Developments in Electrochemistry

Science Inspired by Martin Fleischmann

Derek Pletcher, Zhong-Qun Tian, David Williams, Derek Pletcher, Zhong-Qun Tian, David Williams

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9781118694435
• eBook ISBN:
  9781118694343
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Physical & Theoretical Chemistry

Martin Fleischmann was truly one of the 'fathers' of modern electrochemistry having made major contributions to diverse topics within electrochemical science and technology. These include the theory and practice of voltammetry and in situ spectroscopic techniques, instrumentation, electrochemical phase formation, corrosion, electrochemical engineering, electrosynthesis and cold fusion. 

While intended to honour the memory of Martin Fleischmann, Developments in Electrochemistry is neither a biography nor a history of his contributions. Rather, the book is a series of critical reviews of topics in electrochemical science associated with Martin Fleischmann but remaining important today. The authors are all scientists with outstanding international reputations who have made their own contribution to their topic; most have also worked with Martin Fleischmann and benefitted from his guidance.

Each of the 19 chapters within this volume begin with an outline of Martin Fleischmann's contribution to the topic, followed by examples of research, established applications and prospects for future developments.

The book is of interest to both students and experienced workers in universities and industry who are active in developing electrochemical science.

1
Martin Fleischmann¹ – The Scientist and the Person

A group of electrochemists whose lives were enhanced by their contacts with Martin Fleischmann have joined together to produce this book; it is intended to celebrate the legacy that he has left to modern electrochemistry. Martin was an outstanding scientist with a great vision that allowed him to initiate a number of fields of activity. His detailed grasp of chemistry, physics and mathematics provided a background for a continuous flow of new approaches and experiments. Martin was essentially “an ideas man.” Indeed, often his ideas were ahead of the ability of equipment to carry out the experiments, and it was only a few years later that the ideas came to fruition and it became possible to obtain high-quality experimental data. As can be seen by the authorship of the following chapters, this ability to be ahead of “the state-of-the-art,” combined with inspirational leadership, made him a reliable stepping stone to successful careers for many of his coworkers. His enthusiasm for science, combined with a very warm personality and a lifetime's interest in the arts, skiing, food and wine, led him to have a large group of friends, ex-students and other coworkers, throughout the world. Stories about Martin abound, and a few of these are set out below. Indeed, the affection with which Martin is held can be seen in all the following chapters. All authors have, however, been asked to concentrate on the developments from the work of Fleischmann that are important now, and hence to produce a book that is relevant to “Electrochemistry in 2014.” This would surely have been the wish of Martin Fleischmann.

Martin Fleischmann FRS was born in Karlsbad, Czechoslovakia in March 1927 to a wealthy, German-speaking family. His father was a well-known lawyer and his mother the daughter of a senior Austrian civil servant whose family traced its roots back to the thirteenth century in Prague. In Martin's own words, he was born into a castle with a fantastic collection of paintings. All this was to change dramatically, however. His parents were vocal opponents of the Nazi regime and, inevitably, they were forced to flee their home and leave behind all their possessions. They arrived in England after a lengthy and dangerous journey by taxi and train through Germany and Holland with a total of £1.30 in their purse! Following a period living in a “chicken hut,” and the death of his father resulting from injuries received during a period of imprisonment by the Nazis, the family circumstances began to improve. Support from a refugee committee led to the lease of a cottage in Rustington (Sussex), where his mother was to start a business making dolls (that was to continue for more than 30 years, http://www.oldcottagedolls.co.uk) and Martin went back to education at Worthing High School for Boys. During the war he served in the Czech Air Force Training Unit. Martin was both an Undergraduate and Postgraduate in the Department of Chemistry at Imperial College London. During these student days he courted – and married – Sheila, who was to be his wife and support for 62 years. Together, they brought up three children, Nicholas, Vanessa and Charlotte, and Martin was always a devoted and stimulating father. He died on August 3rd, 2012 at the age of 85 after an extended illness.

His introduction to electrochemistry was as a PhD student with Professor Herrington at Imperial College. His own project concerned the diffusion of electrogenerated hydrogen through thin palladium foils! Importantly to his later career, he became part of a larger group that included John Bockris, Brian Conway and Roger Parsons, all to become leading figures in the world of electrochemistry. These contacts led to a stimulating environment for discussion and catalyzed broad interests in electrochemistry. After graduation in 1951, Martin went to the University of Newcastle where he was to interact with Lord Wynne-Jones, Reg Thirsk, Alan Bewick, Ron Armstrong and Frank Goodridge, amongst others. He was quickly promoted to a Readership before, in 1967, being appointed to the Faraday Chair of Chemistry at the University of Southampton where, with the support of Graham Hills, he was to establish a large Electrochemistry Group that soon had a worldwide reputation and still flourishes today. Key colleagues included Alan Bewick, Pat Hendra, Bob Jannson, Laurie Peter, Derek Pletcher, Jim Robinson and David Schiffrin. His work in Newcastle and Southampton led to numerous contributions in:

• Electrochemical nucleation and phase growth
• Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy
• In-situ X-ray techniques
• Potentiostat design
• Microelectrodes
• Theory and development of electroanalytical techniques
• Organic electrochemistry
• Electrolytic cell design and electrochemical engineering
• Corrosion
• Electrodes in biological science.

Martin was a consummate mathematician and liked nothing better than a model leading either to “back-of-the-envelope calculations” or many pages of equations; those who worked with him were regularly presented with 20 pages of mathematics, scribbled the evening before and often requiring one to learn about new mathematical transforms or functions! The idea was always to fit experimental data to the resulting equations, and hence to gain insight into the fundamentals of the electrode reaction mechanism. Martin already had the interpretation and conclusions fully worked out and ready for discussion!

During the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, Southampton was an exciting place for electrochemists. Lectures and longer visits by the world's most distinguished electrochemists were frequent, while Martin was always full of ideas for new experiments and would discuss them energetically. The Electrochemistry Laboratory was bigger than many entire Chemistry Departments at the time, and it had many diverse projects. The atmosphere at Southampton at the time is captured in Jim McQuillan's recollection: “From June 1972, I was a postdoctoral fellow at Southampton with Martin Fleischmann and Pat Hendra. Both Martin and Pat were innovative scientists who enjoyed competing with each other in scientific brainstorming and both were excited by the prospect of audacious experiments. I well remember ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• 1 Martin Fleischmann – The Scientist and the Person
• 2 A Critical Review of the Methods Available for Quantitative Evaluation of Electrode Kinetics at Stationary Macrodisk Electrodes
• 3 Electrocrystallization: Modeling and Its Application
• 4 Nucleation and Growth of New Phases on Electrode Surfaces
• 5 Organic Electrosynthesis
• 6 Electrochemical Engineering and Cell Design
• 7 Electrochemical Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (EC-SERS): Early History, Principles, Methods, and Experiments
• 8 Applications of Electrochemical Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (EC-SERS)
• 9 In-Situ Scanning Probe Microscopies: Imaging and Beyond
• 10 In-Situ Infrared Spectroelectrochemical Studies of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction
• 11 Electrochemical Noise: A Powerful General Tool
• 12 From Microelectrodes to Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy
• 13 Cold Fusion After A Quarter-Century: The Pd/D System
• 14 In-Situ X-Ray Diffraction of Electrode Surface Structure
• 15 Tribocorrosion
• 16 Hard Science at Soft Interfaces
• 17 Electrochemistry in Unusual Fluids
• 18 Aspects of Light-Driven Water Splitting
• 19 Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
• Index
• End User License Agreement