Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

Advances in electrochemistry and fabrication have enabled wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles and a strong push for electrification of power grids across the world. In parallel, progress in materials chemistry and processing has enabled significant advances in small and soft robotics, medical devices, and wearables, pushing the boundaries of how and where humans and robots interact. However, a fundamental mismatch has emerged: these novel soft and small machines operate in environments which are incompatible with conventional energy storage solutions. Soft and wearable systems need to accommodate mechanical strain, while small devices require batteries at scales not accessible by conventional production techniques. Current limitations in the design, fabrication, and integration of these systems restricts their practical utility and meaningful use beyond the laboratory. In recognition of the interdisciplinary challenges facing the design and fabrication of energy materials at small scales and in mechanically challenging environments – the objective of this symposium is to bring together researchers from the fields of electrochemistry, soft and microscale robotics, stretchable electronics, additive manufacturing, and chemical engineering and highlight research that advances energy materials as key robotic components. This symposium will focus on three key research areas: novel chemistries for deformable energy storage, integrated design and fabrication strategies for stretchable devices, and multifunctional devices for energy conversion and storage.

Topics will include:

• Stretchable batteries and super capacitors
• Liquid and deformable electrodes
• Microfabrication of electrochemical components
• Flexible energy storage
• Hydrogel / ionogel based systems
• Additive manufacturing
• 2D and 3D printing of electrochemical materials
• Origami and kirigami methods for accommodating strain
• Fiber based energy storage and integration

Invited Speakers (tentative):

• Ana Claudia Arias (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
• Rita Baddour-Hajdean (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France)
• Nazek El-Atab (King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia)
• Sanket Goel (Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India)
• Diana Golodnitsky (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
• Nicholas A. Kotov (University of Michigan, USA)
• Pooi See Lee (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
• Jan Macak (University of Pardubice, Czech Republic)
• John Madden (University of British Columbia, Canada)
• Carmel Majidi (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
• Markus Niederberger (ETH Zürich, Switzerland)
• Soojin Park (Pohang University of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea)
• James Pikul (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
• Jeong Sook Ha (Korea University, Republic of Korea)
• Chunyi Zi (City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

Symposium Organizers