Volume 41 of the prominent series Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry covers a range of topics in Electrochemistry and Electrochemical Engineering. The topics include the second chapter on the survey of experimental techniques and devices of solid state electrochemistry begun by Professor Joachim Maier in Volume 39. Chapter two contains a review of synthesis and characterization of nanoporous carbons and their electrochemical applications. The next chapter reviews and discusses the use of graphs in the study of chemical reaction network. The book also reviews and discusses mathematical models of three dimensional electrode structures.

This volume comprises six chapters on aspects of fundamental and applied electrochemical science that will be of interest both to researchers in the basic areas of the subject and to those involved in aspects of electrochemical technologies. Chapter 1 is the first part of a 2-part, major contribution by Joachim Maier on Solid State Electrochemistry: Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Charge Carriers in Solids. Part 2 will follow in volume 39 to be published in year 2005. This contribution reviews modern concepts of the equilibria involving charge carriers in solids in terms of concentrations of defects in solids and at grain-boundaries, including doping effects. Complementarily, kinetics of charge transfer and ion transfer are treated in some detail in relation to conductance, kinetics of surface processes and electrode-kinetics involving solid-state processes. This chapter will be of major interest to electrochemists and physicists in the semiconductor field and that involving ionic solids. In the second chapter, Appleby presents a detailed discussion and review in modern terms of a central aspect of electrochemistry: Electron Transfer Reactions With and Without Ion Transfer. Electron transfer is the most fundamental aspect of most processes at electrode interfaces and is also involved intimately with the homogeneous chemistry of redox reactions in solutions.

This volume of Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry contains six chapters. The first four chapters are about phenomena of interest at the microscopic level and the last two are on phenomena at the macroscopic level. In the first chapter, Uosaki and Kita review various theoretical models that have been presented to describe the phenomena that occur at an electrolyte/ semiconductor interface under illumination. In the second chapter, Orazem and Newman discuss the same phenomena from a different point of view. In Chapter 3, Bogus lavsky presents state-of-the-art considerations of transmembrane potentials and other aspects of active transport in biological systems. Next, Burke and Lyons present a survey of both the theoretical and the experimental work that has been done on hydrous oxide films on several metals. The last two chapters cover the topics of the production of chlorine and caustic and the phenomena of electrolytic gas evol ution. In Chapter 5, Hine et al. describe the engineering aspects of the three processes used in the chi or-alkali industry, and in Chapter 6, Sides reviews the macroscopic phenomena of nucleation, growth, and detachment of bubbles, and the effect of bubbles on the conduc tivity of and mass transfer in electrolytes.

Integrating both theoretical and applied aspects of electrochemistry, this acclaimed monograph series presents a review of the latest advances in the field. The current volume includes chapters on the mechanism of nerve excitation from an electrochemical standpoint, the electronic factor in the kinetics of charge-transfer reaction, and five other subjects.

This volume of Modern Aspects covers a wide spread of topics presented in an authoritative, informative and instructive manner by some internationally renowned specialists. Professors Politzer and Dr. Murray provide a comprehensive description of the various theoretical treatments of solute-solvent interactions, including ion-solvent interactions. Both continuum and discrete molecular models for the solvent molecules are discussed, including Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. The advantages and drawbacks of the resulting models and computational approaches are discussed and the impressive progress made in predicting the properties of molecular and ionic solutions is surveyed. The fundamental and applied electrochemistry of the silicon/electrolyte interface is presented in an authoritative review by Dr. Gregory Zhang, with emphasis in the preparation of porous silicon, a material of significant technological interest, via anodic dissolution of monocrystalline Si. The chapter shows eloquently how fundamental electrokinetic principles can be utilized to obtain the desired product morphology. Markov chains theory provides a powerful tool for modeling several important processes in electrochemistry and electrochemical engineering, including electrode kinetics, anodic deposit formation and deposit dissolution processes, electrolyzer and electrochemical reactors performance and even reliability of warning devices and repair of failed cells. The way this can be done using the elegant Markov chains theory is described in lucid manner by Professor Thomas Fahidy in a concise chapter which gives to the reader only the absolutely necessary mathematics and is rich in practical examples.

It has been fashionable to describe electrochemistry as a discipline at the interface between the branches of chemistry and many other sciences. A perusal of the table of contents will affirm that view. Electrochemistry finds applications in all branches of chemistry as well as in biology, biochemistry, and engineering; electrochemistry gives us batteries and fuel cells, electroplating and electrosynthesis, and a host of industrial and technological applications which are barely touched on in this book. However, I will maintain that electrochemistry is really a branch of physical chemistry. Electrochemistry grew out of the same tradition which gave physics the study of electricity and magnetism. The reputed founders of physical chemistry-Arrhenius, Ostwald, and van't Hoff-made many of their contributions in areas which would now be regarded as electrochemistry. With the post-World War II capture of physical chemistry by chemical physicists, electrochemists have tended to retreat into analytical chemistry, thus defining themselves out of a great tradition. G. N. Lewis defined physical chemistry as "the study of that which is interesting." I hope that the readers of this book will find that electrochemistry qualifies.