Chemical Education Today
book & media reviews
Modern Techniques in Electroanalysis Peter Vanysek, Ed. John Wiley: New York, 1996. ISBN 0-471-55514-2 (paper). $84.95. Realizing, of course, that one is always remembered for what is said or written first and last, let me start by stating that Modern Techniques in Electroanalysis is an extremely useful collection of excellently written reviews. The various authors do a good job of defining terms and explaining even the most routinely used techniques, so that a novice, while not being able to grasp all concepts, probably won’t be driven off. There is a heavy emphasis in several chapters on various techniques for characterizing the electrode surfaces, including solid-state, spectroscopic, and surface (scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy) methods. This does reflect a popular area of modern research, and electrochemistry deals to a great extent with processes occurring at interfaces. Stripping analysis for the determination of trace amounts of analytes is perhaps the “oldest and most established” of the topics covered, but one that is still proving useful (more in the applied than the fundamental arena at this stage of the game). The chapter devoted to automation of electrochemical instrumentation should prove useful to a wide range of readers in both industry and academe. As many of the authors correctly point out, electrochemical detection appears to be going to smaller and smaller volumes and/or electrodes, with electrochemistry at microelectrodes now firmly established in both practice and theory. The chapter on the theory of steady-state microelectrode voltammetry partly addresses this trend, but I would have liked to see more detailed discussion on the various applications that use micro- (and even nm-) sized electrodes to supplement the theory. Other topics include processes occurring at liquid–liquid junctions (in lieu of the more classical liquid–metal processes) and a chapter devoted to the simulation of electrochemical data. Simulations of electrochemical experiments are, of course, nothing new, dating back to the 1960s. However, with the speed and power of desktop computers and the availability of commercial simulation programs (if you can afford them!), supercomputers and intensive programming
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knowledge are no longer necessary to routinely use these powerful techniques. One wonders whether actual research will be necessary, given the pace of technological improvements. However, though the simulation of such phenomena as nuclear explosions instead of actual detonations is highly desirable (for obvious reasons), mother nature still has enough surprises that the experimentalist can breath easily for a few more years (one hopes). Unless, of course, one wishes to electrochemically detonate! The text seems to focus on fairly well established, though still modern, techniques, and I was disappointed to see that newer techniques such as scanning electrochemical microscopy were not covered, or only briefly mentioned as applications of a specific topic (e.g., as an application of steady-state voltammetry at microelectrodes). Also, surface attachment of electroactive molecules or mediators (e.g., enzymes) to electrodes and the coupling of electrochemical systems with techniques such as capillary electrophoresis or quartz crystalline microbalance technology are given little mention. However, as the editor sagely states in the introduction, “There are some contemporary topics missing from the book. In today’s busy world the authors for chapters are not easy to find…”—how true. As a reference resource for classroom instruction, I think the book will be very useful. I found the section on scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy especially insightful. However, I question the usefulness of this as a class text, unless one is teaching a graduate-level survey course of the more “modern” electroanalytical techniques. Although most of the information will not be found in texts such as Bard and Faulkner’s Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications, the reviewed text does not cover the range or depth of materials needed to instruct students in the fundamentals of electroanalytical chemistry. In conclusion, this is an excellent series of reviews that both educators and researchers should find useful. Mark M. Richter Department of Chemistry Southwest Missouri State University Springfield, MO 65804 Email:
[email protected] Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 74 No. 10 October 1997
