The international ‘Science Award for Electrochemistry’ from BASF and Volkswagen is set to be awarded for the third time. Outstanding scientists from all over the world are now able to submit applications online atwww.science-award.com. The website also explains the conditions of entry and the selection process. The closing date for entries is July 4, 2014.

The entries submitted will be judged by a jury made up of experts from BASF and Volkswagen and representatives from academia. The awards ceremony will take place on November 6, 2014 at Stanford University in California.

The international Science Award for Electrochemistry supports outstanding work in natural and engineering science and aims to provide a stimulus for the development of high-capacity energy storage systems. The Science Award has been offered annually since 2012 and is aimed at scientists in the global academic research community. The total prize money is €50,000, with the first prize worth €25,000. As of this year the prize money does not have to be used for a specific purpose.

In October 2012, the first international Science Award for Electrochemistry from BASF and Volkswagen went to Dr. Naoaki Yabuuchi of the Department of Green and Sustainable Chemistry at Tokyo Denki University in Japan. A year later, the second Science Award was won by Dr. Karl Mayrhofer of the Electrocatalysis working group at the Max Planck Institute of Ferrous Materials Research in Düsseldorf, Germany. The jury recognised with its decision the outstanding research results that Yabuuchi had achieved in relation to different battery technologies and that Mayrhofer had achieved in the field of electrocatalysts for fuel cells.

Photograph: Advanced cathode materials for batteries, magnification 6400:1 (12cm in width).