ADVANCED MATERIALS

Book Reviews

Electrochemical Publishing

Solid State Electrochemistry. Edited by Peter G. Bruce, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1995, XVI, 344 pp., hardcover, €60.00, ISBN 0-521-40007-4. At last, a book to clutch to our breasts

which spans the essentids of solid state electrochemistry! Its echoes are already beginning to sound around the solid state ionics community, which is not so sur- prising since the subject has never pre- viously been placed in its own special context in kolid state chemistry text- books, where it has generally been sub- divided into its component material types (polymers, ceramics, glasses, etc.), or de- scribed in more inaccessible conference proceedings. A single volume has indeed been long awaited under the pressure of ever-growing attention from the battery industry.

Although the book is a multi-author effort, it is hard to find any reason to fault it on this score. The editor’s gentle Celtic hand has done a splendid job of giving the book a unified style, not least through his obvious efforts to present a common notation - so often the failing of multi-authorship texts.

Perhaps the greatest fascination of sol- id state electrochemistry is the way it dif- fers from electrochemistry of the liquid state, and indeed how vital an atomic- level structural picture of our material is to our understanding of ionic mobility in solid media. We are introduced to “struc- ture’’ early in the book, where Chapters 2 and 3 give us a clear feeling for these relationships for crystalline anion and cation conductors. The coupling to thermodynamics and electronic band- structure are particularly well described here.

Chapter 4 moves us into the structural- ly less well defined world of glassy elec- trolytes, but the links between micro and macro are again elegantly and authorita- tively described by J. L. Souquet, even if some of the latest successes did not make it to the printer’s deadline. Polymer elec- trolytes are currently the most dynamic area in the field. These are treated in Chapters 5 and 6, where the editor him-

self and his co-authors succeed in con- veying the excitement of an area still (after 20 years) under development in all its facets: from theory, to synthesis, to the achievement of a more coherent under: standing of local structure and dynamics. The authors also transmit a clear appre- ciation of how we are to use experiment to our best advantage. The round-up of material types ends with Chapter 7, where we are served a delightfully con- cise account of the general principles of insertion electrode materials. We come to grips here with the heart of our subject; where electrochemistry and the solid state meet in electrochemically active solids. The chapter author (W. R. McKinnon) does well in providing a convincingly unified picture of this scientifically chal- lenging area.

From here, we move well and truly into applications, with a treatment of electrode kinetics (Chapter 8). The author here focuses on more fundamental elec- trochemical principles, in a situation where our present understanding of the subject does not permit the more materi- als-related treatment found elsewhere in the book. Two chapters then follow which deal with important applications- related topics: first, a well-balanced and excellently concise summary of electroni- cally conducting polymers (Chapter 9) by B. Scrosati, followed by a delightful account of theoretical and experimental aspects of the solid-state electrochemical interface (Chapter lo). The authors here tread skillfully the path transporting elec- trochemical concepts for aqueous systems into the solid regime. The challenge of blocking and non-blocking electrodes seems perhaps not quite so overwhelm- ing; nor the interpretation of complex impedance measurements. The book ends on a high note: the applications them- selves (Chapter 11). We are taken through a range of modern applications, from solid-state batteries (including the currently so popular lithium-polymer bat- tery), fuel cells, sensors and electro- chromic devices. The author (0. Yamo- moto), writing from his Japanese vantage

point, injects a sense of relevance which justifies and explains the current wide- spread interest in the field.

To summarize: Professor Bruce’s efforts have provided us with a valuable book, both for use in graduate training and in more specialist undergraduate courses. It can also be warmly recom- mended as general reading for profes- sional researchers in materials science and engineering. He and his contributing co-authors are to be congratulated on creating this important addition to the literature of the field.

Josh Thomas Institute of Chemistry

Uppsala University S-751 21 Uppsala (Sweden)

Electrochemistry of Novel Materials. Edited by Jacek Lipkowski and Philip N. Ross, Frontiers of Electrochemistry, Vol. 3, VCH, New York 1994, hard- cover, $145.00, DM 245.00, ISBN

The new volume in the series “Fron- tiers of Electrochemistry”, edited by J . Lipkowski and P. N. Ross, differs from others in the series in that the review articles are concentrated around a special, topical field of materials science: novel materials. This fast developing field prof- its from electrochemistry in the prepara- tion, investigation, and application of new materials. Thus, this volume is of great interest for materials scientists as well as electrochemists.

The seven chapters focus on applica- tion problems that place special demands on electrochemical, solid-state and elec- trocatalytic properties. The ionic, elec- tronic or mixed conductivity plays a dominant role. In some of these systems, equilibria of ion intercalation are com- bined with potential profiles with a large impact on catalytic activity and other phenomena. In others, semiconductor properties dominate and can be used for photoelectrochemistry.

0-89573-788-4.

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3 60 0 VCH Verlagsgesellschuft mbH, 0-69469 Weinheim. 1996 093s-9648l96/0404-0360 $ lO.OOi.ZSj0 Adv. Muter. 1996.8, No. 4