Comprehensive Treatise of Electrochemistry: Volume 7 Kinetics and Mechanisms of Electrode Processes

Electrochemistry is one of the oldest defined areas in physical science, and there was a time, less than 50 years ago, when one saw "Institute of Elec- trochemistry and Physical Chemistry" in the chemistry buildings of European universities. But after early brilliant developments in electrode processes at the beginning of the twentieth century and in solution chemistry during the 1930s, electrochemistry fell into a period of decline which lasted for several decades. Electrochemical systems were too complex for the theoretical con- cepts of the quantum theory. They were too little understood at a phenomeno- logical level to allow the Ubiquity in application in so many fields to be comprehended.
However, a new growth began faintly in the late 1940s, and clearly in the 1950s. This growth was exemplified by the formation in 1949 of what is now called The International Society for Electrochemistry. The usefulness of electrochemistry as a basis for understanding conservation was the focal point in the founding of this Society. Another very important event was the choice by NASA in 1958 of fuel cells to provide the auxiliary power for space vehicles.
With the new era of diminishing usefulness of the fossil fuels upon us, the role of electrochemical technology is widened (energy storage, conversion, enhanced attention to conservation, direct use of electricity from nuclear-solar plants, finding materials which interface well with hydrogen). This strong new interest is not only in the technological applications of electrochemistry. Quantum chemists have taken an interest in redox processes. Organic chemists are interested in situations where the energy of electrons is as easily controlled as it is at electrodes. Some biological processes are now seen in electrodic terms, with electron transfer to and from materials which would earlier have been considered to be insulators.