Electrochemistry for Ecologists

The present decade might be described as one in which man in the affluent countries is finally realizing that there is a bill to pay at the end of the feast-a feast at which he has eaten without inhibition, without knowing there was any need for inhibition. But now, with the situation fully clear, there is a strange non­ plussedness about man's reactions. More oil wells are sought, and clean-up packages are proposed for the same old cars. There is no real awareness yet that this is the end of an era, that quite new technologies have to be built up, and that the time remaining for this is a shatteringly short 15-30 years. However, there are sources of energy other than the fossil fuels. Oil and natural gas will run out (i.e., become too expensive) in any case during the next two or three decades. There seems little point in waiting until fuel is actually rationed and cars can only be used to move from home through smog to work before we change to these new and clean sources. The time to start the change is now, for there is much to be done.

1 Ecology and Electrochemistry.- 1.1. The Rapid Development of Fears about Pollution.- 1.2. The Most Pressing Ecological Danger: Damage to the Atmosphere.- 1.3. The Necessity to Stop the Burning of Fossil Fuels as the Source of Energy at the Earliest Moment.- 1.4. Replacement of Fossil Fuels.- 1.5. Electricity and Hydrogen: The Only Media of Energy.- 1.6. Implications for Electrochemical Science.- 1.7. What Is Electrochemical Science?.- 1.8. The Coming Change to Electricity and Hydrogen as the Media of Energy Implies an Extensive Electrochemical Technology.- 1.9. Purposes and Limitations of This Book.- 1.10. Research and Development in Electrochemistry.- 2 Some Consequences of the Present Energy Policy.- 2.1. The Short-Range Effect of Burning Fossil Fuels..- 2.2. An Effect of Burning Fossil Fuels to Their End.- 2.3. A Little-Known Effect of Fossil Fuel Burning.- 2.4. The Temperature of the Atmosphere Depends on the Carbon Dioxide Content.- 2.5. The Carbon Dioxide Balance.- 2.6. The Effect of the Sea on the Carbon Dioxide Equilibrium.- 2.7. Effect of Removal of Photosynthesizers.- 2.8. Predicted Increase of Carbon Dioxide.- 2.9. Results of the Increase of Temperature of the Atmosphere.- 2.10. Possible Delaying Tactics to the Effect of Atmospheric Pollutants.- 2.11. What Is the Present Energy Policy in the U.S.A.?.- 2.12. Internal Political Aspects of the Relation of Pollution to an Energy Policy.- 2.13. External Political Consequences of the Present Energy Policy.- 2.14. Conclusions.- 3 Future Energy Sources.- 3.1. Some Promising Sources of the Future.- 3.2. Atomic Fission, the First Step.- 3.3. Breeder Reactors, an Interim Solution?.- 3.4. Fusion, the Energy Source of the Stars.- 3.5. Direct Capture of the Sun’s Radiated Energy.- 3.6. Some Comparisons and Conclusions.- 3.7. Can We Use Unlimited Amounts of Energy? The Heat Pollution Problem.- 3.8. Some Common Characteristics of the Future Energy Sources and Their Consequences.- 4 Electrochemical Sources of Power: Batteries.- 4.1. The Need for Electrochemical Power Sources.- 4.2. There Are Two Types of Electrochemical Power Sources.- 4.3. The Principles of Batteries.- 4.4. Requirements for Electric Transportation.- 4.5. Characteristics of Present Batteries.- 4.6. Some Promising Batteries Presently in Development.- 4.7. Some Obstacles to Be Overcome in Developing the Needed Battery.- 4.8. Nonrechargeable Batteries.- 4.9. Electricity Storage with Fuel Cells.- 5 Electrochemical Sources of Power: Fuel Cells.- 5.1. The Principle of Fuel Cells.- 5.2. Some Fuel Cell Systems.- 5.3. Overall Characteristics of Fuel Cells, Examined with the Electric Car in Mind.- 5.4. Further Uses of Fuel Cells.- 5.5. The Most Developed Fuel Cell System.- 5.6. Objective Factors Which Affect the Progress of Fuel Cells.- 5.7. What Electrochemical Power Sources Will Run Cars in the Near Future?.- 5.8. Illusions with Respect to the Electric Automobile.- 5.9. Summary of the Situation with Regard to Electrochemical Power Sources.- 6 The Hydrogen Economy.- 6.1. The Inevitability of an All-Electric Economy.- 6.2. Transmission of Energy over Long Distances.- 6.3. Production Methods for Hydrogen.- 6.4. Reconversion of Hydrogen to Energy at the Point of Use.- 6.5. Some Miscellaneous Aspects of the Hydrogen Economy.- 6.6. Safety Aspects of the Hydrogen Economy.- 6.7. Summary.- 7 Electrochemical Waste Treatment.- 7.1. The Waste Problem.- 7.2. Electrochemical Treatment of Municipal Sewage.- 7.3. Destruction of Industrial Wastes by Electrolysis.- 7.4. Metal Ion Removal by Electrolysis.- 7.5. Waste Treatment by Electrodialysis.- 7.6. Waste Removal by Electroflotation and Electroflocculation.- 7.7. Electrofiltration.- 7.8. Electrostatic Precipitators.- 7.9. Closing Remarks.- 8 Electrochemical Methods of Waste Disposal.- 8.1. Waste Disposal and Recycling.- 8.2. Recycling of Metals.- 8.3. Water Recycling.- 8.4. Air Regeneration.- 8.5. Miscellaneous Electrochemical Recycling Processes.- 8.6. Conclusions.- 9 Electrochemical Manufacturing.- 9.1. The Role of Electrochemical Technology.- 9.2. Production and Purification of Metals.- 9.3. Inorganic Electrochemical Processes.- 9.4. Organic Electrochemical Processes.- 9.5. Electroplating and Electrocoating.- 9.6. Electrochemical Machining and Electroforming.- 9.7. Corrosion Prevention.- 9.8. Concluding Comments.- 10 Electrochemical Pollution Analysis.- 10.1. Ecological Problems and Analysis.- 10.2. Electrochemical Analysis.- 10.3. Potentiometry.- 10.4. Conductometry.- 10.5. Amperometry.- 10.6. Coulometry.- 10.7. Summary.- 11 The Electrochemical Future.- 11.1. Introduction.- 11.2. The Hydrogen Economy.- 11.3. Future Towns.- 11.4. The Type of Research Needed to Develop These Concepts.- 11.5. Ecology and Electrochemistry.- Appendix I The Structure of the Region between Phases.- A1.1. The Electrical Character of Interfaces.- A1.2. The Origin of the Electrification of Interfaces.- A1.3. There Is Always a Potential Difference Across Every Interphase.- A 1.4. A Change of Potential at an Interphase Which Can Be Experimentally Measured.- A1.5. Scale of Potential Difference.- A1.6. Adsorption at Metal—Solution Interphases.- A1.7. The Structure of the Interphase.- A1.8. Some Practical Considerations.- Appendix II Interfacial Charge Transfer.- A2.1. Introduction.- A2.2. Charge Transfer and Its Chemical Implications.- A2.3. Charge Transfer and Its Energy Implications.- A2.4. There Must Be Two Electrodes in a Cell.- A2.5. Rate of Reaction and Current Density.- A2.6. Rate Is a Function of a Potential Difference Across an Interphase.- A2.7. The Equilibrium Potential.- A2.8. The Exchange Current Density and Electrocatalysis.- A2.9. Summary.- Appendix III Transport of Charges to and from an Interface.- A3.1. Why Logistics Is Important in Electrochemical Science.- A3.2. A Simple View of Transport in an Electrode Reaction.- A3.3. Making the Limiting Current Bigger.- A3.4. Natural Convection.- A3.5. Field-Dependent Transport.- A3.6. The Concentration Overpotential.