The 20th Topical Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry was held inBuenos Aires, Argentina, at the auditoriums of the Pontifical Catholic University in themodernneighborhoodofPuertoMaderobesidestheriver.

The meeting, sponsored by Divisions 3 (Electrochemical Energy Conversion andStorage) and 4 (Electrochemical Material Science) of ISE, was focused on “Advances inLithiumandHydrogenElectrochemicalSystemsforEnergyConversionandStorage”,andsessionsinvolvedthreefulldaysfromMonday20toWednesday22.Theregistrationandopening ceremony took place on Sunday 19. The opening ceremony began with a co-speechgivenbytheco-chairs,describingthegeneralpurposesofISEtopicalmeetingsandthe interests and potentialities of Argentina in the field of production of clean andrenewable energies. These initial words were followed by a presentation given by ISEVice-president Plamen Atanassov about the general objectives and activities of theSociety. The ceremony was closed with the welcome words of Dr. Miguel Angel Blesa,representing the Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina, one of the mainsponsorsofthemeeting.Aftertheceremony,thedelegatessharedawelcomecocktail.

The scientific activities started on Monday and were organized in two parallel

sessions, session1, related to lithiumbatteries and session2, focusedonhydrogen fuelcell systems. Each session included two keynote and 6 invited lectures, although in the

caseofsession1only5wereeventuallygivenasoneofthespeakerscouldn’tcomeduetohealthproblems.Regularcontributionsincluded86oraland88posterpresentations.

The keynotes of session 1 werepresentedbyKristinaEdströmfromSweden(“InterfaceandInterphasesin Li- and Na-ion batteries”) andDoronAurbachfromIsrael(“RecentInsights related to Li-O2 BatteryTechnology”). Keynotes for session2 were presented by SanjeevMukerjee from USA (“EnablingSustainable Non Noble MetalElectrocatalysts for OxygenReduction Reaction”) and EdsonTicianelli from Brazil (“Activity and

StabilityofCarbide-andOxide-basedElectrocatalystsfortheH2/O2EvolutionReactionsinAcid and Alkaline Electrolytes”). The invited lectures in session 1 were presented byAlejandroA. Franco (Université de Picardie JulesVerne&CNRS , Amiens, France), SilviaBodoardo (Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy), Nuria García-Aráez (University ofSouthampton,UnitedKingdom),BrettLucht(UniversityofRhodeIsland,USA)andRobertDominko (National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia). The invited lectures ofsession2werepresentedbyDarioR.Dekel(Technion,Israel),SimonThiele(UniversityofFreiburg, Germany), Sara Cavaliere (University of Montpellier, France), K. AndreasFriedrich(GermanAerospaceCentre(DLR),Germany),StankoBrankovic(CullenCollegeofEngineering,USA)andJoséH.Zagal(UniversidaddeSantiago,Chile).

Thepostersessions tookplaceafter theendoforal sessionsonMonday (lithiumbatteries) and Tuesday (hydrogen fuel cells) andwere accompanied by argentinewinesand traditionalempanadas. FourPosterPrizesweregrantedbySections3and4of ISE.ThewiningstudentswereAnalíaNataliArias(Argentina)andGiulioFerraresi(Switzerland)for session 1 and Mariela Lescano (Argentina) and Sirlane Gomes da Silva (Brasil) forsession2.

The success of this topicalmeeting was expressed throughthe participation of the 203delegates coming from 30countries,mainly from Americaand Europe. The number ofparticipants by country was asfollows: Argentina 68, Germany21, France 16, USA 11, Chile 9,Brazil 8, Israel 7, Sweden 7,Republic of Korea 6, Japan 5,Uruguay5,Netherlands5,Italy5,Spain4,Canada4,Switzerland3,

Belgium 2, Australia 2, Estonia 2, Czech Republic 2, United Kingdom 2, South Africa 1,Taiwan1,Bulgaria1,Nigeria1,Mexico1,Denmark1,Slovenia1,Kazakhstan1.

Theinterestonthemeetingwasexpressed not only by thenumberofdelegatesbutalsobythe presence of the NationalResearch Council (CONICET),the Ministry of ScienceTechnology and ProductiveInnovation (MINCYT) and YTECTecnología,assponsorsandthe9 instruments exhibitors thatwere participating along themeeting. Themeeting providednot only excellent and ampleopportunitiesforparticipantsto

shareanddiscusstherecentadvancesinlithiumbatteriesandhydrogenfuelcellsbutalsotoestablishnewfriendshipsandcollaborationsthankstothepossibilityofsharingcoffee-breaks, lunches and drinks in the posters room, a placewhere also the exhibitorswerepresentalongtheentiretopicalmeeting.

The traditional conference banquet was held on Tuesday evening at PiazzollaTango,ahistorical theater from1915 inthedowntownofBuenosAires,whichwasonceownedbytherecognizedmusicianandbandoneonplayerAstorPiazzolla.Thewell-serveddinnerwas followedby a tango showofferedby a traditional tango sextet ofmusiciansandsix tangocouples.Theyplayedand danced fromthetraditional tangoof the initialdecadesofthelastcenturytothemoremodernPiazzollatangostyle.

Wewishtothankalltheparticipants,particularlytothosewhodidtheeffortoftravelling to this very south part of the world, for their presentations thatcontributed to thescientificexcellenceofthemeeting. WealsodonotwanttoforgetthegreatcollaborationgivenbyKathleenVionnetandThierryLenzinoftheISEOFFICEfromtheinitialorganizationtothefinalrealizationofthetopicalmeeting.AgustínE.BolzánandEzequielP.M.LeivaCo-chairs,20thISETopicalmeeting