From reviews of previous volumes: 'This volume continues the valuable service that has been rendered by the Modern Aspects series.'-Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry 'Extremely well referenced and very readable....Maintains the overall high standards of the series.'-Journal of the American Chemical Society

Recognized experts present incisive analysis of both fundamental and applied problems in this continuation of a highly acclaimed series. Topics discussed include: A thorough and mathematical treatment of periodic phenomena, with consideration of new theories about the transition between `order' and `chaos'; Impedance spectroscopy as applied to the study of kinetics and mechanisms of electrode processes; The use of stoichiometric numbers in mechanism analysis; The electro-osmotic dewatering of clays with important implications for the processing of industrial waste and geotechnical; stabilization; Magnetic effects in electrolytic processes and the electrolytic Hall effect; and The computer analysis and modeling of mass transfer and fluid flow. These authoritative studies will be invaluable for researchers in engineering, electrochemistry, analytical chemistry, materials science, physical chemistry, and corrosion science.

No. 29 offers new insights into the energies of activation of electrode reactions and the interfacial behavior of proteins.

This volume continues the development of the Modern Aspects series in the electrochemical field. The series is now 18 years old, and it is relevant to note the degree of evolution that electro chemistry has undergone during this time, for it affects the character of the articles chosen. The trend is towards development of inter disciplinary areas of electrochemical science, with full stress upon the many directions of applications of knowledge of electrode processes. The degree of import which should be attached to electro chemical science arises from the changes in technology which must be made during the next few decades. These clearly involve a massive electrification and the gradual elimination of the present fossil fuel economy, for both ecological and economic reasons. Research on the fundamental aspects of the field-slow in development to a standard-must be promulgated, but its justification is the modern provisionofa basis for the needed future electrochemical technology. One vast area of potential application of electrochemical concepts is omitted by the present attitude. It is, of course, the electro biological aspect, perhaps, finally, the largest area of all for fruitful applications. These concepts are reflected in the editors' choice of chapters. Quantum mechanical descriptions of surfaces must be bravely faced. Oscillatory aspects of electrochemical systems are often met in nature and demand attention at a fundamental level. Organic electrochemistry is in an ascending phase. With the electro biological v Preface vi article, we hope to stimulate a beginning of electrodic applications in this area.

This volume analyzes and summarizes recent developments in several key interfacial electrochemical systems in the areas of fuel cell electrocatatalysis, electrosynthesis and electrodeposition. The six Chapters are written by internationally recognized experts in these areas and address both fundamental and practical aspects of several existing or emerging key electrochemical technologies. The Chapter by R. Adzic, N. Marinkovic and M. Vukmirovic provides a lucid and authoritative treatment of the electrochemistry and electrocatalysis of Ruthenium, a key element for the devel- ment of efficient electrodes for polymer electrolyte (PEM) fuel cells. Starting from fundamental surface science studies and interfacial considerations, this up-to-date review by some of the pioneers in this field, provides a deep insight in the complex catalytic-electrocatalytic phenomena occurring at the interfaces of PEM fuel cell electrodes and a comprehensive treatment of recent developments in this extremely important field. Several recent breakthroughs in the design of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes and cathodes are described in the Chapter of H. Uchida and M. Watanabe. The authors, who have pioneered several of these developments, provide a lucid presentation d- cribing how careful fundamental investigations of interfacial electrocatalytic anode and cathode phenomena lead to novel electrode compositions and microstructures and to significant practical advances of SOFC anode and cathode stability and enhanced electrocatalysis.

In the last decade, the evolution of electrochemistry away from concern with the physical chemistry of solutions to its more fruitful goal in the study of the widespread consequences of the transfer of electric charges across interphases has come to fruition. The turning of technology away from an onward rush, regardless, to progress which takes into account repercussions of techno logical activity on the environment, and the consequent need for a reduction and then termination of the injection of CO into 2 the atmosphere (greenhouse effect), together with a reckoning with air and water pollution in general, ensures a long-term need for advances in a basic knowledge of electrochemical systems, an increased technological use of which seems to arise from the environmental necessities. But a mighty change in attitude needs to spread among electro chemists (indeed, among all surface chemists) concerning the terms and level in which their field is discussed. The treatment of charge transfer reactions has often been made too vaguely, in terms, it seemed, of atom transfer, with the electron-transfer step, the essence of electrochemistry, an implied accompaniment to the transfer of ions across electrical double layers. The treatment has been in terms of classical mechanics, only tenable while inadequate questions were asked concerning the behavior of the electron in the interfacial transfer. No process demands a more exclusively quantal discussion than does electron transfer.