Enjoy in MRS Meeting

Its really a good experience for me to be here at Boston this fall. MRS meeting is so organized in every tiny aspect which makes us feel good. Compare with ACS meeting, I think the prize of poster winner is a very helpful part which promote all other people to learn something new from the winner and develop next time. Again, there are so many activities here such as science as art. This kind of activity makes the meeting alive. The most important part from this meeting is the high-level oral presentation. Lots of famous professors coming from all over the world get together here to share the ideas. Its like a party of materials researchers. What's more, as a blogger, I wrote down everything good I thought and speak out the first-hand information I observed. In one word, I feel good.  

Great experience as a meeting blogger

This is the second time I take the role as the meeting blogger in MRS fall meeting. It’s always a good experience to work with MRS staff, especially Tim, and report what I see and hear during the meeting. This job actually somehow pushed myself to observe the meeting and also the community more closely. And I think now I have a better view of the whole community, why it could and will thrive, and how we students should keep polishing ourselves to contribute more.

 

Since next year I should have more assignments from the group if I come to the meeting, I’m not expecting I’ll apply for this position again. But I strongly encourage other students, especially those coming for the first year, to apply for it, and I believe everyone taking the job can benefit from it!

Think Reversely

I enjoy the poster section so far very much. As the last poster section closed today, I gained a lot. The most important point for me is to think reversely. Take my research as a sample. Nowadays, most of the people prepare the single graphene layer on copper foil using CVD method. However, they need to remove Cu foil and transfer graphene to other substrate such as Si. Usually, people use PMMA to coat on the graphene side and firstly remove Cu then remove PMMA and then transfer to other substrate. However, one poster winner yesterday used opposite method to link other functional polymer on graphene side and put them on some solution and then put substrate on graphene side. Finally, remove PMMA. Sometimes, we need use other thinking direction (usually opposite direction) to get the same result.

End of my MRS Fall trip

Sad as it was, I had to leave back for my university on a beautiful Thurday morning and thus could not attend the rest of the MRS conference...Im sure I am going to miss out on valuable insight from tonight's poster session :(

 

I want to thank Tim Palucka who graciously took me on for this position as a blogger, it was a blast to cover this event. I also want to thank Lorri Smiley and Donna Gillespie who were always willing to lend a helping hand , providing us with info...And finally I want to say Hi to my fellow bloggers at the event...I am sad I never got to meet you guys face to face...maybe next conference ? :D

 

Looking forward to the next MRS conference in ernest...see you all there!

Science as Art

Congratulations to the first place winner in Science as Art event - Carbon Galaxy !

All the picutures are so amazing that I can't believe some of them are even SEM images. They are so beautiful and fabulous. 

Research philosophy of companies and universities

In today’s lithium battery research symposim (J), the general topics are about electrode/electrolyte interfaces. Several research institutes and company research centers have given very interesting talks on this topic. One thing catches my attention is that the research from company research centers such as Toyota and Mitsubishi generally have more practical goals, while those from universities and national labs generally spread over a wide range of interests. The company research centers also tend to give themselves guidelines in regard to the research and development of certain products. For example, Toyota USA has clear target battery systems for the next twenty years.

 

I find this very interesting and I believe the complementary interactions between universities, national labs and companies are beneficial for the development of technologies.

Today’s MRS Medal Award Talk

Today’s MRS Medal Award Talk Presentation is given by Prof. Miquel Salmeron. The title is:  Physics and Chemistry of Material Surfaces under Ambient Conditions of Gases and Liquids—What’s New? (view abstract)

 

I’m very intested in the topic since during my research of battery materials, it is always found that the surface matters much more than the bulk materials. Prof. Salmeron shows in his presentation the use of advanced characterization techniques to study the surface down to atomic level. It’s a very nice; I’m just regret that I didn’t have enough time to sit through the whole talk.

Advances in solar cells

Symposium E presents the advances in solar cells. Materials development has a significant role in the huge improvement in the efficiency of solar cells in recent years. The efficiency has improved from %25 to around %50 by developing new photovoltaic materials. We are going to harvest the clean energy from son in much larger scale.

Science as art winners

Congrat to the winners of the science as art competition. The photos were amazing and tney open our eyes to the wonderland we see under microscope.

Ambient Pressure Photo_ElectronSpectroscopy (APPES)

In different areas like catalysis, scientists need to study the surface properties of materials in ambient environment. APPES is a technique developed to answer this need. Symposium X features the contribution of Prof. Salmeron in developing this technique. It starts at 12:15 at Grand Ballroom.