The 2026 EU-US Frontiers of Engineering symposium will be held November 2-5 in Chicago, IL. Sixty of the most promising early career engineers from the US and EU will meet for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium to discuss cutting-edge engineering. The event facilitates international and cross-disciplinary research collaboration, promotes the transfer of new techniques and approaches across disparate engineering fields, and encourages the creation of a transatlantic network of world-class engineers. The symposium will be hosted in partnership with the European Council of Academies of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering and the University of Chicago and is supported by The Grainger Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

The 2026 US Frontiers of Engineering symposium will be September 22-25 in Austin, Texas.

About this event: Created by Xavier Borras, PhD On 20.09.2026 to 25.09.2026 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil https://www.itctribology.net/

High-energy–density lithium metal batteries, either liquid or solid state, require ultrathin Li anodes, but their implementation is hindered by poor Li processability in fabrication and inhomogeneous Li plating behaviours upon cycling. This work addresses these challenges through a mask-patterned discrete array using a molten salt-derived Li nanocomposite. The screen-printing strategy circumvents the poor wettability of molten Li on copper that causes high Li|Cu contact angle and non-uniform Li spreading, thus fabricating ultrathin Li foils with equivalent thicknesses below 30 μm. Concurrently, the molten salt-derived inorganic nanoparticles in Li favour homogeneous Li deposition and induce inorganic-rich solid electrolyte interphase to jointly suppress active Li consumption. The resulting Li array (10–28 μm) anodes demonstrate remarkable performance in both liquid- and solid-state systems, achieving high energy densities up to 504 Wh kg−1/1071 Wh L−1 and stable cycling over 260 cycles with high-loading cathodes. This integrated approach resolves both fabrication and cycling challenges of ultrathin Li anodes and offers an alternative solution for high-performance liquid-/solid-state batteries.