From the President: A Critical Aspect of Scientific Success: Perseverance

To address the challenges that face us, we cannot just work hard, we must persevere.

Tech Highlights - Winter 2021

A collection of technology highlights pulled from recent papers published in ECS journals.

2021 Edward G. Weston Fellowship - Summary Report: Layered Sodium Manganese Oxide as a Versatile Battery Cathode for Insertion of Monovalent Ions (Li+, Na+, and K+) in Non-aqueous Electrolytes

The transition from fossil fuels to carbon-free forms of renewable energy has become a spotlight with the revolutionary emergence of efficient electrochemical energy storage systems. It enables us to realize electric mobility empowered by Li-ion battery technology. Nevertheless, for the past three decades, the development of battery technology has been very sluggish, and it warrants new strategies to meet the growing demand for high energy density. In this spirit, we are working to develop versatile battery cathodes, which can be used for electrochemical and electrocatalytic applications.

From the Editor: Who’s a Good Boy?

This issue of Interface represents the completion of 30 years of publication. As a beginning to the celebration, we have included a list of 30 articles published in the last 30 years from Journal of the Electrochemical Society and the Journal of Solid State Science and Technology. They are listed as “pearls” because the 30th anniversary is the “pearl anniversary.”

Podcasts of Note - Winter 2021

Podcasts of Note suggested for you by Alice Suroviec

2021 Joseph W. Richards Fellowship – Summary Report: Toward On-Chip Electronic Monitoring of Bacterial Conjugation

Intercellular conjugation is a primary communication method by which bacteria transfer genetic material from one cell to another. Because conjugation mediates the transfer of genetic material, it enables the spread of antibiotic resistance and other virulence factors within a population. Current techniques for its study have low throughput and require extensive sample preparation, making real-time monitoring of conjugation dynamics challenging.To address these shortcomings, we are exploring two-dimensional (2D) materials as a strain-sensitive platform for on-chip, electronic monitoring of conjugation events.

2021 H.H. Uhlig Fellowship – Summary Report Mechanistic Understanding of Lithium Dendrite Formation in All-Solid-State Batteries

Understanding lithium dendrite propagation in solid-state electrolytes requires highly advanced techniques due to the challenges arising from the lack of characterization techniques to visualize the interior of a solid. In this work, a high-pressure in-situ cell was made to monitor the dynamic changes occurring within an All-Solid-State-Battery under cycling using multiple characterization techniques.

Society News - Winter 2021

This issue’s society news includes an update on ECS journals, including updates on editorial board members and current and upcoming focus issues, the 2021-2022 ECS committees, division contacts, and new division officers, Division News, and a list of graduating ECS members.

People News - Winter 2021

ECS remembers Prof. Dr. Wolf Vielstich

30 Years of Pearls from Electrochemical Society Journals

To celebrate Interface’s 30th anniversary, we showcase 30 “pearls of the journals.” They are the two most highly cited papers in each of the 14 topical areas published in JES and JSS in the last 30 years. Because this gave us 28 papers, we then rounded up to 30 by including the two next-most-cited papers (giving us one for each year of Interface’s existence), both of which happened to be in the battery topical area.