Introduction

Abstract

Electrochemistry is an old science: There is good archaeological evidence that an electrolytic cell was used by the Parthans (250 B.C. to 250 A.D.), probably for electroplating (see Fig. 1.1), though a proper scientific investigation of electrochemical phenomena did not start before the experiments of Volta and Galvani [1,2]. The meaning and scope of electrochemical science has varied throughout the ages: For a long time it was little more than a special branch of thermodynamics; later attention turned to electrochemical kinetics. During recent decades, with the application of various surface-sensitive techniques to electrochemical systems, it has become a science of interfaces, and this, we think, is where its future lies. There are a large variety of interfaces of interest to electrochemists, and Fig. 1.2 shows several examples.