Electrocatalysis: Fundamentals and Applications

Abstract

Electrocatalysis is a special field in Electrochemistry that hasgained a special growth after the late eighties due to theapplication of new hybrid techniques. However, most of theapplications have run for academic purposes but not fortechnical uses in the industry. Nowadays, the application ofnew concepts of electrocatalysis for industrial electrochemi-cal processes has appeared as a necessity and not only attract-ing attention for chemists but for engineers. Therefore,industrial electrocatalytic processes have only been presentedin the literature from the chemical engineering point of viewwith few further electrochemical explanations and mainlyduring the late seventies. The design and preparation of anelectrocatalyst (electrodes for technological uses) are basedon new concepts such as a controlled surface roughness,atomic topographic profiles, defined catalytic centre sites,atomic rearrangements, and phase transitions in the courseof the electrochemical reactions.