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Electroanalytical chemistry
Journal of Electroanalytrcal Chemrstry, 369 (1994) 293-294
293
Book reviews Introduction to Electrochemistry, D Brynn Hlbbert, Macmillan, Basmgstoke, 1993, xvm + 350 pp, &45 00 This is a book suitable for an undergraduate course m electrochemistry It follows fairly traditional lines covering a field comparable, though not identical, with that covered by other recent books (Pletcher 1991, Koryta, Dvorak and Kavan, 1993, Brett and Brett 1994, Oldham 1994) The mam difference from these at first glance 1s the informal chatty style This 1s a matter of taste and will probably attract students I guess I am the wrong generation, it put me off to begm with However, once I accepted this I found the matter well chosen and well explained at an elementary level There are, mevltably, places where the more expenenced reader will fmd too much 1s left out m the interest of mentlomng everything What might be crltlclzed 1s the lack of a route to learning more There 1s a long list of references to books, but no guide as to which should be consulted on each topic Certainly a student does not want the book cluttered with references, but there 1s a happy medium There 1s also a list of Electrochemical Journals with dates of the first volume which are inaccurate The Journal of the Electrochemical Society started m 1948 not 1854, although the Society was founded m 1902
Electroanalytical Chemistry, A Series of Advances, vol 18, A J Bard (Ed >, Marcel Dekker Inc, New York, 1994, 412 pp , $165 The latest volume of this series addresses three topics electrochemistry m mlcelles, micro-emulsions and related micro-heterogeneous fluids by James F Rushng (University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT), mechanism of charge transport m polymer modified electrodes by Gyorgy Inzelt (Eotvos Umverslty, Budapest, Hungary) and scanning electrochemical microscopy by Allen J Bard, Fu-Ren F Fan and Michael V Mlrkm (Umverslty of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX) Followmg a hlstorlcal review Ruslmg describes typlcal surfactant mlcrostructures and develops three chapters respectively dedicated to the electrochemistry m mlcellar solutions, m micro-emulaons and m lamellar and vesicle dlsperslons There he focuses on such pro-
Zelt fur Electrochlmle began m 1894 not 1954 Both Electrochlm Acta and this Journal started m 1959 It 1s very good to have a book which follows (almost) all the IUPAC recommendations though there are one or two usages which must be deprecated If one fed a calculation mto a computer using a Nernst equation m the form E=E*-RT/nFlna
the result would be wrong, brackets are needed round the RT/nF F 1s correctly defined as the Faraday constant, but to describe the number of electrons m F/mol (page 185) 1s a solecism that should not be excused because it 1s widespread amongst practlsmg electrochemlsts Smce the normal units of F are C mol- ’ this 1s clearly nonsense n 1s a dlmenslonless number I am sure that this book would form an excellent basis for a first electrochemistry course and that students would fmd it entertaining as well as thought provokmg Unfortunately, the price 1s high for an undergraduate ROGER PARSONS Southampton
cesses as adsorption, diffusion, electron transfer, chemical reactions and electrochemical catalysis and on how they are affected by the concentration and nature of the surfactants He also reviews the different techniques which have been used to study these systems and seems to favour ultra-mlcroelectrodes A very mterestmg chapter, which to my knowledge 1s the first review to focus on electrochemistry m surfactant solutions Inzelt recounts and analyses the literature from the early 1980’s to the present time His contrlbutlon 1s based on three sections which cover theories of electron transport m polymer film electrodes, charge transport m polymer films and effect of film morphology on charge transport m polymers The first section mvestigates several models describing the relatlonshlp between electronic and lomc charge transport The second focuses on three classes of polymer films ion
294
Book reuzews
exchange polymers contammg electrostatically bound redox centres, fixed sites redox polymers and conductmg polymer films (polypyrrole and polyamhne) The last section analyses recent theories on adsorption, diffusion and charge transport of polymers as well as mechanical and electrochemical equlhbrla m polymer layers Although this 1s not the first review of the subJect there 1s a strong emphasis on the mechanisms of charge transport (electronic and loruc) within polymer films Finally Bard and coworkers present an exhaustive discussion of the SECM It 1s also divided mto three sections mstrumentatlon, theoretical background and apphcatlons The different modes of operation are described (feedback, generation-collection, direct) and the theoretical section includes a treatment of the steady state and transient tip response as a function of the tip substrate distance, rate of electron transfer at the substrate, kmetlcs of homogeneous chemrcal reac-
tion, kmetlcs of surface reactlons (adsorptlon-desorptlon), geometry of the tip (disc, cone, sphere) The typical apphcatlons of the SECM are presented imagmg (topography, reaction rate), micro-engineering (high resolution deposition and etching) and thm layer cell type experiments for electroanalytical measurements To my knowledge, this 1s the first complete review of the SECM The latest volume of this electroanalytlcal chemistry series 1s very good and will undoubtedly provide an invaluable source of mformatlon It 1s particularly welcome because the three subjects covered are evolving very rapidly and this volume will be a useful alternative to reading the large number of papers which are referenced therem
GUY DENUAULT Southampton
293
Book reviews Introduction to Electrochemistry, D Brynn Hlbbert, Macmillan, Basmgstoke, 1993, xvm + 350 pp, &45 00 This is a book suitable for an undergraduate course m electrochemistry It follows fairly traditional lines covering a field comparable, though not identical, with that covered by other recent books (Pletcher 1991, Koryta, Dvorak and Kavan, 1993, Brett and Brett 1994, Oldham 1994) The mam difference from these at first glance 1s the informal chatty style This 1s a matter of taste and will probably attract students I guess I am the wrong generation, it put me off to begm with However, once I accepted this I found the matter well chosen and well explained at an elementary level There are, mevltably, places where the more expenenced reader will fmd too much 1s left out m the interest of mentlomng everything What might be crltlclzed 1s the lack of a route to learning more There 1s a long list of references to books, but no guide as to which should be consulted on each topic Certainly a student does not want the book cluttered with references, but there 1s a happy medium There 1s also a list of Electrochemical Journals with dates of the first volume which are inaccurate The Journal of the Electrochemical Society started m 1948 not 1854, although the Society was founded m 1902
Electroanalytical Chemistry, A Series of Advances, vol 18, A J Bard (Ed >, Marcel Dekker Inc, New York, 1994, 412 pp , $165 The latest volume of this series addresses three topics electrochemistry m mlcelles, micro-emulsions and related micro-heterogeneous fluids by James F Rushng (University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT), mechanism of charge transport m polymer modified electrodes by Gyorgy Inzelt (Eotvos Umverslty, Budapest, Hungary) and scanning electrochemical microscopy by Allen J Bard, Fu-Ren F Fan and Michael V Mlrkm (Umverslty of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX) Followmg a hlstorlcal review Ruslmg describes typlcal surfactant mlcrostructures and develops three chapters respectively dedicated to the electrochemistry m mlcellar solutions, m micro-emulaons and m lamellar and vesicle dlsperslons There he focuses on such pro-
Zelt fur Electrochlmle began m 1894 not 1954 Both Electrochlm Acta and this Journal started m 1959 It 1s very good to have a book which follows (almost) all the IUPAC recommendations though there are one or two usages which must be deprecated If one fed a calculation mto a computer using a Nernst equation m the form E=E*-RT/nFlna
the result would be wrong, brackets are needed round the RT/nF F 1s correctly defined as the Faraday constant, but to describe the number of electrons m F/mol (page 185) 1s a solecism that should not be excused because it 1s widespread amongst practlsmg electrochemlsts Smce the normal units of F are C mol- ’ this 1s clearly nonsense n 1s a dlmenslonless number I am sure that this book would form an excellent basis for a first electrochemistry course and that students would fmd it entertaining as well as thought provokmg Unfortunately, the price 1s high for an undergraduate ROGER PARSONS Southampton
cesses as adsorption, diffusion, electron transfer, chemical reactions and electrochemical catalysis and on how they are affected by the concentration and nature of the surfactants He also reviews the different techniques which have been used to study these systems and seems to favour ultra-mlcroelectrodes A very mterestmg chapter, which to my knowledge 1s the first review to focus on electrochemistry m surfactant solutions Inzelt recounts and analyses the literature from the early 1980’s to the present time His contrlbutlon 1s based on three sections which cover theories of electron transport m polymer film electrodes, charge transport m polymer films and effect of film morphology on charge transport m polymers The first section mvestigates several models describing the relatlonshlp between electronic and lomc charge transport The second focuses on three classes of polymer films ion
294
Book reuzews
exchange polymers contammg electrostatically bound redox centres, fixed sites redox polymers and conductmg polymer films (polypyrrole and polyamhne) The last section analyses recent theories on adsorption, diffusion and charge transport of polymers as well as mechanical and electrochemical equlhbrla m polymer layers Although this 1s not the first review of the subJect there 1s a strong emphasis on the mechanisms of charge transport (electronic and loruc) within polymer films Finally Bard and coworkers present an exhaustive discussion of the SECM It 1s also divided mto three sections mstrumentatlon, theoretical background and apphcatlons The different modes of operation are described (feedback, generation-collection, direct) and the theoretical section includes a treatment of the steady state and transient tip response as a function of the tip substrate distance, rate of electron transfer at the substrate, kmetlcs of homogeneous chemrcal reac-
tion, kmetlcs of surface reactlons (adsorptlon-desorptlon), geometry of the tip (disc, cone, sphere) The typical apphcatlons of the SECM are presented imagmg (topography, reaction rate), micro-engineering (high resolution deposition and etching) and thm layer cell type experiments for electroanalytical measurements To my knowledge, this 1s the first complete review of the SECM The latest volume of this electroanalytlcal chemistry series 1s very good and will undoubtedly provide an invaluable source of mformatlon It 1s particularly welcome because the three subjects covered are evolving very rapidly and this volume will be a useful alternative to reading the large number of papers which are referenced therem
GUY DENUAULT Southampton