This book describes the physical basis of polarization modulation infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy and its application in electrochemical studies. It provides a concise yet comprehensive review of the research done in this field in the last 20 years. Electrochemical methods are used to determine the rate and mechanism of charge transfer reactions between an electrode and species adsorbed or diffusing to its surface. In the past two decades PM-IRRAS has grown to be one of the most important vibrational spectroscopy techniques applied to investigate structural changes taking place at the electrochemical interface. The monograph presents foundations of this technique and reviews in situ studies of redox-inactive and redox-active films adsorbed on electrode surfaces. It also discusses experimental conditions required in electrochemical and spectroscopic studies and presents practical solutions to perform efficient experiments. As such, it offers an invaluable resource for graduate and postgraduate students, as well as for all researchers in academic and industrial laboratories.

This series, formerly edited by Heinz Gerischer and Charls V. Tobias, now edited by Richard C. Alkire and Dieter M. Kolb, has been warmly welcomed by scientists world-wide which is reflected in the reviews of the previous volumes: "This is an essential book for researchers in electrochemistry; it covers areas of both fundamental and practical importance, with reviews of high quality. The material is very well presented and the choice of topics reflects a balanced editorial policy that is welcomed." —The Analyst "All the contributions in this volume are well up to the standard of this excellent series and will be of great value to electrochemists.... The editors again deserve to be congratulated on this fine collection of reviews." —Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Chemistry "...competently and clearly written." —Berichte der Bunsen- Gesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie

The study of electrochemical nanotechnology has emerged as researchers apply electrochemistry to nanoscience and nanotechnology. These two related volumes in the Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry Series review recent developments and breakthroughs in the specific application of electrochemistry and nanotechnology to biology and medicine. Internationally renowned experts contribute chapters that address both fundamental and practical aspects of several key emerging technologies in biomedicine, such as the processing of new biomaterials, biofunctionalization of surfaces, characterization of biomaterials, discovery of novel phenomena and biological processes occurring at the molecular level.

This ninth volume in the series concentrates on in situ spectroscopic methods and combines a balanced mixture of theory and applications, making it highly readable for chemists and physicists, as well as for materials scientists and engineers. As with the previous volumes, all the chapters continue the high standards of this series, containing numerous references to further reading and the original literature, for easy access to this new field. The editors have succeeded in selecting highly topical areas of research and in presenting authors who are leaders in their fields, covering such diverse topics as diffraction studies of the electrode-solution interface, thin organic films at electrode surfaces, linear and non-linear spectroscopy as well as sum frequency generation studies of the electrified solid-solution interface, plus quantitative SNIFTIRS and PM-IRRAS. Special attention is paid to recent advances and developments, which are critically and thoroughly discussed. The result is a compelling set of reviews, serving equally well as an excellent and up-to-date source of information for experienced researchers in the field, as well as as an introduction for newcomers.

Encyclopedia of Interfacial Chemistry: Surface Science and Electrochemistry, Seven Volume Set summarizes current, fundamental knowledge of interfacial chemistry, bringing readers the latest developments in the field. As the chemical and physical properties and processes at solid and liquid interfaces are the scientific basis of so many technologies which enhance our lives and create new opportunities, its important to highlight how these technologies enable the design and optimization of functional materials for heterogeneous and electro-catalysts in food production, pollution control, energy conversion and storage, medical applications requiring biocompatibility, drug delivery, and more. This book provides an interdisciplinary view that lies at the intersection of these fields. Presents fundamental knowledge of interfacial chemistry, surface science and electrochemistry and provides cutting-edge research from academics and practitioners across various fields and global regions

It gives us pleasure in writing the Preface to this volume, in which we tried to bring together a number of stimulating and interesting people discussing physical electrochemistry. The first chapter, by Ashok Vijh, gives a remarkable account of electrochemistry as looked at from a physicist's point of view. Among the revelations of the chapter is that in a recent survey of leading areas in Science, two out of fifteen areas chosen were electrochemical and these two were the only chemical subjects chosen. In Mikhail Vorotyntsev's chapter, one finds a very modern study of the double layer, but tenuously connected with the simpler studies made in the safe harbor of mercury. In the pioneering chapter by Pons et al., one is looking at a cutting edge of electrochemistry at this time-the use of IR spectros copy in modes which allow the first practical determinations of the spectra of adsorbed species at the interface-an area pioneered by Pons himself. In Chapter 4, we have reached photoelectrochemistry once more, but now Tributsch speaks about what has rapidly become the major area of that topic, photoelectrocatalysis. Close to this chapter, and indeed intellectually connected with it, is that by Schmickler and Schultze about electron transfer reac tions at oxide-covered metal electrodes in which theories which are still relatively dubious for metal-solution surfaces are applied to complex systems involving oxides.

It is hard to overstate the importance of electrochemistry in the modern world: the ramifications of the subject extend into areas as diverse as batteries, fuel cells, effluent remediation and re-cycling, clean technology, elect- synthesis of organic and inorganic compounds, conversion and storage of solar energy, semiconductor processing, material corrosion, biological electron transfer processes and a wide range of highly specific analytical techniques. The impact of electrochemistry on the lives of all of us has increased immeas- ably, even in recent years, but this increase has not been reflected in the level or content of courses taught at universities, many of which portray the subject as a collection of arcane recipes and poorly understood formulae of marginal importance to the mainstream of chemistry. This approach reached its nadir with the recent extraordinary furore surrounding the purported discovery of cold fusion, where two electrochemists claimed to have shown that the fusion of deuterium nuclei could be effected under ambient conditions by the electrochemically induced intercalation of deuterium atoms into palladium. Whatever the truth behind such claims, their discussion revealed a lamentable lack of knowledge of modern elect- chemistry, not only among science writers for the popular press, but among many professional chemists and physicists whose acquaintance with the subject seems, for the most part, to have stopped somewhere about the time of Nernst. In a year in which Professor R.

Electrochemistry is one of the oldest branches of Physical Chemistry. Having its foundations in the work of Faraday, Arrhenius and others, it evolved from the study of transport in electrolyte solutions to that of electrode kinetics. Kinetic methods are inherently unable to identify unequivocally the species involved in a reaction. Therefore, beginning in the 70s many spectroscopic and diffraction techniques were applied to the study of the electrode-electrolyte interface, in order to identify intermediary reaction species, and even the spatial arrangement of atoms or molecules at the interface. In order to disseminate these techniques, a NATO Advanced Sutdy Institute was held at Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) from July 2 to 15, 1988. The Institute consisted of tutorial type lecutures, poster sessions, and round-table discussions. It was attended by over 65 participants from NATO-member countries, and others from Argentina and Japan. In the present volume most of the lectures presented at the Institute have been collected. At least one chapter is devoted to each technique. Emphasis has been made on case studies, rather than theory, which can be found in textbooks and other publications. Our purpose in this book is to help the electrochemists uninitiated in spectroscopic methods to decide which techniques would be suitable for application to their particular problems. We thank all the lecturers who contributed to this volume, and even those UHPs (Unrepentant Habitual Procrastinators) who did not in spite of our urgings to do so.

Conversion of light and electricity to chemicals is an important component of a sustainable energy system. The exponential growth in renewable energy generation implies that there will be strong market pull for chemical energy storage technology in the near future, and here carbon dioxide utilization must play a central role. The electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide is key in achieving these goals. Carbon Dioxide Electrochemistry showcases different advances in the field, and bridges the two worlds of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis that are often perceived as in competition in research. Chapters cover homogeneous and heterogeneous electrochemical reduction of CO2, nanostructures for CO2 reduction, hybrid systems for CO2 conversion, electrochemical reactors, theoretical approaches to catalytic reduction of CO2, and photoelectrodes for electrochemical conversion. With internationally well-known editors and authors, this book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in energy, catalysis, chemical engineering and chemistry who work on carbon dioxide.