, and geometry that most closely resemble the sample conditions.
The Mode of Choice
In electrochemical measurements of any kind, there are three parameters, namely, current, voltage, and time. In EIS, the time parameter is exchanged with frequency. When making the measurement, the instrument either varies the current (galvanostatic) at different frequencies measuring potential or vice versa (potentiostatic). Just like the other electrochemical methods, the mode that is used makes a difference in more than one respect.
Accuracy: Given the definition of resistance (and by extension impedance), a high resistance corresponds to a low current at high voltage and a low resistance corresponds to a high current at low voltage. Because controlling a variable is harder than measuring, for the best accuracy, it makes more sense to control the voltage for high impedance systems like paints and coatings and the current for low impedance systems like batteries. See Table I.
Stability: For systems that tend to drift, maintaining a constant electrochemical potential is important. Therefore, for systems that cannot maintain a constant state on their own (batteries with some leakage, coatings with very small capacitance, etc.) holding a constant DC potential may be required for proper measurement. This implies a potentiostatic measurement.
AC Amplitude
There is no single number that can be recommended with respect to AC amplitude. Though typical instrument defaults are somewhere around 5–10mV for the potentiostatic mode and 1–10mA for the galvanostatic mode, these numbers are nothing more than placeholders. There is no way for the instrument manufacturers to know the conditions of the sample and the surroundings a priori. Anecdotally, the author had 1mV AC amplitude be too high for a small NiCd battery and could obtain proper data with 1V AC amplitude for a painted metal sample. The amplitudes should be kept low enough to ensure that the system is linear and high enough that the responding signal is above the noise floor in the measurement.
An easy way to check for linearity is to change the amplitude in small increments (say, factors of 2). If the impedance reading is the same with different amplitudes, the measurement is in the linear range. If need be, more complicated analyses involving the measurement in frequencies that are not excited can be performed.
The noise part is typically checked by a visual inspection; however, compatibility with the Kramers-Kronig relations can also be checked.
For systems with widely changing impedance magnitudes, variable amplitude excitations can become more useful. For example, though the galvanostatic mode is more appropriate for a copper electrode in brine solution, it is tricky as the impedance varies wildly as a function of frequency. For cases like this, Wojcik, Agarwal, and Orazem10 developed a method that estimates the impedance at a given
Table I. Choice of potentiostatic or galvanostatic mode.
frequency with a forward difference of already measured points. Then, the AC current applied is adjusted to keep the AC voltage within a desired target amplitude to stay in the linear region.
The Time Required to Measure
EIS gets a bad reputation for taking a long time. Further, different instruments take different lengths of time to finish the measurement. In this section, we will discuss the reasons.
A slow process requires a long measurement. There is no way a measurement with fidelity at 1mHz can be faster than 1000 seconds. The kinetics under DC conditions are usually of interest, so low frequencies may be required to fully resolve the impedance behavior.
The number of cycles measured at each frequency is an important parameter and different instrument providers have different ways of deciding how many cycles to measure. Some instruments have fixed numbers, while others monitor the signal-to-noise ratio in real time to determine when the measurement is complete. Almost always, this number is low at lower frequencies to keep the time manageable and high at higher frequencies for lower noise.
The other decision to be made has to do with the startup transient.11 Inevitably, the early data are affected by the sudden change from a constant (or zero) amplitude to a sine wave, as described in Katirci et al.11 Though this is sometimes left for the user to choose, most instruments have fixed values for how much is ignored.
Given the sources for differences, there are also fundamental reasons for the measurement to take as long as it does. As an example, let’s consider a measurement of 10 kHz to 1mHz with 10 points per decade. Simply adding up one period for every frequency yields
It is interesting to note that doing time-domain measurements with the multisine signals allows for analyses that are typically not available for routine EIS measurements. For example, the Hubin group at VUB has shown that an odd-random phase signal can be employed to differentiate noise, drift, and non-stationarity.16
In the best-case scenario, a single period at the lowest frequency is the shortest time that is required for a proper measurement, as shown by Ülgüt 17 This requires that the initial transient be minimal and can be neglected, the noise levels are low, and the system is not drifting. This combination is unfortunately a very rare occurrence in electrochemical systems of interest.
Drift
A region of frequencies that all electronics engineers dread is the so-called 1/f region. This phenomenon is the type of noise in the low frequency region, typically attributed to “drifts and stochastic fluctuations” in the components.18 Electrochemical systems are prone to drifts for a plethora of reasons (e.g., electrode surface corrosion, wetting, reagent homogenization, porous electrode solvent wetting, etc.) and impedance measurements can suffer greatly. A drift in the measured signal distorts the sine wave in the time domain and corrupts the result in the frequency domain. Ultimately, a drift in the voltage (in galvanostatic mode) or current (in potentiostatic mode) generates a signal that is mostly not compatible with the KramersKronig relations and therefore not usable.
Almost all manufacturers have developed drift subtraction methods in an attempt to clean up impedance data. As shown by Orazem and Ülgüt,19 however, these drift subtraction algorithms can yield only cosmetic improvements in the data and are more qualitative than quantitative.
There is no way to make the measurement any quicker than this when measuring one frequency after the other. More realistically, with one cycle ignored and three cycles kept for every frequency, the measurement requires at least four times the above number, 19200 s = 5 h: 20 min. It is important to note that most of this time is at the low frequencies. A measurement down to 10 mHz would require 1916 s = 0 h: 32 min and a measurement down to 100 mHz would only require 191 s = 0 h: 3 min
Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. During the measurement, the instrument almost always has to readjust some hardware setting after collecting the time domain data. When this is done, the measurement at that frequency must be repeated, which adds to the length of time required.
FT-EIS
As a way of speeding up spectroscopic measurements, chemists are very familiar with Fourier transform methods. In the current market, one cannot find an IR or an NMR spectrometer that is not based on the Fourier transform. In both methods, the idea is straightforward. Instead of measuring one frequency after the other, a broadband signal can be collected which can be mathematically transformed to the frequency domain afterward the measurement is completed.
In EIS, though this is possible, it is not as straightforward and not always time-saving. The main difference with the optical spectroscopies is that voltages at different frequencies add up, in stark contrast with light at different frequencies being independent. Therefore, keeping a low excitation amplitude to maintain linearity, while packing the excitation waveform with all the frequencies of interest, is challenging. After the first attempt by D. E. Smith in the 70s,7 multiple groups have worked on different ways of implementing a multisine EIS, with varying levels of success.12,13,14
Using signals that transform to continuous responses in the frequency domain can in theory speed up the measurements; however, they admittedly suffer from inaccuracies as shown in Yoo and Park15 not observing the Warburg behavior.
In cases where the system cannot be stabilized, current-interrupt methods can be employed, which could result in estimates of the series resistance, the charge transfer resistance, and the double layer capacitance. These methods operate by instantaneously removing a constant excitation by switching the system to open circuit. The electrochemical system relaxes through internal pathways whose properties can be obtained from the measured relaxation profile of the electrochemical potential. This approach has been successfully employed in corrosion protective coatings by Vögelsang and Strunz20 and in batteries by Lacey.21
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Fig. 2. Generic description of accuracy contour maps. The capacitive and the inductive limits are typically cable or geometry limited, while the current resolution and the high current limits are amplitude dependent.
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Conclusion
EIS measurements are very powerful, but they require the utmost attention to detail to take the best possible data. Given the large variability in the systems that electrochemists deal with, there is no ideal set of measurement methods or parameters. Every system is unique and therefore requires attention to different concerns. With the proper control experiments and the judicious choice of measurement mode, amplitudes, and instrument specifications, the data gathered will be accurate, precise, and closely reflective of the electrochemical system under test.
Burak Ülgüt, Associate Professor of Chemistry, Bilkent University
Education: PhD, Cornell University with Prof. Hector Abruña
Research Interests: The development of new measurement methods for electrochemical systems, including better EIS and electrochemical noise measurements.
Work Experience: After a year-long postdoctoral stay at Cambridge University with Prof. Sir Richard Friend, he worked for Gamry Instruments for six years as an Instrumentation Scientist. He then returned to Turkey and worked for Inci Aku (a local lead acid battery manufacturer) before he joined Bilkent University as an Assistant Professor in 2015.
References
1. S. Wang, J. Zhang, O. Gharbi, V. Vivier et al., Nat Rev Methods Primer, 1, 41 (2021)
2. M. A. Atmanand and V. Jagadeesh Kumar, Microprocess Microsyst, 20(5), 297 (1996).
3. F. Kremer, J Non-Cryst Solids, 305(1-3), 1 (2002).
4. J. Heyrovský and J. Forejt, Z Für Phys Chem, 193(1), 77 (1943).
5. D. E. Smith, Anal Chem, 35(12), 1811 (1963).
6. A. J. Bentz, J. R. Sandifer and R. P. Buck, Anal. Chem., 46(4), 543 (1974).
7. D. E. Smith, Anal Chem, 48(2), 221A (1976).
8. M. A. Zabara, G. Katırcı, F. E. Civan, A. Yürüm et al., Electrochimica Acta, 485, 144080 (2024).
9. M. E. Orazem and B. Tribollet, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, 2nd ed. in The Electrochemical Society series. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons (2017).
10. P. T. Wojcik, P. Agarwal and M. E. Orazem, Electrochimica Acta, 41(7–8), 977 (1996).
11. G. Katlrcl, M. A. Zabara and B. Ülgüt, J Electrochem Soc, 169(3) (2022).
12. G. S. Popkirov and R. N. Schindler, Rev Sci Instrum, 63(11), 5366 (1992).
13. B. Sanchez, G. Vandersteen, R. Bragos and J. Schoukens, Meas Sci Technol, 22(11), 115601 (2011).
14. D. Koster, G. Du, A. Battistel and F. La Mantia, Electrochimica Acta, 246, 553 (2017).
15. J.-S. Yoo and S.-M. Park, Anal Chem, 72(9), 2035 (2000).
16. Y. Van Ingelgem, E. Tourwé, O. Blajiev, R. Pintelon et al., Electroanalysis, 21(6), 730 (2009).
17. B. Ülgüt, J. Electrochem. Soc., 169(11), 110510 (2022).
18. M. S. Gupta, Ed., IEEE Press selected reprint series. New York, IEEE Pr (1977).
19. M. E. Orazem and B. Ülgüt, Electrochimica Acta, 443, 141959 (2023).
20. G. Meyer, H. Ochs, W. Strunz and J. Vogelsang, Mater. Sci. Forum, 289–292, 372 (1998).
21. L. Yin, Z. Geng, Y.-C. Chien, T.Thiringer et al., Electrochimica Acta, 427, 140888 (2022).
Pubs + Patents: 64 publications (12 in JES), h-index 20 Work with ECS: Member since 2008 Website: https://burakulgut.bilkent.edu.tr/ https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4402-0033
Impedance Simulation Using COMSOL Multiphysics®
by Arthur Dizon and Christopher L. Alexander
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy has found widespread use as a nondestructive diagnostic and research tool.1 However, it can be challenging to characterize the impedance according to the physical properties of the system under study due to complicating factors that include measurement configuration, cell geometry, system heterogeneity, and coupled processes.2-7 A useful technique to characterize the influence of such factors on the measured impedance response is to exploit finite-element models formulated according to a mathematical representation of the system physics. This tutorial will explain how the impedance response of an electrochemical system can be modeled in a commercial finite-element software package (COMSOL Multiphysics®).
Mathematical Development
Constructing a mathematical model to simulate the impedance response of an electrochemical system of interest requires a clear mathematical representation of the transport and reaction mechanisms. These governing equations can be used to simulate the frequency response in both the time and the frequency domains. The mathematical development below describes the frequency-domain representation of a reversible first-order electrochemical half-cell reaction of
that is occurring on a disk electrode embedded in an insulating plane. Consider the general transport equation for a conserved quantity u, given as u t uS N v (2)
where the N is the flux, v is the advective velocity, and S is the volumetric source. The generalized governing transport equation can be used to describe any number of coupled variables, including charge, ions, and mobile species. In the case of charge, the generalized governing equation can be reduced to Laplace’s equation 0 i (3)
where i is the current density (i.e. the charge flux). The current density can be expressed in terms of Ohm’s law
where κ is the electrolyte conductivity and Φ is the electrical potential, which is assumed to be referenced to a counter electrode that is infinitely far away. The gradient of potential serves as a driving force for redistribution of charge. Note that the transient accumulation term, advective velocity, and volumetric source term were assumed to be zero, but can be non-zero. Since electrochemical reactions occur at the electrode surface, they can be represented in terms of a boundary current density flux, which was assumed to adhere to a Butler-Volmer kinetic expression as
where k is the reaction rate constant, F is Faraday’s constant, cA is the molar concentration of species A, cB is the molar concentration of species B, α is the charge-transfer coefficient, R is the universal gas constant, T is the temperature in Kelvin, and η is the kinetic overpotential. The kinetic overpotential, expressed as
M U (6)
represents the potential difference at the electrode interface, where ΦM is the potential of the metal electrode surface, U is the equilibrium potential of the electrochemical reaction, and Φ is the potential just outside the Helmholtz plane.
The faradaic reaction is dependent on the concentration of reacting species at the surface of the electrode. Transport of species A and B to and from the electrode surface prompts the definition of the transport mechanisms that influence the surface concentrations of A and B. The general transport equation can be used to describe the accumulation and diffusion of species A and B under the assumption of no advective velocity as
(7)
where Ni is the flux of species i (i.e., A or B). The species flux can be described using Fickian diffusion N iiDci (8)
where the concentration gradient serves as the driving force for mobile-species transport.
The governing equations hold for any geometry that is of interest. But regions of large gradients can result, which prompts the use of a sufficiently fine domain mesh to adequately resolve the local distributions. In this example, the edge of an electrode embedded in an insulating plane yields current densities that tend toward infinity. Thus, the use of fine meshing is necessary to capture the current densities near edges, which influence the total current passing at the electrode surface. The surface fluxes of species A and B can be related stoichiometrically to the reaction mechanism, which also can yield large gradients in the molar concentrations and may require the use of finer meshing near the electrode surface.
As previously stated, the governing equations can be used to simulate the impedance response of the electrochemical system in the time and frequency domains. For time-domain simulations, sinusoidal perturbations in potential or current density can be imposed. The corresponding response in current density and potential, respectively, can be converted into the frequency domain via frequency-response analytical methods (i.e., fast Fourier transform) to obtain the impedance of the electrochemical system.
An equivalent method is the transformation of the governing equations to the frequency domain via a Laplace transform. This conversion to the frequency domain can be facilitated by using Euler’s formula. A time-dependent quantity u can be expressed as a superposition of a steady-state part u and oscillating part ut uu tu u () cosRee j (9) where Δu and ω are the amplitude and angular frequency, respectively. Using Euler’s formula, the oscillating part can be expressed as the real part of uejωt where u is a phasor representing the sinusoidal oscillations and j is the imaginary number -1. Equation 9 can be substituted into the governing transport equations to yield the equivalent frequencydomain equation. For linear equations, the transformation can be applied directly. For nonlinear expressions like the faradaic reaction (Equation 5), a Taylor series expansion about steady-state can be used to linearize the expression. Since the impedance is a linear response, second order and higher terms in the series expansion can be discarded. The steady-state current density 1 F is simply the current
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at the steady-state concentrations and overpotentials. The oscillating faradaic current density 1F can be expressed as the sum
i ii c c i c c F FF A A F F B % (10)
The total oscillating current density 1 at the surface of the electrode was assumed to be the sum of the faradaic current density and the charging current as
iC i i F (11)
The time-domain charging current density can be represented as an interfacial capacitor with a capacitance C0 as iC t C d d 0 (12)
which can be expressed in the frequency domain as iC C j 0 (13)
The governing transport equations for the mobile species A and B can be converted to the frequency domain in an identical fashion yielding j cD c ii l 0 (14)
This approach results in a system of equations that represents steadystate and oscillating behavior of the electrochemical system.
COMSOL® Implementation
Incorporating the system of equations into COMSOL® can be done in many ways, including with the use of user-friendly built-in modules that often limit the modification of the underlying mathematics. For example, within its electrochemistry module COMSOL® provides a 1D example of the impedance response of the reaction scheme presented here. However, such pre-built modules can be limiting, and it is not always clear how certain drop-down selections influence the underlying mathematical representation of physics. Here, we present an approach to simulate impedance using physics modules that are available with the base version of COMSOL® within the AC/ DC and chemical species transport packages. First, the steady-state formulation is described and used to provide a polarization curve of which points along the curve are selected to simulate the impedance response according to the frequency-domain mathematical expressions.
Model Geometry and Mesh
The model geometry comprises a 2D-axisymmetric quarter-circle electrolyte domain, shown in Fig. 1a with an electrode boundary representing a disk surface of radius 0.5 cm centered at the origin (r=0, z=0) of the domain. The domain has a radius that is 3000 times greater than that of the disk to ensure concentration and potential gradients do not reach the outer edge of the domain, which represents the counter electrode boundary.
The domain is discretized using triangular elements that become finer near the disk boundary to account for potential and concentration gradients. Fig. 1b shows the mesh near the disk boundary. A rectangular domain with a fillet edge near the disk was used to facilitate mesh refinement. The maximum element size at the electrode boundary was 100 times smaller than the disk radius. An additional mesh refinement was added to the impedance model mesh in the form of fifty layers of boundary elements and a maximum element size 500 times smaller than the disk radius. The thickness of the first boundary layer was 10 nm with each subsequent layer that grew in thickness by a factor of 1.1. The model will yield inaccurate distributions of concentration and potential near the electrode surface if the boundary layers are not incorporated.
The mathematical development described to simulate the steadystate and oscillating potential and concentration distributions was implemented into COMSOL® using the Electric Currents and Transport of Diluted Species modules. The Electric Currents module adopts Laplace’s equation (Equation 3) under the assumption that the charge density is zero and the electrolyte conductivity is uniform. The Transport of Diluted Species module considers mass conservation (Equation 2) with options to include migration and convection in the flux term. Here, only diffusive flux is considered, according to Equation 8.
Steady-State Solution
The steady-state formulation directly adopts the specified boundary conditions for each set of physics described in the mathematical formulation. In the Electric Currents module, a normal current density expressed as Equation 5 is applied to the disk boundary, and the outer boundary for the domain is set to a ground potential (Φ=0). An electrolyte conductivity may be specified according to the bulk species concentration of charged species and their mobilities or simply set to a representative value. A value of 0.1 [S/m] was used here. The Transport of Diluted Species module is used to calculate the concentration distribution of each charged species under a provided applied potential. For the purposes of this tutorial, only two species are considered (A, B). A flux boundary condition is set at the disk surface expressed as a function of the applied current density,
Dizon and Alexander
Fig. 1. Images of the simulation domains and the meshing for (a) the full simulation
(a) (b)
with the oxidating species flux adopting the same sign as the current density and the reducing species flux set to the negative of the current density, where n is the number of electrons transferred. The bulk concentration of each species is specified as initial values and fixed at the counter electrode boundary. The two modules are coupled through the electrolyte potential (Φ(r,z)).
A single study step is used to calculate the steady-state potential and species-concentration distributions as functions of the applied potential. The solver linearity is set to automatic which defaults to a nonlinear solver for the specified physics. If the linear solver is used instead, the calculated polarization curve may not show any mass-transfer limitation. The total steady-state current at the disk surface is calculated by a boundary integration that is computed in the revolved geometry. The surface-averaged current density is expressed as the total integrated current divided by the surface area of the disk. The calculated steady-state polarization curve is shown in Fig. 2 with the surface-averaged current density expressed as a function of the applied potential. At the open-circuit potential and low overpotentials, there is an exponential relationship between the current and potential reflective of the Butler-Volmer expression specified. At overpotentials greater than 0.3V, the current begins to become diffusion limited because of the finite rate of transport of the reacting species.
The steady-state concentration of each species at the center of the disk is shown in Fig. 3 as a function of the normal distance from the disk surface in log-scale with applied potential as a parameter. At 0.2 V which is within the mass-transfer-limited range, the concentration of the reacting species cB approaches 0 near the disk surface indicating complete depletion of the species. Far from the disk surface, the concentration of each species approaches the specified bulk concentration 1 mol/m3. If the concentration does not vary smoothly near the disk surface, additional boundary layers may be required.
Impedance Simulations
The steady-state solutions are used to simulate the impedance response considering the mathematical formulation specified for the frequency domain. The calculations for the oscillating species concentration and potential are solved in the same model file but with a separate set of Electric Currents and Transport of Diluted Species modules. The normal current density boundary condition at the disk surface is expressed as the oscillation current density according to Equation 11, which includes faradaic and charging components. The faradaic contribution to the oscillating current density may be manually expressed according to the differentiation
of the steady-state current density with respect to each dependent variable or symbolically calculated within COMSOL® using the partial differential function “pd.” If iF is the steady-state faradaic current, then the oscillating faradaic current may be expressed as pd(iF,eta)*etao+pd(iF,cA)*cAo+pd(iF,cB)*cAo , where the first input in the "pd" function is the expression that is differentiated, and the second input is the variable in which the differential is made with respect to. The outer edge of the domain is set as a ground potential (Φ=0).
The physics associated with the Electric Currents module is coupled to a second Transport of Diluted Species module, which is used to calculate the oscillating species concentration distributions. A flux boundary is applied to the disk surface to allow the production and consumption of species according to the oscillating faradaic current density. The flux of species A is expressed as −1F/F and flux of species B is expressed as 1F/F, under the sign convention that an inward flux is positive. A concentration boundary condition is applied to the outer edge of the domain and was set to a value of 0, which represents the absence of oscillating concentration. The initial values of the oscillating concentrations are set to 0 as well. A domain reaction is added to account for the additional term in the oscillating mass conservation expression, Equation 15. The reaction term for each species concentration is set to -j*w*cAo and -j*w*cBo for species A and B, respectively.
A second stationary study is used to solve for the frequencydomain equations with the steady-state solution for a specified applied potential as an input. In the study settings, the second set of Electric Current and Transport of Diluted Species modules are selected to solve for. The applied potential at which the frequencydomain equations are solved is designated in the values of dependent variables section under the Initial Values of Variables Solved For section. The study should be specified as the one associated with the steady-state solution and the parameter value is selected in the dropdown menu. A linear solver must be used, which can be specified within the Stationary Solver settings under the General tab and in the Linearity menu. The default linearity setting for the specified physics will invoke a nonlinear solver that may not be able to handle the typical perturbation values specified for impedance measurements.
The global impedance is calculated from the oscillating current density at the disk electrode using an integration probe. The integration probe should integrate the local admittance across the disk electrode boundary with the “compute integral in revolved geometry” option selected, which can be expressed mathematically as
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Fig. 2. Steady-state polarization curve with current density expressed as a function of applied potential Va with respect to the reference potential placed infinitely far from the disk surface. The points indicate the potential at which the impedance is simulated.
Fig. 3. Steady-state concentrations of A and B as a function of position normal to the disk at radial position r = 0 with applied potential Va as a parameter.
(continued from previous page)
where r0 is the radius of the disk and ΔV is the potential perturbation amplitude. Within COMSOL® , the real component of the impedance may be calculated using the expression 1/(comp1.intop1(ec2. nJ/dV)) and the imaginary component may be expressed as imag(1/(comp1.intop1(ec2.nJ/dV))). The simulated impedance, made dimensionless by scaling it with the analytical solution of the ohmic resistance to a disk,8 is expressed in Nyquist format in Fig. 4 with the applied potential as a parameter. The first indication of sufficient mesh quality is the high frequency limit of the dimensionless impedance that approaches unity, indicating agreement with the analytical solution of the ohmic resistance to a disk electrode. The form of the simulated impedance for the chosen parameter values is influenced by the steady-state potential at which the simulation is performed. At the open-circuit potential, the impedance is displayed as a single semi-circular time constant. At increasingly cathodic potentials, the impedance shows the effects of mass-transfer limitations at low frequencies via the appearance of a Warburg impedance. Applying a larger overpotential lowers the faradaic impedance, revealing more of the diffusion impedance. Since the bulk concentration and diffusion coefficients of each species were equal, the impedance at the corresponding anodic potentials is the same.
A key use of the simulated impedance is to characterize the influence of electrode and domain geometry on the impedance response according to a comparison between the global impedance and the impedance of just the electrode and electrolyte interface. With the mathematical framework, the global impedance can be decomposed into the geometry-independent interfacial impedance and the geometry-dependent ohmic impedance ZΩ
Z 0 (17)
The global interfacial impedance may be calculated as
The simulated dimensionless global ohmic impedance is shown in Fig. 5 with the applied potential as a parameter. The ohmic impedance simulated at the open-circuit potential is in the form of a single distorted capacitive loop that can be fit with the Havriliak-Negami model.2 At increasingly cathodic potentials, the ohmic impedance becomes increasingly inductive at lower frequencies. The form of the ohmic impedance for the simulated physics depends on many factors, including geometry, rate limitations of the anodic and cathodic directions, and the concentration of supporting electrolyte. In more complex electrochemical systems, analysis of the contributions to the overall impedance response may reveal mechanistic aspects of the system under study and provide insight into appropriate interpretation of impedance measurements.
Summary
which represents the surface integral of the local interfacial admittance over the disk surface, which can be expressed within COMSOL® as 1/(comp1.intop1(ec2.nJ/(dV-Vo))). Subtraction of the global interfacial impedance from the global impedance reveals the geometry-dependent global ohmic impedance.2 Analysis of the global ohmic impedance can help establish the frequency range in which the global impedance is affected by geometry, therefore allowing more accurate interpretation of measured impedance data.
The implementation of the mathematical expression of the impedance response is used to simulate the influence of disk electrode geometry and mass transport on the impedance response considering a single reversible charge-transfer reaction. The implementation presented here is one of many approaches to simulate impedance in COMSOL®. An alternative method utilizes the coefficient form PDE that can be selected from the mathematics physics module under PDE interfaces. The coefficient form PDE adopts a general PDE where the coefficients of the PDE can be prescribed to configure the expression to represent the governing equations you wish to solve. This approach provides more control of the physics solved but also requires an understanding of matrix algebra.
The method of simulating the impedance response of a disk electrode under the influence of mass-transport was derived from first principles using the generalized governing equation, Equation 2, which served as the mathematical basis for charge transfer, influenced by Butler-Volmer kinetics and Fickian diffusion of mobile uncharged species A and B. Electrochemical systems that can benefit from such analyses are varied and include areas like corrosion, electrochemical sensors, fabrication through techniques like electroplating, and energy applications like batteries and fuel cells, which all obey fundamental transport laws. The key to developing impedance models for these systems relies on the accounting of the system-specific physics and chemistry that influence the impedance response, such as electrode geometry (in two and three dimensions), charged-species transport (in dilute and concentrated systems), fluid dynamics, multi-phase transport through porous media, and more descriptive electrokinetic models.
The general approach is to first express the physics of the system mathematically considering both the steady-state and the frequency domains. The mathematical formulation is implemented in COMSOL® according to pre-existing modules or general form
Dizon and Alexander
Fig. 5. Dimensionless global ohmic impedance in Nyquist format with applied potential Va as a parameter.
Fig. 4. Dimensionless global impedance in Nyquist format with applied potential Va as a parameter.
differential equations. Regardless of the implementation approach, care must be taken in optimizing the mesh to provide accurate calculations. For a disk geometry, mesh validation is provided in part by comparison of the simulated high frequency ohmic resistance to the analytical value. For other geometries, a more refined mesh sensitivity study should be performed to ensure that the simulated results approach an asymptotic value as the mesh is refined. Selection of the appropriate solver is also essential for accuracy, stability, and computational efficiency. Model results should also be validated with experimental measurements to ensure accurate representation of system behavior.
Once a simulated impedance is validated with experimental measurements, parametric studies may be performed to provide system response maps and sensitivity analyses, therefore providing a deeper understanding of the system under study. Additionally, impedance simulations performed over a range of parameters may be used to train machine learning algorithms that can predict the impedance response of a system at a specified state.
Arthur Dizon, Engineer, Advanced Power & Propulsion, Argonne National Laboratory
Education: BS and PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Florida) under Distinguished Professor Mark E. Orazem His dissertation work was on the development of electrokinetic dewatering technologies and understanding the influence of electrochemical cell geometry on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
Research Interests: Development of mathematical models to address performance, durability, and integration aspects of protonexchange-membrane energy conversion devices.
Work Experience: Currently, a Research Engineer in the Advanced Power and Propulsion Department at Argonne National Laboratory. Prior, he was a postdoctoral scholar at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory working under Dr. Adam Weber, where he performed cell-level experiments and mathematical modeling for hydrogen energy technologies that use proton-exchange membranes.
Christopher L. Alexander, Associate Professor, University of South Florida Education: PhD in Chemical Engineering (University of Florida). Dissertation work was on the application of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to corrosion detection in civil infrastructure and the role of surface heterogeneity in frequency dispersion. Research Interests: Corrosion detection, mitigation, and prediction. Modeling of electrochemical systems. Electrochemical chracterization methods. Work Experience: Postdoctoral fellow at Sandia National Laboratories where he studied atmospheric stress corrosion cracking as it relates to aging and lifetime of nuclear waste interim storage containers.
References
1. S. Wang, J. Zhang, O. Gharbi, V. Vivier et al., Nat Rev Methods Primers, 1, 41 (2021).
2. C. You, A. Dizon, M. Gao, V. Vivier et al., Electrochimica Acta, 413, 140177 (2022).
3. A. Dizon and M. E. Orazem, Electrochimica Acta, 327, 135000 (2019).
4. K. Davis, A. Dizon, C. L. Alexander and M. E. Orazem, Electrochimica Acta, 283, 1820 (2018).
5. C. L. Alexander, B. Tribollet and M. E. Orazem, Electrochimica Acta, 201, 374 (2016).
6. C. L. Alexander, B. Tribollet, V. Vivier and M. E. Orazem, Electrochimica Acta, 251, 99 (2017).
7. C. L. Alexander, S. C. Agbakansi and W. V. D. D. C. Bezerra, Corros Sci, 247, 112703 (2025).
8. J. Newman, J Electrochem Soc, 113, 501 (1966).
Appendix
Table I. List of mathematical and COMSOL variable names used in the implementation of the model in COMSOL.
Oscillating potential
Eeq Equilibrium potential
A cA Steady-state concentration of species A
B cB Steady-state concentration of species B
cA cAo Oscillating concentration of species A
B cBo Oscillating concentration of species B
eta Steady-state overpotential
etao Oscillating overpotential
freq Frequency
iF Steady-state faradaic current k*F_ const*(cA*exp(0.5*F _const/R_ const/298[K]*(VaV-Eeq))-cB*exp(0.5*F_const/R_ const/298[K]*(Va-VEeq)))
iFo Oscillating faradaic current pd(irev,eta)*(dV-Vo )+pd(irev,cA)*cAo+p d(irev,cB)*cBo
iCo Oscillating charging current j*w*Cdl*(dV-Vo)
ECS Detroit Section
The ECS Detroit Section has a longstanding presence in the Motor City metro area, enriching professionals’ lives with networking opportunities, interesting seminars, and good technical discussions for many years. When the pandemic hit in 2020, the section adapted, shifting to online seminars by speakers who did not often visit the area such as Dr. Michael M. Thackeray, Argonne National Lab, who presented a talk on a newly discovered low-temperature LNMO cathode.
In fall 2022, the section emerged from the virtual world, kicking off the new season with an inspiring seminar with Dr. Jungwoo Lee, co-founder of South 8 Technologies, at The Battery Show North America, which was held in Novi just outside of Detroit. In 2023, after many years at Lawrence Technological University, we moved to the new, centrally located Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America (MBRDA) site dedicated to advancing electric vehicle battery technology. In March, Carlton Brown, Dukosi, spoke about wireless cell BMS technology, and Prof. Wei Lai, Michigan State University, shared insights on the study of ionic transport in battery materials with machine learning interatomic potentials. Almost monthly seminars followed this promising start.
The first fall 2024 meeting seminar attracted more than 120 members and guests to “All Solid-State Battery – A Status Update” by Y. Shirley Meng, University of Chicago Professor and Chief Scientist, Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science. University of Michigan students Daniel Liao and Christopher Woodley were selected to receive awards from among the ten posters presented at the event.
The momentum has not diminished in 2025. The section organized a comprehensive lineup of technical seminars this year, nurturing meaningful exchange among ECS members, industry professionals, academicians, and students. Recently, Nissan’s R&D team offered to support section seminars at their North American Technical Center; this new home has allowed us to continue expanding.
ECS Detroit Section events include dinner, opportunities for student poster presentations, and invited talks from experts prominent in their field. These gatherings provide a dynamic union aligned with ECS’s mission to promote discussion, critical assessment, dissemination of knowledge in the field, and fostering education as a
steward of electrochemical and solid state science. A dedicated team organized the seminars: Chair Dr. Tobias Glossmann, MercedesBenz R&D North America; Vice Chair Nick Irish, General Motors; Secretary Raneen Taha, General Motors; Treasurer Vikram Patil, Freudenberg e-Power Systems; and Former Chair Erik Anderson, American Battery Solutions Inc.; with active volunteers that included Mohammed Hussain Abdul Jabbar (Nissan) who is Memberat-Large of the ECS High-Temperature Energy, Materials, & Processes Division and serves on the ECS Individual Membership Committee. Their collective efforts ensured insightful programming that connected ECS members to global trends in technology and new discoveries in science.
On January 30, Prof. Nicholas Kotov, University of Michigan, attracted a diverse audience for his audience-capturing talk on aramid nanofiber composites for batteries, including lessons on graph theory. The next lecture, on high-power vs. high-energy batteries, delivered on March 12 by William Mays, BASF, underscored the section’s commitment to supporting both fundamental and applied research in electrochemistry and materials science. We returned to MercedesBenz R&D North America for the April 7 seminar, “Detecting Internal Short Circuit in Li-ion Cells with Sahraei Failure Model.” Elham Sahraei, Professor and Director, Electric Vehicle Safety Lab, Temple University, delivered the presentation, which focused on battery safety and modeling.
In April, Mercedes-Benz R&D North America and co-organizer the University of Chicago hosted the Lithium Metal Battery Workshop, a premier meeting on advancing fundamental Li-metal battery science. ECS University of Michigan and Oakland University Student Chapters provided additional support. The ECS Detroit Section leveraged this unique opportunity by organizing a seminar with Lithium Metal Battery Workshop speakers. Top researchers from the University of Texas at Austin and leading technologists from industry leaders, including Factorial, Lyten, SAFT, and Sepion, shared their perspectives on lithium metal battery opportunities and challenges. Presentations highlighted advances in lithium-metal anode designs as well as solid state and Li–S batteries, concentrating on issues like scaling, reactivity, and electrolyte compatibility. The ECS seminar showcased the Society’s support for frontline research
la O’, Tyfast; Anne Co
The Ohio State University; Halle Cheeseman, ARPA-E; and Eric Wachsman, Maryland Energy Innovation Institute.
Dr. Y. Shirley Meng, University of Chicago Professor and Chief Scientist, Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science, presented “All Solid-State Battery – A Status Update” at the ECS Detroit Section’s seminar at Mercedes-Benz R&D North America.
Top right: Dr. Y. Shirley Meng with Christopher Woodley, University of Michigan, winner of the ECS Detroit Section 2nd Place Student Poster Award.
Lower right: Dr. Y. Shirley Meng with Daniel Liao, University of Michigan, winner of the ECS Detroit Section 1st Place Student Poster Award.
On June 16, 2025, the ECS Detroit Section collaborated with ARPA-E to host a seminar at the Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA) showcasing EVs4ALL program presenters and leadership.
Lower left photo: Participants enjoying a talk. Upper left: Participants included (standing with microphone): Dennis Corrigan, DC Energy Consulting LLC. Right: Speakers answering questions (from left to right): Tobias Glossmann, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America; Rodrigo Salvatierra, Zeta Energy LLC; GJ
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SECTION NEWS SECTION NEWS
developing transformative battery technologies with far reaching impact for society. The section strongly promotes and supports student involvement while fostering an inclusive and diverse community of participants.
Another highlight of the section’s event lineup was the highly successful June 16 seminar in collaboration with ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, US Department of Energy [DOE]), in town for their annual Evs4ALL program review. Almost 100 seminar attendees heard from and interacted with ARPA-E management and program participants, including speakers affiliated with the DOE, Zeta Energy, Ohio State University, Tyfast, and the University of Maryland. Insightful discussion of DOE’s direction and EVs4ALL program participants’ cutting-edge research activities, combined with thought-provoking conversation with industry leaders and scientists and good Middle Eastern food (which Detroit is known for) made this, the first ECS seminar conducted at the Nissan facility, an impressive accomplishment. The section thanks its diligent volunteers without whom the seminar would not have been such a success.
In summary, the ECS Detroit Section is active and driven to advance science and technology in the electrochemical field by supporting and educating the community. We are constantly planning
future activities and often find innovative ways to bring important speakers to the Detroit community. These speakers return home with inspiring impressions of our community—which is also important! The ECS Detroit Section held its 2025 Officer Election from April 2 to 28, 2025. Thank you to all who supported their regional community by voting, and to the new officers for serving their section.
ECS Detroit Section Officers
Chair: Tobias Glossmann, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America
Vice Chair: Nick Irish, General Motors Company
Secretary: Raneen Taha, General Motors Company
Treasurer: Vikram Chandrakant Patil, Freudenberg e-Power Systems
Members at Large: Devendrasinh Udaisinh Darbar, General Motors Company
Nicholas Ingarra, Oakland University
Zhibang Xu, American Battery Solutions
Ankun Yang, Oakland University
ECS Mid-America Section
The ECS Mid-American Section held its 2025 Officer Election from April 2 to 28, 2025. Thank you to all the section members who supported their regional community by voting, and to the new officers for serving their section.
Join us in congratulating our new ECS officers and wishing them well in their new endeavor!
ECS Mid-America Section Officers
Chair: Alexander Zestos, American University
Vice Chair: Steven Policastro, US Naval Research Laboratory
Secretary: Yayuan Liu, Johns Hopkins University
Treasurer: Raymond Santucci, US Naval Research Laboratory
Member at Large: Paul Albertus, University of Maryland
Section Leadership
Connect with Local Scientist and Engineers
Sections introduce and support activities in electrochemistry and solid state science within specific regions and bring technical news and activities to those not able to attend ECS meetings. Sections participate in overall ECS affairs, work to increase ECS membership, and help create awareness for science. Getting involved with a section
is an excellent networking opportunity for those new to the field or advanced in their careers!
For more information on your region’s section, go to https://www. electrochem.org/sections. For more information on joining, contact ECS Section & Chapter Engagement Specialist Maggie Hohenadel
Section Name
Section Chair
Arizona Section Candace K. Chan
Brazil Section Raphael Nagao
Canada Section Steen B. Schougaard
Chile Section José H. Zagal
China Section Open
Detroit Section Tobias Glossmann
Europe Section Jan Macák
Georgia Section Faisal Alamgir
India Section Sinthai Ilangovan
Israel Section Eran Edri
Japan Section Yasushi Idemoto
Korea Section Won-Sub Yoon
Mexico Section Norberto Casillas Santana
Mid-America Section Alexander Zestos
National Capital Section Chungsheng Wang
New England Section Sanjeev Mukerjee
Pacific Northwest Section April Li
Pittsburgh Section Open
San Francisco Section Xiong Peng
Singapore Section Zhichuan J. Xu
Taiwan Section Chi-Chang Hu
Texas Section Yan Yao
Thailand Section Soorathep Kheawhom
Twin Cities Section Lifeng Dong
Learn more about ECS sections at www.electrochem.org/sections.
Awards, Fellowships, Grants
The ECS Honors & Awards Program recognizes outstanding technical achievements in electrochemistry, solid state science, and technology, and acknowledges exceptional service to the Society. Award opportunities are provided in the categories of Society Awards, Division Awards, Section Awards, and Student Awards.
Society Awards
Charles W. Tobias Early Career Award (established in 2003): Recognizes outstanding scientific and/or engineering work in fundamental or applied electrochemistry or solid state science and technology by an early career scientist or engineer; recipients get a framed certificate; $5,000*; ECS Life Membership; complimentary meeting registration; and meeting travel support.
New! Nomination period: October 31, 2025 – January 31, 2026
ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship:
Established in partnership with the Toyota Research Institute of North America in 2015, encourages young professionals and scholars to pursue research into batteries, fuel cells and hydrogen, and future sustainable technologies. Fellows receive a restricted $50,000+ grant to conduct their proposed research within one year and complimentary ECS membership. Their research is presented at a Society meeting and published in an ECS journal.
Edward Goodrich Acheson Award (est. 1928): Acknowledges distinguished contributions to the advancement of ECS’s objects, purposes, or activities, and consists of a gold medal; plaque with a bronze medal replica; $10,000; ECS Life Membership; and complimentary meeting registration.
New! Nomination period: October 31, 2025 – January 31, 2026
Fellow of The Electrochemical Society (est. 1989): Recognizes advanced individual technological contributions to electrochemical and solid state science and technology and active membership and involvement in ECS’s affairs. Consists of a framed certificate and a lapel pin.
New! Nomination period: October 31, 2025 – January 31, 2026
Leadership Circle Awards (est. 2002): Honor and thank our electrochemistry and solid state science partners. Granted in the year that an institutional member reaches a milestone level, awardees receive a commemorative plaque and ECS website and ECS Interface magazine recognition.
Nominations are not accepted.
Division Awards
Battery Division Early Career Award (est. 2020): Recognizes and supports the development of talented future leaders in the field and encourages excellence among battery and fuel cell postdoctoral researchers through the presenting of a framed scroll; $2,000; and complimentary meeting registration.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Battery Division Postdoctoral Associate Research Award Sponsored by MTI Corporation and the Jiang Family Foundation (est. 2016): Encourages excellence among postdoctoral researchers in battery and fuel cell research with the prize of a framed scroll and $2,000.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Battery Division Research Award (est. 1958): Honors excellence in battery and fuel cell research, encourages publication with ECS, and recognizes outstanding contributions to the science of primary and secondary cells, batteries, and fuel cells. Winners receive a framed certificate and $2,000.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Battery Division Technology Award (est. 1993): Encourages the development of battery and fuel cell technology and recognizes significant achievements in this area with the presentation of a scroll; $2,000; and ECS Battery Division membership.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Corrosion Division Early Career Award (est. 2024): Recognizes corrosion science and technology early career researchers’ and engineers’ contributions with a framed certificate; $1,000; complimentary meeting registration; and possibly meeting travel expenses.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Corrosion Division H. H. Uhlig Award (est. 1973): Acknowledges excellence in corrosion research and outstanding technical contributions to the field of corrosion science and technology with the presentation of a scroll; $1,500; and discretionary ECS meeting travel expenses.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
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Corrosion Division Rusty Award for Mid-Career Excellence (est. 2021): Recognizes corrosion science and technology mid-career achievements and contributions with the award of a framed certificate; $1,000; complimentary meeting registration; and possibly meeting travel expenses.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Electrodeposition Division Early Career Investigator Award (est. 2015): Acknowledges outstanding early career electrochemical deposition science and technology researchers with a framed certificate; $1,000; and complimentary meeting registration.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Electrodeposition Division Research Award (est. 1979): Rewards outstanding recent electrodeposition achievements or research contributions (as demonstrated by quality papers published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society or other ECS publications) with a framed certificate and $2,000.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Energy Technology Division Walter van Schalkwijk Award for Sustainable Technology (est. 2021): Honors research scientists, academicians, and entrepreneurs making innovative and transformative contributions to sustainable energy technologies, with the award of a framed certificate and $1,000.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
High-Temperature Energy, Materials, & Processes Division Outstanding Achievement Award (est. 1984): Acknowledges excellence in high-temperature energy, materials, and processes research and outstanding technical contributions with a scroll; $1,000; up to $1,000 in meeting travel expenses; and complimentary meeting registration (if required).
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Luminescence and Display Materials Division Outstanding Achievement Award (est. 2002): Encourages excellence in luminescence and display materials research and outstanding technical contributions with the award of a scroll; $1,000; and discretionary ECS meeting travel expenses.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division David C. Grahame Award (est. 1981): Encourages excellence in physical electrochemistry research and stimulates publication of high quality research papers in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society with the award of a framed certificate and $1,500.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Sensor Division Early Career Award (est. 2021): Recognizes promising early-career engineers’ and scientists’ contributions to sensors, encouraging recipients to continue careers in the field and remain active in the ECS Sensor Division, by awarding a framed certificate; $1,000; complimentary meeting registration; and a division business meeting luncheon ticket.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Sensor Division Outstanding Achievement Award (est. 1989): Encourages excellence in sensors by acknowledging outstanding service to the sensor community and achievement in research and/or technical contributions. Awardees receive a framed certificate; $1,500; complimentary meeting registration; and division business meeting luncheon ticket.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Section Awards
Canada Section Electrochemical Award (est. 1981): Recognizes significant contributions to the advancement of electrochemistry in Canada with a gold medal.
New! Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Europe Section Alessandro Volta Medal (est. 1998): Honors excellence in electrochemistry and solid state science and technology research with a silver medal and $2,000.
New! Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
San Francisco Section Award (est. 2021): Recognizes excellence in electrochemical science and technology and/or solid state science and technology by an individual or team from California or the southwestern US; acknowledges service to ECS; and advances and encourages electrochemistry and solid state science and technology as a profession through the award of an engraved plaque and $2,000.
New! Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Student Awards
Battery Division Student Research Award Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Research & Development (est. 1979): Encourages promising young engineers and scientists studying electrochemical power sources to initiate or continue careers in the field by rewarding them with a framed certificate; $1,000; complimentary meeting registration; and up to $1,000 in meeting travel reimbursement.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Biannual Meeting Travel Grants ranging from complimentary meeting registration to luncheon/ reception tickets, travel expenses, and more, are offered by many ECS divisions and sections to undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and young professionals and faculty presenting ECS biannual meeting papers. The divisions and sections maintain their own application requirements.
249th ECS Meeting Travel Grant application period: December 5, 2025 – March 2, 2026
Canada Section Student Award (est. 1987): Encourages promising young electrochemical power source engineers and scientists to initiate or continue careers in the field, through an award certificate and $1,500.
New! Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Corrosion Division Morris Cohen Graduate Student Award (est. 1991): Recognizes and rewards outstanding corrosion science and/or engineering graduate research with a framed certificate; $1,000; and up to $1,000 in ECS meeting travel expenses.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
Colin Garfield Fink Fellowship: Provides postdoctoral scientist/researchers during the months of June through September with $5,000 to pursue research in a field of interest to the Society. Fellows publish a summary report in ECS Interface
Materials deadline: January 15, 2026
ECS General Student Poster Session Awards (est. 1993): Foster and promote graduate and undergraduate work in electrochemical and solid state science and technology and stimulate active student interest and participation in ECS by recognizing excellence in research of general interest to the Society. Posters accepted for presentation are eligible for awards of $1,500 (1st place); $1,000 (2nd place); $500 (3rd place). Award eligibility is based on abstracts being submitted and accepted into the Z01 General Student Poster Session; upload of a digital poster; and the author’s physical presence during in-person judging.
Materials are due by the 249th ECS Meeting abstract deadline: December 5, 2025
ECS Summer Fellowships (est. 1928): Assist students pursuing research in June through August in a field of interest to ECS through the Edward G. Weston Fellowship, Joseph W. Richards Fellowship, F. M. Becket Fellowship, and H. H. Uhlig Fellowship awards of $5,000. Fellows publish a summary report in ECS Interface. Materials deadline: January 15, 2026
Korea Section Student Award (est. 2005): Acknowledges a Korean university PhD student’s academic accomplishment in any area of science or engineering in which electrochemical and/or solid state science and technology is the central consideration. The award is $500.
Nomination period: September 15 – December 31, 2025
Pacific Northwest Section Electrochemistry Student Award sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific (est. 2021): Inspires promising young engineers and scientists in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho pursuing electrochemical engineering and applied electrochemistry PhDs to stay in the field through recognition in the form of a $1,000 prize.
Nomination period: September 15, 2025 – February 28, 2026
San Francisco Section Daniel Cubicciotti Student Award (est. 1994): Assists deserving students in Northern California pursuing careers in the physical sciences or engineering with $2,000 and a plaque (up to two honorable mentions also receive a framed certificate and $500).
New! Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026.
Sensor Division Student Research Award (est. 2021): Recognizes promising graduate students conducting outstanding sensor research with the award of a framed certificate; $500; complimentary meeting registration; and division business luncheon ticket.
Nomination period: October 15, 2025 – January 15, 2026
*Award amounts are in US dollars.
Nominations March 15 through June 15 (approved in the fall)
Nominations October 31 through January 31 (approved in the spring)
Award Winners
Join us in celebrating your peers as we extend congratulations to our recently selected ECS award winners! These awards are part of the ECS Honors & Awards Program, which has recognized professional and volunteer achievement in our multi-disciplinary sciences for decades.
. Society Awards
Carl Wagner Memorial Award
Paul J. A. Kenis is a Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) where he holds the Elio E. Tarika Endowed Chair. He presently serves as Director of the School of Chemical Sciences. His research focuses on (1) electrochemical approaches for chemical manufacturing including ammonia oxidation and water electrolysis for hydrogen production, CO2/ CO reduction, and glycerol oxidation, often from renewable resources such as CO2, air, flue gasses, and biomass (e.g., crude glycerol); and (2) autonomous/automated synthesis, purification, and characterization of inorganic nanomaterials.
Prof. Kenis received a BS in Chemistry from Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen and PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Universiteit Twente. Before joining UIUC, he completed a postdoc at Harvard University. The author of >220 publications and 14 patents, he received a Xerox Award; 3M Young Faculty Award; NSF CAREER Award; ECS Energy Technology Division Research Award; and Industry Project Award from the Institution of Chemical Engineers. Prof. Kenis is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society and International Society of Electrochemistry. He coauthored reports on the prospects of CO2 utilization at scale issued by the US National Academies, Royal Society, and global Mission Innovation consortium. Prof. Kenis is the Journal of The Electrochemical Society Technical Editor for Electrochemical Engineering, chairs the Society’s Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering (IE&EE) Division, and serves on the ECS Finance Committee.
Bruce Deal & Andy Grove Young Author Award
For the paper, J. L. Ninantay et al., “Chemically Amplified, Dry-Develop Poly(aldehyde) Photoresist,” ECS J Solid State Sci Technol, 13, 054004 (2024)
José Lopez Ninantay is a PhD student in Chemical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). His research in Paul Kohl’s lab focuses on engineering the depolymerization of degradable polymers for applications in semiconductor manufacturing technologies, with a focus on lithographic imaging.
Born and raised in Lima, Peru, José completed a BS at University of Kansas (2017) and MS at Georgia Tech (2021), both in Chemical Engineering. Before starting his PhD work in 2022, he worked on materials development for electro-optic integration at Georgia Tech’s Packaging Research Center. Throughout his graduate studies, José has been recognized with awards that include an Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award and 2024 SPIE (International Society for Optics and Phonics) Hiroshi Ito Memorial Award. During his time at Georgia Tech, José has served in leadership roles, including board positions at
the Association for Chemical Engineering Graduate Students, Latino Organization for Graduate Students, and Student Polymer Network. Outside the lab, he enjoys playing soccer and playing the guitar.
Norman Hackerman Young Author Award
For the paper, L. Hartmann et al., “Depletion of Electrolyte Salt Upon Calendaric Aging of Lithium-Ion Batteries and its Effect on Cell Performance,” J Electrochem Society, 171, 060506 (2024)
Louis Hartmann is a Senior Scientist at Mitra Chem, where he focuses on electrochemical diagnostics to support battery lifetime improvement and data-driven materials discovery.
After completing his BS and MS in Chemistry at the Technische Universität München, Dr. Hartmann completed a PhD in Chemistry there in the Chair of Technical Electrochemistry under the supervision of Prof. Hubert Gasteiger. His PhD research centered on degradation mechanisms and interfacial phenomena in lithium-ion and sodiumion batteries. He developed and applied advanced electrochemical and surface characterization techniques, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and in situ microscopy, to investigate cathode and anode stability, crosstalk effects, and electrolyte decomposition.
Dr. Hartmann’s work has led to international patents and numerous peer-reviewed publications, as well as impactful collaborations with BASF, Tesla, and BMW on battery performance and lifetime optimization. He also conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley on Li-air battery degradation, Dalhousie University on Prussian white materials and LFP-based crosstalk, and the University of Hawaii on aging mechanisms in commercial Li-ion cells and desalination batteries.
An active member of The Electrochemical Society since 2021, Dr. Hartmann regularly contributes to conferences and workshops and is passionate about bridging fundamental understanding with practical battery design to accelerate the commercialization of next-generation energy storage solutions.
Olin Palladium Award
Arumugam Manthiram is currently the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). His research focuses on electrochemical energy technologies.
Prof. Manthiram received his PhD in Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1981 followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford and UT-Austin. He joined UT-Austin’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1991 and served as Director of the Texas Materials Institute and the Materials Science and Engineering Program there from 2011 through 2022. The author of more than 1,000 journal articles with 132,000 citations and an h-index of 176, Prof. Manthiram provided training to more than 300 students
Photo: Georgia Tech
Photo: Georgia Tech
and postdoctoral fellows, including graduating 77 PhD and 30 MS students. Some 60 of his graduates are faculty; others hold leading battery industry positions around the world.
Dr. Manthiram is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, National Academy of Inventors, and five other societies, and an Academician of the World Academy of Ceramics. ECS awarded him the Battery Division Research Award and Technology Award, Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching, and inaugural John Goodenough Award. He received the International Battery Materials Association Research Award and Yeager Award; Indian Institute of Technology Madras Distinguished Alumnus Award; Billy and Claude R. Hocott Distinguished Centennial Engineering Research Award; and a university-wide Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. He delivered John B. Goodenough’s 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize Lecture in Stockholm.
Since joining ECS in 1995, Prof. Manthiram has served the Society in positions that include Chair of the ECS Texas Section (2006–2007) and ECS Battery Division (2010–2012), on the ECS Board of Directors (2010–2012), and on ECS committees such as the Editorial Advisory Board, Symposium Planning Advisory Board, Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittee, and various award subcommittees. He founded the ECS UT-Austin Student Chapter in 2006 and continues as its Faculty Advisor today. ECS awarded Prof. Manthiram with Life Membership in 2020.
Division Awards
Battery Division Early Career Award
Sponsored by Neware Technology Limited
Michael Metzger is the Herzberg-Dahn Chair for Advanced Battery Research and a Professor of Physics at Dalhousie University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Modern Physics, Sustainable Energy, and Advanced Energy Storage. At Dalhousie, Dr. Metzger leads a diverse group of young researchers who work on advanced lithium- and sodium-ion batteries. His group discovered the decomposition of polymer tapes in battery cells which leads to self-discharge. He is one of the three principal investigators in the Tesla-Dalhousie research partnership on long-lived and safe high-energy batteries based on sustainable, low-cost materials. This is Tesla’s only academic research partnership.
Prof. Metzger received his PhD from the Technische Universität München, where he developed new methods to study the degradation of lithium-ion batteries in close collaboration with BASF and BMW (2013–2017). He co-developed online electrochemical mass spectrometry, an ultra-sensitive gas analysis technique that allows detection of small quantities of unwanted gases to diagnose battery cells. Dr. Metzger focused on solid state lithium batteries, fuel cells, and water desalination as a Senior Research Engineer for Robert Bosch LLC (2017–2020), then joined the faculty at Dalhousie in 2021. He joined ECS while a graduate student in 2014.
Battery Division
Postdoctoral Associate Research Award
Sponsored by MTI Corporation and the Jiang Family Foundation
Weilai Yu is Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at the University of Toronto. He leads the LOGICS Laboratory, which integrates electrochemical, surface, and materials science to accelerate the development of next-generation technologies for energy conversion and storage. His ongoing research focuses on systematically elucidating how molecular interactions at nanoscale material interfaces govern the macroscale performance of chemical and energy conversion systems.
Prof. Yu was a Visiting Undergraduate Student at Harvard University in the spring of 2015 while studying for his BS in Chemistry from Wuhan University (2016). He joined ECS as a student in 2019, completing his PhD in Chemistry in 2021 at the California Institute of Technology with Profs. Nathan S. Lewis and Harry B. Gray. His doctoral research provided mechanistic insights into the long-term durability of semiconductor photoelectrodes for solar fuel production. From 2021 to 2024, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University, collaborating with Profs. Zhenan Bao and Yi Cui to investigate the reactivity of liquid electrolytes in high-energy lithium metal batteries. Among his honors, Dr. Yu was selected as a Young Scientist to attend the 71st Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Chemistry. He currently serves on the Community Editorial Board of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Materials Horizons.
Battery Division Research Award
Venkataraman Thangadurai is Professor and Chair in Energy and inaugural Faraday Institution Adjunct Professor at the School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews. He has 30+ years of experience in solid state chemistry and is a pioneer in the development of solid state electrolytes, especially garnettype Li-ion conductors, and electrodes for electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices. His current research activities include the discovery of novel solid state electrolytes for fast Li-ion and Na-ion conduction, and metallic electrodes for advanced solid state metal batteries and solid oxide cells.
Prof. Thangadurai received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1999. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Universität zu Kiel and Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. Universität zu Kiel awarded him the Dr. hab (2004). He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), and Royal Society of Canada and received the 2024 ECS Canada Section R. C. Jacobsen Award, 2023 University of Calgary Research Excellence Chair, 2021 Canadian Society for Chemistry Research Excellence Award in Materials Chemistry, and 2016 Chemical Institute of Canada Keith Laidler Award. He has published >270 peer-reviewed journal articles (h-index of 70). Dr. Thangadurai is co-founder of two start-ups based on his lithium ion electrolytes research. He joined the Society in 2000 and is active with the ECS Canada Section and ECS Battery Division and has served on the ECS Publications Subcommittee and Sensors Plus Editorial Advisory Committee.
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Battery Division Technology Award
Sang-Young Lee is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Yonsei University and a director of the Yonsei Battery Research Center. With a career spanning 11 years in industry and 16 years in academia, he has contributed to battery science through academic research, industry collaborations, entrepreneurial initiatives, and esteemed memberships. His research interests include high-mass-loading electrodes, organic materialbased solid state batteries, cellulose-based paper batteries, and flexible, wearable power sources.
Prof. Lee received a BA in Chemical Engineering from Seoul National University (1991), and MS (1993) and PhD (1997) in Chemical Engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology. He conducted postdoctoral research at the MaxPlanck-Institut für Polymerforschung from 2001 to 2002. As Principal Research Scientist at LG Chem’s Battery R&D Center from 1997 to 2008, Prof. Lee led the development of ceramic-coated separators (SRS®), a breakthrough technology that significantly improved battery safety and is now a global industry standard in EV batteries. He is a Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and National Academy of Engineering of Korea. The author of over 230 peer-reviewed publications with over 15,000 citations and an h-index of 70, he has filed more than 300 patents. Prof. Lee cofounded the start-up, UBATT Co., Ltd, developing advanced highenergy batteries for applications in aviation and robotics. He is an editor of the Journal of Power Sources.
Battery Division Technology Award
Gao Liu is a Senior Scientist and Group Leader of the Applied Energy Materials Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. With over 20 years of experience in electrical energy storage, his research integrates synthetic chemistry, composite engineering, and electrochemistry to address interdisciplinary challenges in the field. Dr. Liu’s lab employs advanced diagnostics to understand fundamental issues in energy materials and systems. They also utilize synthetic techniques to develop functional materials that enhance system performance. Dr. Liu pioneered research on multifunctional conductive polymer adhesives and made significant contributions to understanding polymeric binder behavior in composite electrodes. This work enabled the rational design of functional binders for emerging storage chemistries. His current research spans a wide range of topics, including electrode binders, silicon, sulfur, and lithium metal materials, as well as electrode engineering, electrolytes and additives, and solid state conductors. Beyond energy storage, Dr. Liu also conducts materials and engineering research in building resiliency, the circular economy, and advanced manufacturing.
Dr. Liu serves as the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) Consortium lead and coordinator for the Net Zero World Initiative, a global partnership dedicated to helping countries achieve their climate goals and accelerate transitions to net zero and resilient and inclusive energy systems. He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society and received 2013, 2015, and 2022 R&D 100 Awards, and the 2014 FMC Corporation Scientific Achievement Award. The author of 200+ peerreviewed publications, he holds over 28 granted patents. A longtime ECS member, Dr. Liu is active in the ECS San Francisco Section
(chairing it from 2022-2024) and Battery Division. He organizes the ongoing ECS Meeting electrode binder symposium series, sponsored by the Battery and Energy Technology Divisions.
Corrosion Division Early-Career Award
Rebecca Schaller is a Materials Scientist and principal member of the technical staff in the Materials Reliability Group at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Her work focuses on developing techniques to analyze corrosion at the local scale and extrapolate to the macroscopic level, improving real-world degradation predictions.
While earning her PhD at the University of Virginia with Dr. John Scully (2016), she received an Endeavour Research Fellowship to do research in Australia with Monash University and CSIRO (the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization). After graduating, she spent two years as a postdoctoral appointee at Sandia National Laboratories, followed by an assistant professorship position at the University of British Columbia. She returned to SNL in 2019. Dr. Schaller received the 2023 PATRAM Aoki Distinguished Oral Presentation Award, 2022 Sandia Postdoc Development Distinguished Mentor Award, and 2018 ECS Corrosion Division Morris Cohen Graduate Student Award. She coauthored the 2025 Ivy M. Parker Best Paper Published in Corrosion Journal. Dr. Schaller joined ECS in 2011 and has served on the Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittee. Since 2020, she has been on the ECS Corrosion Division Executive Committee where she is currently Vice Chair.
Corrosion Division H. H. Uhlig Award
James (Jamie) Noël is Associate Professor of Chemistry at Western University. An electrochemist and corrosion scientist, his research includes studies of the degradation of nuclear fuel and container materials for permanent disposal of nuclear fuel waste. He leads a large and diverse research group that conducts experimental research on aspects of the corrosion of copper, carbon steel, uranium dioxide, stainless steels, nickel alloys, and other materials. His industry research partners include the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company, National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (Chalk River), and others.
Prof. Noël completed his BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Guelph, supervised by Dr. Jacek Lipkowski. He then worked on corrosion issues in the nuclear industry while employed by Ontario Hydro Research and later, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). While at AECL, Prof. Noël earned his PhD at the University of Manitoba with David Shoesmith and Hymie Gesser as supervisors. He joined Western as Research Scientist in 1998 and became a faculty member in 2016. He is an Associate Editor of Corrosion Journal and Fellow of The Electrochemical Society. His awards include the ECS Canada Section’s R. C. Jacobsen and W. Lash Miller Awards, Western University Distinguished Research Professorship, Faculty Scholar Award, and Florence Bucke Science Prize. He has co-authored over 150 refereed journal articles, 50 refereed conference proceedings papers, 20 commercial reports, and six book chapters. Prof. Noël joined ECS in 1996 and became a Life Member in 2022. He has been active on the ECS Board of Directors (2020–2022) and standing committees, along with the ECS Canada
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Section (Chair, 2005–2007), ECS Corrosion Division (Chair, 20222024), and Education Committee (Chair, 2016–2021). At Society biannual meetings, he teaches Fundamentals of Electrochemistry Short Courses.
Corrosion Division
Rusty Award for Mid-Career Excellence
Dev Chidambaram is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). His research explores the relationship between surface chemistry and the electrochemical properties of materials, with a primary focus on corrosion behavior. He is known for his work on molten salts and the use of a complementary suite of analytical techniques.
Prof. Chidambaram holds degrees in chemical and electrochemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and materials science and engineering, earning his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook (2003). After completing his doctorate, he served as a Goldhaber Distinguished Fellow and Staff Associate Scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. In 2009, he joined the Chemical and Materials Engineering Department at UNR, where he was promoted to Associate Professor and then Professor. As Principal Investigator of UNR’s Materials and Electrochemical Research Laboratory, he secured over $20 million in research funding, graduated 31 students, and mentored over 30 undergraduate students. He currently advises seven doctoral candidates.
Prof. Chidambaram has authored more than 275 publications and presentations and holds five issued US patents. He was named Regents Distinguished Researcher by the State of Nevada in 2023. His work has also been recognized by the International Society for Electrochemistry, American Vacuum Society, and Society for Applied Spectroscopy. An active ECS member since 1996, he organized over 30 symposia including a specialized series on corrosion in nuclear systems and state-of-the-art techniques in corrosion. He served on the Society’s Board of Directors (2022–2024), chaired the ECS Corrosion Division, and was a member of the Interface Advisory Board (2018–2024). He currently serves on the ECS Honors & Awards Committee and Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Subcommittee.
Electrodeposition Division Early Career Award
Adam Maraschky is an Electrochemistry Team Leader at Electra, a start-up working to revolutionize ironmaking. He supervises scientists, engineers, and technicians developing iron electrowinning cell components. His research spans Li, Zn, Fe, and Sn electrodeposition, as well as molten salt electroanalytical chemistry, with a focus in electrode-electrolyte and separatorelectrolyte interfaces.
Dr. Maraschky earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University (2020), focusing on the fundamental mechanisms of dendrite formation in lithium electrodeposition. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, he investigated alkali metal battery technologies (2020–2021). In 2018, he received the ThinkEnergy Fellowship sponsored by the Great Lakes Energy Institute. Beyond the lab, Adam is an avid photographer and first became interested in chemistry and physics through his passion for analog image making. He joined ECS in 2017 and was a member of the ECS Case Western Reserve University Student Chapter.
Electrodeposition Division Research Award
Philippe M. Vereecken is Fellow at imec and part-time Professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. His expertise in electrochemistry, nanomaterials, and semiconductors has been successfully implemented in applications for lithium batteries, electrolyzers, and gas-diffusionelectrodes for water electrolysis and CO2 electroreduction. Electrodeposition continues to play a central role in his research, recently in particular the electrodeposition of passivated lithium and the electrochemical-induced deposition (ECiD) of non-conducting thin-films such as silica and phosphates.
Prof. Vereecken holds a PhD in Chemistry from Universiteit Gent (1998) and PhD in the field of semiconductor electrochemistry. He continued his academic career as a postdoc with Prof. Peter Searson at Johns Hopkins University (1998–2001), investigating electrodeposition of magnetic and magneto-resistive thin films and nanocomposites. He then joined IBM as a Research Staff Member at the T. J. Watson Research Center, working on damascene copper electroplating processes with Dr. Panayotis Andricacos (2001–2005). He developed the first 300 mm direct plating process, studied the underlying mechanisms of copper electrodeposition, and was part of Dr. Frances Ross’s team which used transmission electron microscopy to show, for the first time, electrochemical nucleation and growth in real-time. In 2005, Dr. Vereecken joined imec in Belgium, exploring growth and integration of nanowires and carbon nanotubes for (post)CMOS applications. He was appointed Professor in the Bioscience Engineering faculty at KU-Leuven in 2009. Dr. Vereecken has authored and co-authored over 230 scientific publications and is inventor and co-inventor of more than 60 patent families. Since joining ECS in 2000, he served on the ECS Board of Directors (2019–2021), has been active with the ECS Electrodeposition Division (Chair, 2019–2021) and many of its committees, ECS Belgium Student Chapter Faculty Advisor, and on the Interface Advisory Board.
Electrodeposition Division Research Award
Giovanni Zangari is Professor of Materials Science Department of Materials Science and Center for Electrochemical Science and Engineering (CESE) at the University of Virginia. His research interests include the growth by electrochemical deposition and the characterization of metallic, semiconductive and dielectric films for advanced applications in magnetics, microelectronics, actuation and energy conversion, the development of novel electrochemical processes for the practical fabrication of sensors and devices, and the investigation and optimization of electrochemical methods for the synthesis of nanostructures. An overarching theme of his research is also the fundamental understanding of electrochemical deposition phenomena and how atomistic processes determine microstructure and properties of materials.
Prof. Zangari holds an MS in Nuclear Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano (1991). After completing a PhD in Metallurgical Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino (1995) under the guidance of Pietro Cavalloti, he was a postdoctoral associate at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1998 to 2002 he was an assistant and then associate professor in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and the MINT Center at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, before joining the University of Virginia in 2002.
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Prof. Zingari is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society and has received awards that include the 2012 Interfinish World Congress and Exhibition Distinguished Plenary Lecture Award, 2001 NSF CAREER Award, and 1999 Oak Ridge Associated Universities Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. According to ResearchGate, his 400+ publications have received 7,848 citations.
An ECS member since 2000, his service with the Society includes chairing the Electrodeposition Division and serving as an officer of the National Capital Section.
Energy Technology Division Walter Van Schalkwijk Award in Sustainable Energy Technology
Wenzhen Li is Professor and Stiles Faculty Fellow in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Iowa State University. His research focuses on catalysis, electrochemical energy conversion, paired electrolysis and biorenewables, and waste plastics upcycling. A pioneering researcher in the application of carbon nanomaterials for fuel cells, Prof. Li was among the first to discover potential-regulated polyol electrooxidation for producing value-added oxygenated chemicals. His recent work spans electrocatalyst design, electrochemical conversion of biomass and plastics to fuels and chemicals, green fertilizer synthesis, carbon dioxide capture and reduction, electrochemical C-N coupling, and innovative paired electrolyzer systems. His impactful contributions to electrochemical science and engineering continue to advance the frontiers of sustainable energy technologies.
Prof. Li earned his PhD with honors from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2004), then conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Masahiro Watanabe at the University of Yamanashi and Prof. Yushan Yan at the University of California, Riverside. Prior to joining Iowa State in 2014, he was a Research Scientist at the State University of New York Albany’s College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and served as Assistant and Associate Professor at Michigan Technological University. Prof. Li has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles with more than 19,000 citations with an h-index of 74. He holds nine issued US patents. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, he received multiple research awards from Michigan Tech and Iowa State Dr. Li joined ECS in 2003. He is a Member at Large of the ECS Industrial Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering Division.
High-Temperature Energy, Materials, & Processes
Division Subhash Singhal Award
Subhasish Mukerjee is the Chief Scientific Officer at Ceres Power and honorary Visiting Professor at Imperial College. He has over 27 years of experience in clean energy technologies.
Dr. Mukerjee completed his PhD at Yale University and postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He has published widely in multiple journals and has multiple patents in his field. For 13+ years, Dr Mukerjee has held multiple technology leadership roles at Ceres, a leading clean energy company in the UK focused on solid oxide technology for clean power and green hydrogen. He led technology development programs, managed the core development teams, and provided key technical leadership in the company’s commercial growth.
Dr Mukerjee was part of the Ceres team that won the prestigious 2023 Royal Academy of Engineering MacRoberts Award. Before
Ceres, he worked at BP Chemicals and at Delphi Corporation. As Technology Leader at Delphi Corporation, he was part of the team that pioneered the development of solid oxide for transportation applications like auxiliary power units for automobiles and heavyduty trucks. He was a key Delphi technologist in the US government–funded Solid State Conversion Alliance with key collaborator, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, which received the US Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence. He is a strategic advisory board member of the Hub for Research Challenges in Hydrogen and Alternative Liquid Fuels (UK-HyRES) and the Hydrogen Integration for Accelerated Energy Transitions Hub (HIACT), the UK’s leading technology programs for hydrogen research.
Organic and Biological Electrochemistry Division
Manuel M. Baizer Award
Shelley Minteer is the Dr. Ken Robertson Memorial Professor in Chemistry and the Director of the Kummer Institute Center for Resource Sustainability at Missouri University of Science and Technology. She is also the Director of the NSF Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry. Her research focuses on bioelectrocatalysis and organic electrosynthesis.
Prof. Minteer received her PhD in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Iowa (2000) under the direction of Prof. Johna Leddy. She then spent 11 years as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry at Saint Louis University before moving to the University of Utah in 2011 to lead the USTAR Alternative Energy Cluster. Prof. Minteer was a Technical Editor for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society (2013–2016) and Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society (2016–2020) before becoming the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of the ACS Au Journals. She has published over 500 publications and greater than 550 presentations at national and international conferences and universities. Awards she has received include Fellow of The Electrochemical Society and the International Society of Electrochemistry; the Bioelectrochemical Society Luigi Galvani Prize; International Society of Electrochemistry Tajima Prize and Bioelectrochemistry Prize; ECS Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division David C. Grahame Award; American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Electrochemistry; and the Society of Electroanalytical Chemists Young Investigator Award and Reilley Award.
An active ECS member since 1996, she has chaired the Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division, Organic and Biological Electrochemistry Division and has held numerous committee positions.
Physical and Analytical Electrochemistry Division Max Bredig Award in Molten Salt and Ionic Liquid Chemistry
Donald Sadoway is the John F. Elliott Professor Emeritus of Materials Chemistry, MacVicar Faculty Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research seeks to establish the scientific underpinnings for technologies that make efficient use of energy and natural resources in an environmentally sound manner. The overarching theme of his work is electrochemistry in nonaqueous media. Specific topics in applied research are environmentally sound electrochemical extraction and recycling of metals; rechargeable batteries for stationary storage or mobile applications; and synthesis of thin films or of nanoparticles in cryogenic media.
Professor Sadoway completed undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Toronto, earning his PhD in Chemical Metallurgy in 1977. Later that year he went to MIT to do postdoctoral research,
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and in 1978 he joined the MIT faculty. Prof. Sadoway’s animated lectures, peppered with references to music, art, and literature, earned him this compliment from Bill Gates: “Best chemistry lessons anywhere. Unbelievable.” In 2012, for the invention of the liquid metal battery, he was named by Time magazine one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.” In 2021, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society established the Sadoway Award for Materials Innovation and Advocacy, which recognizes scholars with outstanding materials science achievements. Other accolades he has received include the 2022 European Inventor Award (NonEPO Countries), 2014 Norm Augustine Award for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Communications, 2009 and 2011 Lightspeed Venture Partners Professional Development Award for Research on Grid-Level Energy Storage, 2004 Edward Moore Baker Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and 1980 and 1983 Alcoa Foundation Professional Development Award.
He is the co-founder of Ambri, Boston Metal, Pure Lithium, Avanti Battery, and Sadoway Labs and holds more than 40 patents. Prof. Sadoway joined ECS in 1979.
Sensor Division Early Career Award
Itthipon Jeerapan is Assistant Professor in the Division of Physical Science at Prince of Songkla University. His research, which lies at the intersection of electrochemistry, analytical chemistry, bioelectronics, and advanced materials, emphasizes the development of miniaturized, wearable, ingestible, and implantable electrochemical platforms for diverse applications in healthcare, food sensing, environmental monitoring, and energy systems. He has made significant pioneering contributions to the fields of self-powered biosensors and enzymatic biofuel cells, combining innovative material design with electrochemical functionality to enable autonomous, real-time sensing solutions.
Prof. Jeerapan earned his BS in Chemistry with First Class Honors from Prince of Songkla University and completed his MS and PhD in NanoEngineering at the University of California, San Diego. His undergraduate and graduate education in the fields of chemistry, science, and technology was supported by a Royal Thai Government scholarship. He joined ECS in 2018, is an Associate Editor of Sensors Plus, and has served on the ECS Joint Editorial Board since 2023. Prof. Jeerapan has received numerous honors, including the 2025 Federation of Asian Chemical Societies Award for Distinguished Young Chemist, 2024 Thailand Young Scientist Award, 2022 Chemical Society of Thailand Distinguished Young Chemist Award, and the 2021 National Research Council of Thailand Outstanding Dissertation Award. He was recognized among the World’s Top 2% Scientists in 2023 and 2024 and is the author of over 70 publications with more than 5,550 citations and an h-index of 30.
Section Awards
Canada Section W. Lash Miller Award
Samira Siahrostami is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Tier 2 Canada Research Chair at Simon Fraser University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on advancing the fundamental understanding and design of electrochemical reactions, driving the development of next-generation materials for clean energy and environmental sustainability. She applies computational
methods to understand and predict the behavior of nanomaterials in electrochemical systems. By investigating the fundamental physicochemical properties at the atomic level, Dr. Siahrostami aims to uncover structure–activity relationships and design novel nanostructures with optimized performance for electrochemical systems, including fuel cells, electrolyzers, and batteries. Her work addresses key reactions for sustainable energy technologies, including the electrochemical conversion of small molecules such as CO2, O2, NO3, and H2O—critical for advancing low- and zero-carbon energy solutions.
Prof. Siahrostami completed a PhD at Shiraz University (2011) followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (2011–2013). She completed a second postdoc at Stanford University (2014–2016), where she later served as a research engineer (2016–2018). She held a faculty position at the University of Calgary from 2018 to 2023. The author of more than 120 peer-reviewed publications with an h-index of 52, she has been cited over 19,300 times. Her scientific contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2023 Canadian Society for Chemistry Tom Ziegler Award, 2023 Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology WIN Rising Star Award, and 2021 Royal Society of Chemistry Environmental, Sustainability, and Energy Division Horizon Prize: John Jeyes Award. She joined ECS in 2020.
Student Awards
Battery Division Student Research Award
Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Research & Development
Seungju Yu recently completed his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University under the supervision of Professor Kisuk Kang. His research focuses on the advancement of materials for nextgeneration lithium-ion batteries, including all-solid-state battery systems. By combining computational modeling with experimental validation, he investigated lithium-ion diffusion mechanisms in halide solid electrolytes. His work established a novel design principle for halide solid electrolytes by revealing the dual role of cation disordering as both a diffusion inhibitor and a structural pillar. This insight provided a foundational framework for the rational design of superionic conductors, leading to the publication of multiple research papers in journals, including Science and Nature Communications. He completed his undergraduate studies at Seoul National University.
Battery Division Student Research Award
Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Research & Development
Xintong Yuan is a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, working with Prof. Yuzhang Li on next-generation batteries, exploring the fundamentals of lithium-metal deposition, and the formation of solid electrolyte interphase using cryo-EM. Specifically, Xintong’s research tackled a decades-old question in battery research: what is the intrinsic morphology of lithium deposits in the absence of a solid electrolyte interphase layer? Xintong revealed the intrinsic lithium nucleation morphology to be that of a non-dendritic rhombic dodecahedron that is independent of electrolyte chemistry or substrate composition. Her unexpected findings transformed how the field thinks about lithium-metal
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electrodeposition and provides new insights into avoiding key failure modes during fast charging of lithium metal batteries.
Xintong was recognized as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Chemical Engineering Rising Star and Materials Science and Engineering Rising Star (co-organized by MIT, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). She received a Materials Research Society Graduate Student Gold Award and American Institute of Chemical Engineers Women in Chemical Engineering Travel Award. Xintong is a member of the 2025 class of next-generation researchers pursuing postdoctoral studies with support from the global Schmidt Science Fellowship. She has authored 21 journal publications, including five as first author.
Canada Section Student Award
Tyra Lewis, originally from the Virgin Islands, is pursuing a PhD in Materials Science at Trent University under the supervision of Dr. Sanela Martic Specifically, her research interests lie in electroanalysis, electrosynthesis and electrocatalysis. In her PhD research, she is fabricating electrochemical sensors toward the application of innovative avenues for more sustainable and precise approaches to environmental monitoring.
Tyra received her BSc in Forensic Science (2020) and MSc from Trent University (2022). Her undergraduate research focused on studying the electrochemical reactivity of flavonoids and flavonoidmetal complexes with the superoxide anion radical. She then applied her skills to her MS thesis which focused on the development of a localized surface plasmon resonance-based sensor for SARS-CoV-2 proteins. As first author, she has published original research and reviews in journals such as Analyst, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Electrochemical Science Advances, and Electrocatalysis Awards she has received include poster awards from the 2020 International Society of Electrochemistry Meeting, 2021 ECS Canada Section Meeting, and 2022 Royal Society of Chemistry Analytical Division Poster Competition; nomination for the 2022 Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal in 2022; and Canadian Black Scientists Network BE-STEMM 2023 Conference Award for Research Innovation and Impact. Beyond her research, Tyra is passionate about science communication and community service and has held leadership roles in the Rotary Organization. She joined ECS in 2019 is an officer of the Ontario Tech–Trent University ECS Student Chapter.
Corrosion Division Morris Cohen Graduate Student Award
Jijo Christudasjustus is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). His research focuses on corrosion science, alloy development, and the advanced characterization of materials exposed to extreme environments. With expertise in both in situ and ex situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM), he investigates degradation mechanisms at the nanoscale, aiming to improve the performance and durability of structural materials. Currently, at PNNL, his research is expanding to study the effects of irradiation and molten salt corrosion on advanced reactor materials, funded by the Department of Energy’s Energy Frontiers Research Center,
specifically the Fundamental Understanding of Transport under Reactor Extremes. His research supports the development of resilient materials for next-generation nuclear energy systems and hightemperature environments.
Dr. Christudasjustus earned his PhD with funding from the National Science Foundation, at North Carolina State University, focusing on the corrosion behavior of nanostructured and far-from-equilibrium aluminum alloys. His work demonstrated that strategic solute additions can improve mechanical strength and enhance corrosion resistance by stabilizing passive films, disrupting defect pathways, and promoting repassivation. Dr. Christudasjustus’ contributions provided valuable insights into solute-driven mechanisms that govern passivity and breakdown in lightweight alloys. He joined ECS in 2023.
Korea Section Student Award
Kyeong-Seok Oh recently completed his PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Yonsei University. His research on advanced polymer electrolytes and interfacial engineering strategies for solid state batteries was supervised by Prof. Sang-Young Lee. Dr. Oh’s exploration of novel approaches to supramolecular chemistry and entropy-driven electrolyte design has been published in journals that include Advanced Energy Materials and ACS Energy Letters From 2022 to 2024, he served as his lab’s electrolyte team leader, managing a team of more than 20 researchers and overseeing cross-functional collaborations. Currently, Dr. Oh is expanding his research into scalable dry electrode platforms and post-lithium battery electrolytes to bridge the gap between academic discovery and commercial viability in next-generation battery technologies.
Dr. Oh’s awards include the 2024 National Academy of Engineering of Korea Wonwik Award; 2023 TCI Excellence in Polymer Research Award; 2023 and 2024 Samsung HumanTech Paper Award Silver Prizes; and 2020 Samsung Electro-Mechanics Paper Award Gold Prize. Along with over 40 domestic and international patents, his work has resulted in numerous collaborative projects with industry partners such as Hyundai, LG Energy Solution, and Samsung.
Pacific Northwest Section
Electrochemistry Student Award
Sponsored by Thermo Fisher Scientific
Michelle Katz is a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington (UW), where she researches materials and manufacturing strategies for advanced lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). She holds a BS and MS in Materials Science and Engineering from UW. Her PhD research focuses on experimentally investigating 3D structured and interdigitated electrodes to improve rate performance, energy density, and design flexibility for emerging energy storage applications. In her recent work published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Michelle developed a high-viscosity, printable polymer composite separator that can be fabricated directly onto LIB electrodes, resulting in increased cell discharge capacity. Beyond separator development, she has 3D printed electrodes using NMC-532, graphite, LFP, and LTO active materials. Currently, Michelle is collaborating with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to explore the impacts of 3D-printed electrode architectures on next-generation cathode materials, such as NMC-811.
In addition to her technical contributions, Michelle is dedicated
to mentorship and has supported 11 undergraduate and MS students through independent research projects. Many of her mentees go on to pursue advanced degrees and careers in energy technology. As she completes her PhD over the next year, Michelle plans to pursue research opportunities in industry and hopes to use her expertise to help bridge the gap between scientific innovation and real-world impact.
San Francisco Section Daniel Cubicciotti Student Award
Il Rok Choi is a battery researcher specializing in electrolyte design for lithiummetal batteries. As a PhD candidate in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University under Professor Zhenan Bao, he develops electrolyte formulations and solvent systems to enable fast-charging and high-efficiency lithium-metal anodes. His work covers electrolyte synthesis, interfacial chemistry, and advanced characterization, addressing challenges like dendrite formation and side reactions to improve battery performance and stability.
While an undergraduate student, Il Rok researched nanocomposite cathode materials, gaining experience in battery materials. In addition to research, he incorporates cost analysis and market strategy to connect scientific advancements with commercial viability. Il Rok is a student leader at Stanford StorageX and the Stanford Sustainable Mobility Initiative, working with industry and researchers on energy storage and transportation projects. Outside of research, Il Rok enjoys tennis and poker, which sharpen his strategic thinking. He is also passionate about jazz and electronic dance music (EDM). Combining technical expertise with a broader perspective on commercialization, he aims to develop practical solutions for next-generation battery technology.
Thomas Colburn is a fifth-year PhD Candidate in Reinhold Dauskardt’s Materials Science and Engineering group at Stanford University, where he studies rapid, low-cost methods to manufacture metal oxide thin films and nanomaterials for solar cells, batteries, catalysis, and dielectrics. His work centers around transparent conducting oxides for perovskite solar cells, solid state Li electrolytes, and ordered meso/nanoporous oxides. He utilizes advanced X-ray scattering and spectroscopy techniques using synchrotron radiation at the SLAC, Brookhaven NSLS-II, and MAX IV laboratories.
Thomas received his BSc with Honors and Distinction in Chemical Engineering at Stanford in 2020, working with Prof. Zhenan Bao on the scalable fabrication of all-polymer organic photovoltaics. He was selected as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a Stanford TomKat Center Graduate Fellow for Translational Research. Outside of his scientific pursuits, Thomas is an awardwinning saxophonist, section leader of the Stanford Wind Symphony, director of a Gregorian chant and sacred choral music choir, and passionate chef and gardener.
Sensor Division Student Research Award
Wonhyeong Kim is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Arizona. His research aims to advance scalable, costeffective sensing platforms for real-world applications in food monitoring, clinical diagnostics, and environmental sensing. With his strong background in materials chemistry and sensor design, he is passionate about integrating polymer science, electrochemistry, and device engineering to solve emerging challenges in analytical technology. His work includes the fabrication of chemiresistive gas sensors and electrochemical liquid sensors targeting furaneol (a strawberry flavor biomarker) and the stress biomarker hormone cortisol. He has performed systematic comparisons between insulating and conducting MIPs, with particular emphasis on the role of functional group chemistry and hydrogen bonding in imprinting efficiency.
Dr. Kim’s BS in Textile Engineering from Kyungpook National University focused on functional materials and surface engineering. His PhD in Materials Engineering from Auburn University under Dr. Dong-Joo Kim centered on the development of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based electrochemical sensors for the selective and sensitive detection of chemical and biological analytes. By incorporating conducting polymers into the MIP matrix, he addressed limitations such as low electrical conductivity and limited binding site accessibility. Dr. Kim is the author of several first-author publications in peer-reviewed journals, including ACS Sensors, ACS Applied Polymer Materials, and ECS Sensors Plus
Fellows of The Electrochemical Society
The designation of Fellow of The Electrochemical Society was established in 1989 for advanced individual technological contributions in the fields of electrochemistry and solid state science and technology, as well as for service to the Society. These members are recognized at a Plenary Session for scientific achievements, leadership, and active participation in the affairs of ECS. Each year, up to 15 renowned scientists and engineers are chosen by their peers for this honor. Join us in celebrating the 2025 Class of the Fellows of The Electrochemical Society.
Thierry Brousse is a Distinguished Professor of Materials Chemistry at the École polytechnique universitaire de Nantes Université, and a leading researcher at the Institut des Matériaux de Nantes Jean Rouxel (Nantes Université/CNRS). A central theme of his research career has been the synthesis and characterization of metal oxides for various energy-related applications. This notably includes the development of alternative negative electrodes for lithium-ion batteries, such as innovative Sn-based compounds, titanates, and niobates. During a pivotal sabbatical in Montréal, he prompted investigations into the charge storage mechanisms of pseudocapacitive oxides. His work in this area has since expanded to encompass a broad range of electrode materials, including metal nitrides and functionalized carbons alongside novel electrolytes—all integrated into hybrid devices, lithium-ion capacitors, and microsupercapacitors.
Following his graduation from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Caen (ISMRA), Prof. Brousse earned his PhD in
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1991, focusing on high-temperature superconducting thin films. He subsequently worked as an analytical chemistry engineer in the nuclear industry before joining Polytech Nantes as Assistant Professor in 1994. He became a full professor in 2005 and was named Distinguished Professor in 2012. A member of ECS since 1996, he served as Associate Editor for the Battery and Energy Storage topical area of the Journal of The Electrochemical Society for 12 years (2012–2024). He organized ECS and ISE symposia on electrochemical capacitors, including related research areas. In 2009, he founded the International Symposium on Enhanced Electrochemical Capacitors, which takes place biennially in Europe.
Scott Calabrese Barton is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Michigan State University (MSU). His research focuses on the interactions between reactions and transport in high-surface area electrodes, with particular emphasis on redox biocatalysts and transition metals. His research group combines experimental and computational approaches to discover and optimize new catalysts while advancing fundamental understanding of their activity limits. Research areas include biological fuel cell design, transition metal catalysis for oxygen reduction, and multiscale modeling of electrostatic channeling in enzyme cascades.
Prof. Calabrese Barton earned a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, SM in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University under the direction of Alan West. After postdoctoral training with Adam Heller at the University of Texas, he joined the Columbia University faculty in 2001 before moving to MSU in 2006. Prof. Calabrese Barton has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles (including 20 in ECS journals) and co-authored more than 70 ECS conference presentations. An ECS member since 1995 and Life Member since 2019, he has guest edited two Journal of The Electrochemical Society focus issues, served as Chair of the Energy Technology Division, completed multiple terms on three Society-level committees, and currently chairs the Education Committee.
Uroš Cvelbar is Head of the Department of Gaseous Electronics at the Jožef Stefan Institut and Professor of Nanotechnology at the Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Slovenia. He is a leading figure in plasma-driven science, pioneering work in plasma nanotechnology, electrochemistry, and nanomaterials for applications in energy, sensing, and biomedicine. Over the course of two decades, his research has led to important innovations in plasma-enabled nanomaterial synthesis, energy storage, and environmental technologies. As one of the founders of plasma nanoscience and plasma electrochemistry, he has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed publications and holds 20 patents.
Prof. Cvelbar received his PhD in Materials Science from the University of Ljubljana in 2005. He held visiting positions in Australia, China, France, India, and the US, and has actively contributed to international scientific communities. A Society member since 2008 and Life Member since 2022, he served in leadership roles in the ECS Dielectric Science and Technology Division and other ECS committees and currently serves on the Honors & Awards Committee and Individual Membership Committee. His achievements have been recognized with the 2023 Zois Recognition Award and 2011 Puh Award and Erudite Professorship, as well as three Slovenian
Excellence in Science Awards and fellowships from the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and the World Academy of Art and Science.
Avetik Harutyunyan currently serves as Senior Chief Scientist at the Honda Research Institute USA and Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he co-directs the MIT-HRI US Quantum Technology Program. A distinguished physicist and materials scientist with over four decades of pioneering research in quantum technologies, nanomaterials, and condensed matter physics, his work focuses on advancing quantum technologies and energy challenges.
An ECS member since 2008, Dr. Harutyunyan earned his BS in Quantum Electronics and holds a PhD in Physics and Mathematics. His research has earned over 120 patents and honors, including fellowships from the American Physical Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science. His career spans prestigious institutions, including The Pennsylvania State University, where he has served as Adjunct Research Professor since 2014, and earlier appointments at the N. N. Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and The Institute for Physical Research of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences.
Frequently invited to lecture globally, Dr. Harutyunyan has played a leading role in scientific advisory boards, journal editorial boards, and international collaborations. His innovations continue to shape emerging technologies in quantum sensing, sustainable energy, and nanoelectronics.
Bing-Joe Hwang is the Chair Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Founder and Director of the Sustainable Electrochemical Energy Development Center at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech). His research spans subjects from electrochemistry to spectroscopy, interfacial phenomena, materials science, and theoretical chemistry.
Prof. Hwang received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the National Cheng Kung University in 1987 and joined Taiwan Tech in 1988. He did research at the Institut für Elektrochemie der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2001), and Stanford University (2015). He is Executive Editor of ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering. Considered the father of battery research in Taiwan, his work has resulted in 550 peer-reviewed publications with an h-index of 99 with 40,000 citations, and 80 patents. Among the many awards he received are the 2020 Humboldt Research Award, 2020 Ministry of Education Lifetime National Chair Professorship, and three National Science Council of Taiwan Outstanding Research Awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, International Society of Electrochemistry, and Academician of the Asian Pacific Academy of Materials and Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.
An ECS member since 1994, he served as ECS Battery Division Member at Large from 2022 to 2024 and has been active with the ECS Taiwan Section, which he chaired from 2009 to 2010 and 2017 to 2018.
AWARDS AWARDSAWARDSPROGRAM AWARDS PROGRAM
Ryoji Kanno is Institute Professor and Director of the Research Center for AllSolid-State Batteries at the Institute of Integrated Research, Institute of Science Tokyo. He is also Professor at the School of Materials and Chemical Technology at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Prof. Kanno has made significant contributions to the field of electrochemical energy conversion devices. Since 1980, his research has focused on lithium and solid state batteries, resulting in the development of novel materials for next-generation all-solid-state batteries. He also conducted extensive research on electrode materials for lithium batteries. His contributions include introducing several physicochemical methodologies that provide valuable insights into reaction mechanisms during electrochemical processes. Dr. Kanno’s most significant achievement was his technological breakthrough in developing all-solid-state batteries. He discovered the solid electrolyte material LGPS, which is characterized by exceptionally high ionic conductivity. He also showed that all-solid-state systems are a promising technology for future batteries.
Dr. Kanno received his PhD in Science from Osaka University in 1985. He then conducted research at Mie University, Kobe University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Institute of Science Tokyo. To date, he has published over 500 papers with close to 27,000 citations in academic journals. Dr. Kanno received the 2017 ECS Battery Division Technology Award as well as honors that include awards from the Chemical Society of Japan, The Electrochemical Society of Japan, Japan Society of Powder and Powder Metallurgy, The American Ceramic Society, and Kato Foundation for Promotion of Science. He joined ECS in 1995 and is now an Emeritus Member.
Xingbo Liu is Associate Dean for Research and Statler Endowed Chair Professor of Engineering at the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University (WVU), where he has established an internationally recognized research program focused on materials and electrochemical systems for next-generation energy conversion and storage. His work emphasizes high-temperature materials, including solid oxide electrochemical cells, high-temperature alloys, and protective coatings.
After completing his PhD in Materials Science at the University of Science and Technology Beijing (1999), he joined WVU as a Postdoctoral Researcher (2000). He became a faculty member in the Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering Department in 2002, was named full Professor in 2014, and appointed Statler Endowed Chair of Engineering in 2018. Prof. Liu also served as the Associate Chair for Research from 2012 to 2019.
Among the numerous prestigious awards and honors he has received are the 2016 Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) Brimacombe Medal; 2013 State of West Virginia Innovator of the Year Award; 2011 R&D 100 Award; and 2010 TMS Early Career Faculty Fellow Award. In 2023, he was honored with the US Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Production Technology Award for his significant contributions to the advancement of high-performance, efficient, and durable intermediate-temperature proton-conducting solid oxide electrolysis cells. At WVU, he has been recognized multiple times as the Statler College Researcher of the Year and received several Outstanding Researcher Awards. Prof. Liu is a Fellow of ASM International and the American Ceramic Society. An ECS member since 2010, Prof. Liu has served in various positions with the HighTemperature Energy, Materials, & Processes Division where he is currently Vice Chair.
Radenka Maric is President of the University of Connecticut. Since 2022, she has overseen Connecticut’s $3.3 billion public flagship university, which includes six campuses and serves over 35,000 students. Under her leadership, the university has focused on fostering student success by creating opportunities that boost their skills in creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and emotional intelligence.
After earning her PhD in Material Science and Energy from Kyoto University, Dr. Maric began her career as a member of the technical staff at the Japan Fine Ceramic Center and later at Toyota Motors. In 2001, Dr. Maric moved to the US, and over the next three decades, played a pivotal role in advancing the development of electrochemical sensors, fuel cells, and materials and processes related to battery storage, hydrogen production, and various sensor technologies.
Dr. Maric forged strong partnerships with the State of Connecticut to establish QuantumCT, a significant economic development initiative aimed at fostering innovation in quantum technologies. She is also dedicated to securing major partnerships to support advancements in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies that are shaping the future. She enhanced UConn’s infrastructure by constructing the 198,000 sq. ft. Science 1 STEM research and educational complex, as well as the Innovation Partnership Building, which received significant investment from industry.
Dr. Maric joined ECS in 1999. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, National Academy of Inventors, and International Association of Advanced Materials.
Nosang (Vincent) Myung is the Bernard Keating Crawford Endowed Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame (ND). In this role, he directs two core facilities and leads the ND Sensor Initiative. His research focuses on the synthesis of nanoengineered materials and their application in advanced fields such as spintronics, chemical and biological sensing, electronics, optoelectronics, energy harvesting, and environmental remediation.
Prof. Myung earned his BS (1994), MS (1997), and PhD (1998) in Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. He then spent three years as a research engineer at UCLA before joining the Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as an engineering staff member in 2001. In 2003, he joined the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Riverside, where he later served as Department Chair from 2011 to 2017. During his tenure at Riverside, he also founded the UC-KIMS Center for Innovative Materials for Energy and Environment. Prof. Myung joined the ND faculty in 2020.
Throughout his distinguished career, Prof. Myung has been honored with numerous accolades, including election in 2022 as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and receiving the 2019 Engineer of the Year Award from the Korean Government and 2018 ECS Electrodeposition Division Research Award. An ECS member since 1996, he recently chaired the ECS Mid-America Section.
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Photo: Peter Morenus, UConn
Photo: Peter MorenusUConn
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AWARDS PROGRAM AWARDS PROGRAM
Colm O’Dwyer is Professor of Chemical Energy in the School of Chemistry at University College Cork (UCC) where he leads a multidisciplinary research group developing 3D printed batteries, energy storage materials, optoelectronic materials science and processes, and photonic structures.
Prof. O’Dwyer received his PhD in Semiconductor Electrochemistry and Physics from the University of Limerick in 2003 and conducted postdoctoral research on ultracold atom cooling at the Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse. He was a Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Lecturer on Nanomaterials at the University Limerick from 2008 to 2012 when he joined the UCC faculty. A Fellow of the Institute of Physics, he received a Bell Labs Prize in 2017. With talented students, postdocs, and collaborators, Prof. O’Dwyer has coauthored >280 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and ECS Transactions articles, covering most of the Society’s topical interest areas.
After attending the 199th ECS Meeting in 2001 as a graduate student, Prof. O’Dwyer joined ECS. Over the next 24 years, he organized or co-organized more than 40 ECS symposia in electrochemical and solid state topics. He served the Electronic and Photonics Division as an Executive Committee Member for over 12 years and as Division Chair from 2017 to 2019. He has chaired many of the Society’s standing committees and is a member of the Board of Directors. He has served as ECS Vice-President (2021–2024), and President (2024–2025).
Jeff Sakamoto holds the Mehrabian Endowed Chancellor’s Chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is also Director of MUSIC, the US Department of Energy’s Mechano-Chemical Understanding of Solid Ion Conductors Energy Frontier Research Center. With 30 years of research experience in the field of electrochemistry, examples of his achievements include developing Li-ion batteries for the NASA 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers and ceramic electrolytes for advanced electrochemical technologies.
Prof. Sakamoto is a Distinguished Military Graduate (1996) and Commissioned Officer in the US Army. After completing a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2001, he held positions at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In the earlier stages of his career, he studied separately the fields of electrochemistry, ceramic electrolytes and ceramic processing, and mechanics of materials. Later in his career, the three fields converged to align with the emergent field of mechano-electrochemistry, which is the multidisciplinary field that studies the coupling between electrochemistry and physical forces. Examples of the mechano-
electrochemical phenomena he studies are the mechanical stability and kinetics of ceramic electrolyte-metal electrode interfaces, anodefree manufacturing, and stress corrosion cracking at fluid electrodesolid ceramic interfaces.
Advancing electrochemical technologies from fundamental to applied to commercialization research has been an integral part of Professor Sakamoto’s career. He has over 35 issued and pending patents licensed by two startups. He has founded or co-founded startups to commercialize components for advanced electrochemical technologies. He is a Kavli Fellow and has been honored with the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board Major Space Act Award for Intellectual Property (2006), Jet Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Exploration Programs Directorate Bonus Award (2004), and several teaching awards. He joined ECS in 1999.
David Wilkinson is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clean Energy and Electrochemical Technologies at the University of British Columbia (UBC). His university research covers a wide range of electrochemical areas including fuel cells, electrolyzers, battery research, carbon dioxide and nitrogen conversion, electrochemical approaches to clean energy and fuels, and electrochemical treatment of wastewater and drinking water. Companies use much of this research, resulting in the formation of Mangrove Lithium, a new company using a modified electrodialysis process for improved lithium refining and recycling.
Prof. Wilkinson received a BS in Chemical Engineering from UBC (1978) and PhD in Chemistry (1987) from the University of Ottawa under the guidance of Prof. Brian Conway. Before joining UBC in 2004, Prof. Wilkinson spent over 18 years in electrochemical industries, as a group leader in electrochemistry at Moli Energy developing rechargeable Li-metal batteries, and at Ballard Power Systems as a Director and Vice President of R&D in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and hydrogen technology. He was Group Leader and Principal Research Officer with the Canada National Research Council for a short period. In 2002, he received the ECS Battery Division Technology Award for his work related to rechargeable Li batteries and polymer electrolyte fuel cells, and the ECS Canadian Section Electrochemical Award in 2022.
Prof. Wilkinson has published more than 260 refereed publications, a co-authored book, a number of edited books and book chapters, and holds over 84 issued US patents. His research has been honored with awards that include the Grove Medal, Lifetime Award of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Association and the Order of Canada, as well as fellowships in the Engineering Institute of Canada, Canadian Academy of Engineering, Chemical Institute of Canada, Royal Society of Canada, and the International Society of Electrochemistry. An ECS Emeritus Member, Prof. Wilkinson joined the Society in 1982 and served for many years as Member at Large for the ECS Canada Section.
Photo: Lilli McKinney
NEW MEMBERS NEW MEMBERS
ECS is proud to announce the new members for April, May, and June 2025
Members
A
Naga Phani Aetukuri, Bengaluru, KA, India
Eray Aydil, Brooklyn, NY, US
Mohamed Azzam, Ingolstadt, BY, Germany
B
Byeong-Soo Bae, Daejeon, Gyeonggi-do, ROK
Adam Boies, Stanford, CA, US
C
Chris Corwin, Lewis Center, OH, US Gonzalo Cosa, Montréal, QC, Canada
D
John DiMeglio, Allison Park, PA, US Gordana Dukovic, Boulder, CO, US
G
Michael Gordon, Goleta, CA, US Hurmus Gursu, Oshawa, ON, Canada
HJoel Haber, Pasadena, CA, US
J
Patrick Johnson, Ames, IA, US
Katherine Jungjohann, Lakewood, CO, US
K
Amirkianoosh Kiani, Thornhill, ON, Canada
Jaehoon Kim, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, ROK
Jeom-Soo Kim, Busan, Gyeongsangnam-do, ROK
Se Young Kim, Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, ROK
Harsha Kolli, Houston, TX, US
Naoki Komatsu, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
Dirk Kuhlmeier, Leipzig, SN, Germany
LAdina Luican-Mayer, Berwyn, IL, US
M
Shuhei Manabe, Canal Winchester, OH, US
D. Ricardo Martinez-Vargas, Auburn, AL, US
Masahiro Matsutani, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
Baishakhi Mazumder, Halfmoon, NY, US
Hani Naguib, Toronto, ON, Canada
P
Carlos-Andres Palma, Berlin, BE, Germany
Matthew Panthani, Ames, IA, US
Q
Samuel Quéméré, Varennes, QC, Canada
Members are listed alphabetically by family/last name.
R
Christopher Reynolds, Somerville, MA, US
SDeborah Schmitt, Urbana, IL, US
Julz Shortt, Atlanta, GA, US
Rahul Singhal, New Britain, CT, US
Jayaraman Sivaguru, Ottawa Hills, OH, US
Masato Sone, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
Sarah Stariha, Romeoville, IL, US
TLiliana Trevani, Oshawa, ON, Canada
WJames Waldecker, Plymouth, MI, US
Huan Wang, Beijing, Beijing, China
Ying Wang, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
XFang Xie, London, England, UK
YTomoyuki Yamamoto, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
ZJanez Zavašnik, Ljubljana, Osrednjeslovenska, Slovenia
Sara Nour Eddine, Ben Guerir, MarrakeshSafi, Morocco
O
Yoichi Obinata, Okaya, Nagano, Japan
Jose Ordonez Guzman, México City, DF, México
P
Naveen P., Mayiladuthurai, TN, India
Suganthi P., Salem, TN, India
Sae Yane Paek, Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, ROK
Abhishek Panghal, Narwana, Haryana, India
William Pardis, Berkeley, CA, US
Jisu Park, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, ROK
Gokul Parthasarathy, Montréal, QC, Canada
Animesh Patel, Berkeley, CA, US
Dinesh Patel, Roorkee, UT, India
Rajendra Patel, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Sooraj Patel, Norman, OK, US
Valentina Pava, Montréal, QC, Canada
Antonia Pawlowski, Munich, BY, Germany
Maria Petracci, Washington, DC, US
Kamila Popławska, Wrocław, Dolnośląskie, Poland
Athira Prakash, Malappuram, KL, India
Seth Putnam, Urbana, IL, US
R
Kalaivanan R., Karaikudi, TN, India
Tejashree R., Karaikudi, TN, India
Ramya Raghudharan, Chennai, TN, India
Maral Rahimsoroush, East Lansing, MI, US
Dinithi Rajaguru, North York, ON, Canada
Bhera Ram, Karaikudi, TN, India
Rebecca Ratajczyk, Plainfield, IL, US
Samuel Robles, Chicago Heights, IL, US
Peter Romero, Denver, CO, US
Simon Rufer, Cambridge, MA, US
Erick Ruoff, Austin, TX, US
Davide Russo, Berkeley, CA, US
Patrick Rutto, Morgantown, WV, US
S
Asmi Nithisha S., Nagercoil, TN, India
Hariramakrishnan S., Devakottai, TN, India
Philothei Sahinidis, San Francisco, CA, US
Thukshan Samarakoon, Liverpool, England, UK
Ezra Samson, Romeoville, IL, US
Amirhossein Sarabandi, Saint Louis, MO, US
Lorelai Schoch, San Diego, CA, US
Charles Schwarz, College Park, MD, US
Abhinanda Sengupta, West Lafayette, IN, US
Bichen Shang, West Lafayette, IN, US
Amit Sharma, Vrindavan, UP, India
Shravan Kumar Sharma, South Bend, IN, US
Ming Jie Shie, Taichung, Central, Taiwan
Ting-You Shih, Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan
Deepa Singh, Bangalore, KA, India
Rahul Singh, Cleveland Heights, OH, US
Tanuja Singh, Greater Noida, UP, India
Kiersten Smith, Greenwood, IN, US
Javier Solis, Denton, TX, US
Thirawit Sornsuchat, Irvine, CA, US
Gokul Sridharan, Chennai, TN, India
Theo St. Francis, Atlanta, GA, US
Skylar Stewart, Columbia, SC, US
Nick Sullivan, Montréal, QC, Canada
Yiwen Sun, Berkeley, CA, US
TAyoub Takour, Bengurerir, Rehamna, Morocco
Yu Tian, Amherst, MA, US
Shubhi Tripathi, Karaikudi, TN, India
Louis Tsakiris, Whitby, ON, Canada
Wei Ting Tu, Hsinchu, Hsinchu County, Taiwan
UKota Ujihara, Aramakijiaoba, Aoba-ku, Miyagi, Japan
VKavya Sri V., Karaikudi, TN, India
Parisa Vahdatkhah, Montréal, QC, Canada
Fereshteh Vajhadin, Calgary, AB, Canada
Amber Velez, Cambridge, MA, US
Pavadharani Velliangiri, Karaikudi, TN, India
Viviana Villavicencio Vallejo, Villanova, PA, US
Marina Vlara, Paris, Île-de-France, France
SUSnna Vu, Montréal, QC, Canada
WDilmi Waidyaratne, Louisville, KY, US Yi-Jun Wang, Taibao City, Chiayi County, Taiwan
Yulei Wang, Amherst, MA, US
Zhiyu Wang, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Aaditya Wankhede, Raigad, MH, India
Joshua Winnert, Berkeley, CA, US
Juwan Woo, Busan, Gyeongsang, ROK
Cheng Xun Wu, Tainan, Tainan, Taiwan
Peibo Xu, Champaign, IL, US
Satya Yadav, Bangalore, KA, India
Li Jia Yang, Lubbock, TX, US
Ping-Yu Yang, Da’an, Taipei, Taiwan
Yun Chi Yang, Berkeley, CA, US
Ayrton Yanyachi, Austin, TX, US
Hayrunnisa Yatak, Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Chae-Ho Yim, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Seung-Yeop Yoo, Daegu, Daegu, ROK
Ju Hyeon Yu, Incheon, Gyeonggi-do, ROK
Atalay Yuksel, Atasehir, Istanbul, Turkey
Nooshin Zeinali Galabi, Montréal, QC, Canada
Tianyi Zhang, Ann Arbor, MI, US
Wentao Zhang, Stamford, CT, US
Yunlu Zhang, East Lansing, MI, US
Hancheng Zhao, Ann Arbor, MI, US
Pengcheng Zhao, Kitchener, ON, Canada
Jessica Zhong, Evanston, IL, US
ECS Charters Seven New Student Chapters in Spring 2025
Seven new student chapters were chartered at the ECS Board of Directors Meeting on May 22, 2025, bringing the total number of chapters to 161 with these new additions! The new chapters are in China, Lithuania, Mexico, and the US. Join us in welcoming these institutions into the global community of ECS Student Chapters:
New Student Chapters
• Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China
• Michigan State University, US
• Navajo Technical University, US
• Universidad Autónoma Metropolitano, Mexico
• Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico
• University of North Texas, US
• Vilniaus universitetas, Lithuania
For more information about student chapters visit the ECS Student Center and Student Chapter Directory
Interested in establishing an ECS Student Chapter at your academic institution? Review the guidelines for starting a chapter and submit a new student chapter application today!
Qualify for free annual ECS student memberships
Join more than 150 ECS Student Chapters worldwide
Build recognition for your school’s work and YOURS
STUDENT NEWS STUDENT NEWS
ECS Case Western Reserve University Student Chapter
The chapter welcomes its new officers: President Saurabh Pathak, Vice President Sogol Asaei, Secretary Rahul Singh, Treasurer Kayla Poling, and Social Media Liaison Zemene Tegegn. At the beginning of their terms of office, they met with their supportive faculty advisor, Prof. Robert Savinell, and discussed and strategized initiatives and events for the next academic year. The agenda included plans for hosting the Electrochemistry Lecture Series, organizing community outreach activities, and fostering collaborations with other ECS
Sections and Student Chapters. The chapter aims to engage a diverse membership and ensure active participation in ECS events and publications. As part of supporting the Society’s mission and broadening our presence beyond the CWRU community, we are thrilled to have exceeded 1,000 LinkedIn followers from around the globe. We hope that our LinkedIn page continues to serve as a valuable resource for learning more about ECS, electrochemistry, and related fields.
We collaborated with the US Department of Energy (DOE) Breakthrough Electrolytes for Energy Storage and Systems (BEES2) to visit De Nora, the world’s leading supplier of electrodes for major industrial electrochemical processes. The event included a mini symposium with technical presentations from De Nora researchers and Case Western faculty and students, covering topics like carbon conversion, batteries, supercapacitors, and structured electrolytes. Attendees toured De Nora’s R&D lab and manufacturing facility, gaining insights into industrial electrode production. The visit provided valuable networking opportunities, strengthening connections between academia and industry. This event highlights the chapter’s commitment to advancing electrochemical innovation.
We invited Dawei Feng, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, to discuss his research on advanced aqueous redox flow battery electrolytes. He presented two approaches to improve redox flow batteries: high-throughput testing of redox-active molecules and the use of zwitterionic trappers (ZITs) in halide-based systems. His research combines data-driven experimentation and
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ECS Case Western Reserve University members attend the full-day De Nora Symposium, featuring research presentations and tours of De Nora’s laboratory and manufacturing plant.
(Left to right) ECS Case Western Reserve University Student Chapter Vice President Sogol Asaei, Social Media Liaison Zemene Tegegn, President Saurabh Pathak, Secretary Rahul Singh, and Treasurer Kayla Poling
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The chapter hosted “Interviewing Tips and Tricks: Making Good Impressions during Your Interview,” a professional development seminar presented by Laura Papcum, Case Western Reserve University Career Center.
predictive models to enhance energy storage performance. This work supports scalable, long-lasting grid energy storage solutions.
Continuing our commitment to honoring past scholars’ contributions, we were privileged to welcome Professor Emeritus Alfred B. Anderson as a special guest speaker. Prof. Anderson, whose work helped shape Case Western’s electrochemistry program, joined students and faculty in a moment of reflection and celebration of the campus’ scientific legacy. With a career dedicated to advancing the theoretical understanding of electrochemical systems and to mentoring generations of researchers, Prof. Anderson’s presence was
a powerful reminder of the longstanding tradition of excellence in electrochemical research at CWRU. His visit underscored the lasting impact of academic leadership and the importance of intergenerational dialog in the scientific community.
We hosted “Interviewing Tips and Tricks: Making Good Impressions during Your Interview,” a professional development seminar led by Laura Papcum, Associate Director for Employer Relations at the university’s Career Center. The seminar provided practical advice on identifying employer interest, navigating early interview stages, and researching companies using tools like LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Handshake. Ms. Papcum shared real-world insights and tips for making a strong first impression. The event concluded with a Q&A session, reinforcing the chapter’s commitment to supporting students’ career readiness.
ECS Indian Institute of Technology Madras Student Chapter
The chapter co-organized the International Conference on Energy Conversion and Storage (IECS 2025), January 27–29, 2025, at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The conference brought together more than 200 participants—experts, researchers, and students from around the world—to discuss sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies. The wide range of sessions included invited speakers, panel sessions, and technical talks on batteries, fuel cells, supercapacitors, green hydrogen, and new energy
materials. Distinguished speakers included Prof. Venkataraman Thangadurai, University of Calgary; Prof. Yuki Nagao, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology; Dr. Rohini Kitture, Editor-in-Chief, Small; and Profs. Chiyoung Park and Su-il In, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology. Engaging talks were presented on solid state batteries, electrochemical systems, and next-generation energy materials.
Celebrating the legacy of electrochemistry at Case Western Reserve University with guest speaker Professor Emeritus Alfred B. Anderson (second from left)
Attendees at the International Conference on Energy Conversion and Storage (IECS 2025), co-organized by the ECS Indian Institute of Technology Madras Student Chapter.
STUDENT NEWS STUDENT NEWS
The Electrochemical Characterization Techniques Workshop was a standout chapter event. Participants gained practical experience in major experimental techniques for the analysis of electrochemical systems. The workshop was particularly useful for students and earlycareer researchers, providing hands-on experience to supplement the conference’s theoretical material. The chapter’s active participation in organizing and conducting the workshop helped make the event successful.
The chapter collaborated with Christ University, Bengaluru, on the workshop Electrochemical Energy Systems: From Fundamentals to Fabrication. Held March 7–8 at the Christ University campus, the skill development workshop attracted more than 120 enthusiastic participants from various institutions. Eminent speakers such as Dr. N. Rajalakshmi, formerly Centre for Fuel Cell Technology, International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, and Prof. Kothandaraman Ramanujam, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, delivered insightful lectures on the fundamentals of fuel cell technology and lithium-ion batteries. Designed to provide both theoretical grounding and exposure to recent advances, the program offered a classroom-style learning environment, equipping participants with essential concepts like capacity calculations, electrode material selection, and foundational electrochemistry, while presenting cutting-edge research in batteries, fuel cells, and supercapacitors. A notable highlight was the live demonstration of in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) while doing chargedischarge of the battery using a Bruker system.
The chapter had the honor of co-organizing the first-ever Small Sciences Symposium in India at IIT Madras, in collaboration with Wiley’s prestigious journals—Small, Small Methods, Small Structures, and Small Science. The inaugural two-day international event brought together leading researchers, students, and professionals
from across India and abroad, with sessions focused on cutting-edge developments in nanomaterials, energy technologies, and biomedical innovations. Highlights included keynote lectures, panel discussions with journal editors, poster presentations, and the debut of the Indian Small Young Innovator Award. A key attraction was the hands-on electrochemistry workshop organized by ECS, where participants gained practical experience with technologies such as redox flow batteries, electrolyzers, zinc-ion cells, and electrochromic devices. This event was led by esteemed speakers who included Dr. Sayan Bhattacharyya, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata; Dr. Chun Chen Yang, Ming Chi University of Technology; Prof. Rajadurai Chandrasekar, University of Hyderabad; and Dr. (continued on next page)
Students attend a demonstration of in situ XRD characterization organized by the ECS Indian Institute of Technology Madras Student Chapter.
Participants and resource personnel gather for the Small Sciences Symposium, a collaboration between Wiley and the ECS Indian Institute of Technology Madras Student Chapter.
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STUDENT NEWS STUDENT NEWS
Shoba Shukla, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
The National Symposium on Electrochemical Science and Technology (NSEST), held August 28–29, 2025, was jointly organized by the chapter and the SRM Institute of Science and Technology. The symposium’s theme, Self-Reliance in Electrochemical Technologies, aimed to showcase innovations and research in the electrochemical sciences.
The chapter is co-host of the International Conference on Sustainable Technologies for Energy and Environment (ICSTEE 2025) with the PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore, November 27–29, 2025. The conference focuses on the intersection of energy and the environment, highlighting sustainable technologies that reduce carbon footprints, enhance energy efficiency, and address environmental challenges, while fostering global collaboration and knowledge sharing.
ECS Montréal Student Chapter
The chapter was privileged to have two renowned electrochemists participating in their webinar series. Interesting talks and lively discussions resulted!
On April 16, Prof. Mohamed Mohamedi, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, delivered a presentation on two cutting-edge technologies that promise to revolutionize energy storage and power generation: metal-air batteries and microfluidic fuel cells. His talk explored their mechanisms, current challenges, and future prospects, shedding light on how they could shape the next generation of energy solutions.
The second webinar, on June 26, featured Jean-Christophe Daigle, Hydro-Québec, on organic ionic plastic crystal as catholyte in positive electrode for a high-density solid battery. He outlined his and Hydro-Québec’s efforts to develop a high-energy and long lifecycle NMC–polymer electrolyte–Li-metal pouch cell. Major challenges were addressed, including stability of OIPC in positive electrode with NMC, scale-up of the electrode, and performance at a broad range of temperatures.
The chapter’s Executive Team was thrilled to attend the 247th ECS Meeting in Montréal. The chapter leadership had a great time connecting and exchanging ideas with ECS members!
ECS Ohio University Student Chapter
The chapter had an eventful spring semester. On March 24, Dr. Gerardine Botte, Texas Tech University, visited Athens and gave a seminar talk titled “Electrochemical Revalorization of Biosolids and Nutrient Recovery.” She also met with chapter members for a Q&A session.
Chapter members spent April 15 at Trimble High School in Glouster, Ohio, introducing students to the fundamentals of electrochemistry and leading them in a hands-on activity making voltaic piles with household items.
On April 28, the chapter held the last meeting of the academic year with games and food. The officers for the upcoming year were announced: Abigail Paul, President; Zhuldyz Zhigulina, Vice President; Ashleigh Clabaugh, Secretary; and Favour Bawa, Treasurer.
introduce electrochemistry to
on April 15.
From left to right: Jashanpreet Kaur, Louis Hamlet, Thomas Boulanger, Scott Prins, Alizee Debiais, and Brittany Pelletier Villeneuve, the ECS Montréal Student Chapter Executive Team, displays the chapter’s marketing material at the 247th ECS Meeting in Montréal, Canada.
Photo: Thomas Boulanger
ECS Ohio University Student Chapter members
Trimble High School students
Photo: Prof. John Staser
ECS Ohio University Student Chapter members meet with then-ECS President Gerardine Botte (sixth from the left) during her March 24 visit
Photo: Prof. John Staser
Newly elected ECS Ohio University Student Chapter officers are (from left to right): Vice President Zhuldyz Zhigulina, President Abigail Paul, Secretary Ashleigh Clabaugh, and Treasurer Favour Bawa
Photo: Prof. John Staser
ECS Technische Universität Ilmenau Student Chapter
The chapter’s first biannual meeting was held at TU Ilmenau with 10 online and in-person participants. The event brought students and early-career researchers together to exchange experiences, research insights, and professional perspectives in a collegial setting.
Lukas Grohmann started off by sharing his experience pursuing a PhD in industry. He gave valuable insights into the industrial research environment, highlighted differences with academia, and offered general advice and tips for writing a dissertation and navigating an industrial PhD. Marius Engler followed with an introduction to his PhD topic, all-iron redox-flow batteries, presenting innovative approaches to battery research and discussing his latest results. Mathias Fritz gave an update on his ongoing work on platinum electrodeposition on silicon, focusing on nucleation processes and layer growth, and offering detailed insights into challenges and mechanisms. Chris Höß described his doctoral work on deposition techniques for 3D structures, highlighting the complexities and technical strategies required to achieve consistent and functional coatings on non-planar surfaces. Dr. Anna Endrikat shared her personal journey and decisions leading to a PhD, outlining her motivation, experiences, and key decisions. Dr. Arne Albrecht’s guided tour of the Zentrum für Mikro- und Nanotechnologien gave participants a behind-the-scenes look into a key TU Ilmenau research infrastructure. The program concluded with a lecture by Prof. Lothar Spieß on quantitative energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis (RFA), discussing the methodology and its applications in the field of material characterization regarding layer thickness determination. The program ended with a collegial session and discussion about the chapter’s ongoing and future activities. The chapter thanks the meeting speakers and participants for their contributions and engagement, and the organizers for making the meeting a success. The next chapter meeting is planned for fall 2025.
ECS Texas A&M University Student Chapter
On April 25, the chapter partnered with the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association, Graduate Student Association of Chemistry, and Women in Science and Engineering to host a Joy Jam! Students grabbed snacks and pizza before diving into a variety of activities designed to ease final exam pressure. Some chose to work on their reports or study with friends, while others gave their minds a relaxing break by playing exciting board games. Overall, Joy
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ECS Ilmenau Student Chapter members meet in spring 2025 at the biannual PhD student meeting of the Technische Universität Ilmenau Electrochemistry and Electroplating Group.
ECS Texas A&M Student Chapter President Autumn Kudlack presents a prize for outstanding electrochemistry knowledge to Trivia Night winner Jenna Vito
Photo: Laura Hoagland
ECS Texas A&M Student Chapter hosts students at the Joy Jam pre-finals event, some of whom chose to study. Enticing games and pizza followed!
Photo: Laura Hoagland
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Jam’s lively, supportive atmosphere helped students recharge, refocus, and reconnect with work and friends.
On May 29, the chapter hosted an engaging Trivia Night for students interested in electrochemistry. Some 10 participants competed through four rounds of questions covering electrochemistry and solid state science history, fundamental concepts, safety practices, and other related topics. Questions were supplied by chapter President Autumn Kudlack, Vice President Kazi Araf Sayeed, Treasurer Wynn Miholits, and Secretary Laura Hoagland. Kudlack guided participants through the game rounds. Light snacks created an enjoyable atmosphere for learning and connection. After a close competition, Jenna Vito secured first place by earning the highest score across all rounds. The Trivia Night offered a fun break from research routines, reinforced key scientific knowledge, and strengthened the ECS community at Texas A&M.
ECS Trent University and Ontario Tech University Student Chapter
The newly formed chapter is a unique collaboration between Trent University (TrentU) and Ontario Tech University (OTU), reflected in the newly elected executive team. Representing OTU are Chair Fanqi Kong, Treasurer Louis Tsakiris, and Secretary Nathalie Mapue Vice Chair Tyra Lewis is a TrentU student. The student leaders would like to acknowledge chapter advisors Prof. Brad Easton, OTU, and Prof. Sanela Martic, TrentU, for their assistance and valuable insight in forming this student chapter.
The chapter is excited to announce that their first symposium took place on August 26, 2025, at OTU. The event highlighted all the student presentations, with everyone sharing their electrochemical and solid state research. The symposium was an excellent platform to encourage collaboration, networking, and discussion of new and experienced researchers’ work. Students at all levels were welcome to participate as part of this wonderful collaboration between two universities.
Brad Easton, OTU, and Prof. Sanela Martic, TrentU.
ECS Ulm University Student Chapter
The chapter, one of four active student chapters in Germany, seeks to connect students from the different institutes at Wissenschaftsstadt Ulm. Chapter members work at Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), HelmholtzInstitut Ulm, and Ulm Universität, investigating next-generation electrochemical energy storage systems and related materials and processes.
The chapter’s nearly monthly meetings provide opportunities to reach out to new members, plan activities, and hear about members’ current research. A main activity last year was participating in the ECS Austria Student Chapter’s Christmas event at the Austrian Institute of Technology. Attendees got to meet young researchers
Alessandro Brega
The newly elected ECS Trent University and Ontario Tech University Student Chapter executive members are (top, from left to right): Chair Fanqi Kong, Ontario Tech University (OTU); Vice Chair Tyra Lewis, Trent University (TrentU); Secretary Nathalie Mapue, OTU; and Treasurer Louis Tsakiris, OTU (bottom, from left to right): Chapter Advisors Prof.
ECS Texas A&M Student Chapter President Autumn Kudlack explains a Trivia Night electrochemistry question.
Photo: Laura Hoagland
CS Ulm Student Chapter hosted Prof. Michael Metzger, Dalhousie University, for the talk, “Advanced Alloy Negative Electrodes for High Energy Density Sodium-Ion Cells.”
Photo:
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from Vienna research facilities and had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Battery Technology lab.
The chapter happily hosted “Advanced Alloy Negative Electrodes for High Energy Density Sodium-Ion Cells,” in which Prof. Michael Metzger, Dalhousie University, presented results from and insights into his research on sodium-ion battery materials.
The chapter participated in Ulm Electrochemical Talks, a conference organized by ZSW. Moving forward, the chapter will continue hosting regular meetings and visiting companies focused on electrochemistry.
ECS Universidad de Guadalajara Student Chapter
The new chapter, chartered by the ECS Board of Directors in May 2025, consists of Chair Sara Genoveva Hernández Rizo, Vice Chair Iztvan Israel Monroy Solís, Secretary José Luis Barrera Velázquez, Treasurer Mauricio Antonio Peregrina Loza, Social Media Coordinator Danae Cristina Torres Medina, and member, Clara Sofía Rubio Coronado. Dr. Omar Alejando González Meza, Dr. Erika Roxana Larios Durán, and Dr. Ana Gabriela González Gutiérrez are the chapter’s faculty advisors. Plans to promote electrochemistry include initiatives such as producing outreach videos aimed at undergraduate students, publishing a biannual newsletter featuring research highlights and electrochemical challenges, and organizing on-campus group seminars.
The chapter kicked off by co-hosting the 1st ECS Mexico Interchapter Congress (BUAP-UdeG) with the ECS Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla Student Chapter, September 1–2, 2025. The theme was “Applications of Electrochemistry in Mexico.” The opening ceremony featured remarks from both student chapters and a keynote address by Dr. Citlalli Gaona Tiburcio, President, Sociedad Mexicana de Electroquímica (SMEQ).
The two-day congress included information sessions to encourage students to participate in the ECS Student Chapters, presentations by Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) and Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG) electrochemical researchers, and representatives from SMEQ. An infographic contest was held at each location. Guest speakers at UdeG included Dr. Alberto Gutiérrez Becerra on “Electrochemical Behavior in Microemulsions and Nanostructured Materials,” Dr. José Ángel Barragán López, “Modeling and Optimizing Electrochemical Reactors ResponseSurface Methods for Metal Recovery from EWaste,” and Dr. Víctor Alcaraz González, “Microbial Electrolysis and Fuel Cells, Optimization of Bio Electrochemical Reactors for Hydrogen Production.” The onsite conferences at BUAP were given by Dr. Ignacio González Martínez, “Bioelectrochemistry, Hydrometallurgy, Soil, and Water Electro-Remediation and Energy
Electro-Remediation,” Dr. Mónica Cerro López, “Environmental Electrochemistry, Electrocatalysis, Advanced Oxidation Processes, and Nanostructured Materials,” and Dr. Magali Salas Reyes, “Molecular Electrochemistry and Electrochemistry for Sustainable Processes.”
ECS Universidad de Guadalajara Student Chapter members (from left to right) Chair Sara Hernández, Social Media Officers Danae Torres and Clara Rubio, Treasurer Mauricio Peregrina, Secretary José Barrera, and Vice Chair Iztvan Monroy pose in front of a mural by José Atanasio Monroy
Photo: Fernando Martínez
ECS University of California, Irvine Student Chapter
The chapter had a fruitful year focused on increasing its membership and the involvement of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) electrochemistry community, which spans the engineering, chemistry, physics, and biology departments. They welcomed seven new committee members this year: Christopher Pantayatiwong Liu, Ashley Sabatose, Cliffton Wang, Hannah Ruffo, Celine Chen, Ivy Wang, Ciara Gillis, Jared Stanley, Loki Chen, and Filip Mackowicz
The chapter kicked off the academic year in August with a Trivia Night. Graduate students and postdocs from as many as five different departments came together to test their knowledge. The event fostered a strong sense of unity and allowed chapter leaders to begin outreach to on-campus electrochemistry community members.
Events were planned to provide students with insights into post-PhD life and the multitude of opportunities available for electrochemistry researchers. In October, Dr. Haotian Wang, Enevate Corporation, provided an overview of how his PhD research
translated into his position at Enevate and his transition from PhD student to industry employee.
In April, the chapter hosted the 3rd Annual SoCal Electrochemistry Conference for Students (SCECS 2025). More than 100 attendees from universities across Southern California participated, including the California Institute of Technology; San Diego State University; California State Universities, Long Beach and Fullerton; Universities of California, San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara; and the University of Southern California. SCECS 2025 was generously sponsored by Chevron, Toyota, the National Fuel Cell Research Center, ECS, and Gamry.
A new career panel was added to the successful format of past conferences, which featured two keynote speakers, student posters, and presentation sessions. The panel comprised former UCI graduates, who included Dr. Bianca Ceballos, Staff Scientist, Los Alamos National Lab; Assistant Professor Rohit Bhide, California Polytechnic State University, Pomona; and Dr. Arezoo Avid, Staff Engineer, Bloom Energy.
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The chapter was thrilled to host keynote speakers Prof. Brian McCloskey, University of California, Berkeley, discussing ion transport in polymer-based electrolytes; and former ECS President Prof. Gerardine Botte, Texas Tech University, on the electrochemical revalorization of biosolids and nutrient recovery.
The chapter’s mission is to promote and foster a greater understanding of electrochemical and solid state science and technology, further enhance professional development, and enrich the academic experience. Over the last year, the chapter increased outreach to the UCI and Southern California electrochemistry community and focused on providing opportunities for career mentorship. Looking to 2025–2026, the chapter plans to launch a biannual Electrochemistry School to cover areas not limited to special topics/techniques in electrochemistry, common assumptions/ mistakes in electrochemistry, and foundational principles. The goal is to reach audiences of experienced and occasional electrochemistry users and instill a sense of confidence and inspiration in exploiting all electrochemistry has to offer.
ECS University of California Irvine Student Chapter Executive Committee members are (back, from left to right); Ashley Sabatose, Hannah Ruffo, Jared Stanley, Christopher Pantayatiwong Liu, and (front, from left to right) Ivy Wang, Ciara Gillis, Celine Chen, and Clifton Wang. (Not pictured: Loki Chen and Filip Mackowicz )
ECS University of California, Santa Barbara Student Chapter
The University of California, Santa Barbara, founded its student chapter in the fall of 2024. Executive committee members include Co-Chairs Kaden Wheeler and Gala Rodriguez, Secretary Enrique Moya, and Treasurer Jaewon Lee. The chapter hit the ground running, recruiting 40 members from a variety of labs on campus. A Beach Social brought new members together to meet each other and to learn about the novel electrochemical and solid state science taking place campus wide.
The most recent event was an educational showcase of the world of aluminum fine art. Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Nicholas Watkins introduced the history of aluminum, the importance of anodization, and the scientific principles governing this process. A presentation followed by Alex Rasmussen, President of Neal Feay Co, a local company that uses electrochemical and solid state processes to create
The
The ECS University of California Irvine Student Chapter’s fall seminar featured Dr. Haotian Wang, Enevate Corporation (sixth from the left).
The ECS University of California Santa Barbara Student Chapter seminar on aluminum art featured Alex Rasmussen, President of Neal Feay Co, explaining how his company creates anodized aluminum sculptures.
Students and dog attend the ECS University of California Irvine Student Chapter kick-off Trivia Night.
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works of art from anodized aluminum. Alex presented the company’s history and displayed the beautiful art that they produce. The event ended with a small gallery walkthrough, allowing attendees to look more closely at different artworks.
The chapter thanks their inaugural faculty advisors, Prof. Lior Sepunaru and Prof. J. Tyler Mefford, for their support, as well as Prof. Raphaële Clément for introducing her research to members.
Dr. Nicholas Watkins presents “Industrial Electrochemistry Aluminum Anodization” at the ECS University of California Santa Barbara Student Chapter aluminum seminar.
ECS University of Michigan Student Chapter
In the last months of the academic year, the chapter promoted academic development, engaging conversations, and a strong sense of community among University of Michigan (U-M) electrochemists through diverse events, including guest lectures and social activities.
With the University of Michigan Institute for Energy Solutions, the chapter hosted “Understanding Activation and Degradation of Oxygen-Evolving Electrocatalysts Across Spatiotemporal Domains,” a talk by Prof. Ivan Moreno-Hernandez of Duke University. He shared his group’s efforts to use liquid in situ transmission electron microscopy and the precise synthesis of nanomaterials to discover key oxygen evolution reaction degradation pathways due to nanoscale effects that were previously unknown.
Dr. Tim Hall and Dr. Katherine Lee, Faraday Technology, Inc., presented “Pulsed Electrochemical Technology Development: from the Bench to Pilot-Scale,” describing the breadth of Faraday’s activities in areas that span deposition of coatings, metal and alloy surface finishing, additive manufacturing, and conversion/recycling/ decarbonization technologies.
Much of the chapter’s efforts focused on connecting U-M electrochemistry students with industry partners, officially partnering with the University of Michigan Engineering Career Resource Center to help strengthen industry engagement and create professional development opportunities. The chapter co-hosted Lunch-n-Learn events with the U-M Electric Vehicle Center. “Leaders in Battery Industry” featured Dr. Jamie Weaver, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Dr. Thibaut Dussart, Saft; Dr. Kumar Bugga, Lyten; Dr. Hang Lau, TA Instruments; and Prof. Feifei Shi, The Pennsylvania State University, sharing their perspectives on current trends in battery technology and their industry career paths. The chapter hosted social events for electrochemists, including Coffee and Donuts in collaboration with Women and Gender Minorities in Chemistry (WiC+). The academic year closed on a high note with the End of Year Volleyball Social, strengthening the oncampus community of electrochemists.
The ECS University of Michigan Student Chapter and the University of Michigan Institute for Energy Solutions sponsored “Understanding Activation and Degradation of Oxygen-Evolving Electrocatalysts Across Spatiotemporal Domains,” a talk by Prof. Ivan Moreno-Hernandez of Duke University.
Photo: Julian Lopez
The ECS University of Michigan Student Chapter and Women and Gender Minorities in Chemistry (WiC+) hosted a Coffee and Donuts social event for electrochemists
Photo: Tung Nguyen
ECS University of St Andrews Student Chapter
The chapter formed its first active committee since the pandemic with President Andrea Veronese, Vice President Manikandan Chithravelu, Secretary Yuan Liao, and Treasurer Alexandra Knebel as its officers. Prof. John T. S. Irvine is the academic faculty supervisor. All are excited to restart the chapter and host more events to enrich the community.
Their first event was hosted this spring at the St Andrews School of Chemistry. Dr. Zhao Li, formerly at the University of Liverpool and now at Imperial College London, shared his extensive experience in technical aspects of the characterization of working electrochemical interfaces, primarily by synchrotron X-ray methods. He discussed cell preparation details, data processing aspects, and showcased the advanced characterization possibilities with synchrotron facilities.
The chapter is planning to host more events and to invite speakers from industry and academia to get a diverse range of electrochemical knowledge.
From left to right: ECS University of St Andrews Student Chapter Academic Faculty Supervisor Prof. John T. S. Irvine and chapter officers President Andrea Veronese, Treasurer Alexandra Knebel, Secretary Yuan Liao, and Vice President Manikandan Chithravelu, with a hydrogen-powered fuel cell car.
2025 INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
BENEFACTOR PARTNERS
BioLogic, Knoxville, TN, US
Duracell US Operations, Inc., Bethel, CT, US
Gamry Instruments, Warminster, PA, US
PalmSens BV, Houten, Netherlands
Pine Research Instrumentation, Durham, NC, US
Scribner, LLC , Southern Pines, NC, US
SPONSORING PARTNERS
BASi, West Lafayette, IN, USA
Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wurttemberg (ZSW), Germany
Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Tamil Nadu, India
Corteva Agriscience, Indianapolis, IN, US
DLR – Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics , Oldenburg, Germany
EL-CELL GmbH, Hamburg, Germany
Electrosynthesis Company, Inc., Lancaster, NY, US
Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI, US
GS Yuasa International Ltd., Kyoto, Japan
Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Tochigi, Japan
Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, US
Nel Hydrogen, Wallingford, CT, US
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Yokosuka, Japan
NSF Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry, Salt Lake City, UT, US
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA, US
Panasonic Energy Corporation, Osaka, Japan
Permascand AB , Ljungaverk, Sweden
Plug Power, Inc., Latham, NY, US
Teledyne Energy Systems, Inc., Sparks, MD, US
UL Research Institutes, Northbrook, IL, US
PATRON PARTNERS
easyXAFS, LLC , Renton, WA, US
Energizer Battery, Westlake, OH, US
Faraday Technology, Inc., Clayton, OH, US
GE Aerospace Research, Niskayuna, NY, US
Hydro-Québec, Varennes, QC, Canada
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA, US
Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA), Ann Arbor, MI, US
SUSTAINING PARTNERS
BMW Group, München, Germany
Current Chemicals, Cleveland, OH, US
General Motors Holdings LLC , Warren, MI, US Giner, Inc., Newton, MA, US
Honeywell, Houston, TX, US
Ion Power, Inc., New Castle, DE, US
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM, US
Metrohm USA, Inc., Riverview, FL, US
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, U next Machinery Group | Coatema® Coating Machinery GmbH , Chadds Ford, PA, US
Occidental Chemical Corporation, Dallas, TX, US
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, US
Sensolytics GmbH, Bochum, Germany
Sherwin-Williams, Minneapolis, MN, US
Spectro Inlets ApS , Copenhagen, Denmark
Technic, Inc., Providence, RI, US
United Mineral & Chemical Corporation, Lyndhurst, NJ, US
Western Digital Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
Westlake Corporation, Monroeville, PA, US
Help us continue the vital work of ECS by joining as an Institutional Partner today.
To renew, join, or discuss institutional partnership options, please contact Anna Olsen, Sr. Manager, Corporate Programs, sponsorship@electrochem.org
UPCOMING MEETINGS
248th ECS Meeting
October 12–16, 2025
Chicago, IL, US Hilton Chicago
250th ECS Meeting
October 25–29, 2026
Calgary, Canada BMO Centre
249th ECS Meeting
May 24–28, 2026
Seattle, WA, US Washington State Convention Center
251st ECS Meeting
May 30–June 3, 2027
Washington, DC, US
Walter E. Washington Convention Center and Marriott Marquis
252nd ECS Meeting
October 17-21, 2027
Detroit, MI, US Huntington Place Convention Center
