Preface

Our vision for this series of Specialist Periodical Reports in Electrochemistry is to serve the global community with topical, critical and tutorial reviews covering the breadth of Electrochemical Science, Technology and Engineering.

Following from our first volume on Nanosystems Electrochemistry, this volume is concerned with Nanoelectrochemistry where we wish to emphasise the connections between fundamental science and its application to analytical and materials science. In a first part, the fundamentals of electrochemistry within a nanometric environment is considered. This affords a reference framework for the entire volume with respect to heterogeneous electron transfer theories, nanomaterials and geometry effects. The first chapter, written by Mike Mirkin and Shigeru Amemiya describes Liquid|Liquid Electrochemistry at Nanointerfaces, where the electrified interface between two immiscible electrolytes is the heterogeneous interface through which charge (ion or electron or ion-coupled-electron) transfer takes place. The variety of the experimental methodology illustrates the transport advantage of the nanogeometry through convergent diffusion at least in one of the two liquid phases, with the disadvantage in higher Ohmic loss in the system, thereby requiring all measurements to be at steady-state. In the second chapter, Andy Wain introduces Electrochemistry at Nanoelectrodes, where the electrode material is metallic, giving insight into the contributions to mass transport and double layer thickness on the observed current|potential response for these non-uniform electrochemical systems. This is followed by a chapter on Electrochemistry at TiO₂ Nanotubes and Other Semiconductor Nanostructures by Nabeen Shrestha and Patrik Schmuki, where the material may be designed to be sufficiently small to not allow the build-up of space-charge zones. The last two chapters of this first part focus on electrochemistry within restricted environments: Sara Dale and Frank Marken discuss the Electrochemistry within Nanojunctions, highlighting particular applications of generator-collector electrode ensembles for nanoelectroanalysis; complementing this is the subsequent chapter by Tim Albrecht who details the Electrochemical Applications of Nanopore System, where DNA identification analysis is emphasised.

The second part of this volume examines electrochemical applications of nanomaterials. The elucidation of electron transfer mechanisms within/at the surface of molecular nanometerials for technological exploitation is first considered, with a chapter by Jonathan Halls and Frank Marken describing their seminal attempts to elicit Electrochemistry within Metal-Organic Frameworks – three-dimensional solid and often porous materials. Sabine Szunerits and Rabah Boukerroub follow this through an examination of the Electrochemistry of Graphene – the Nobel prizewinning material, with an examination of the potential for classical electroanalysis considered in Xing-Jiu Huang's chapter on Nanoelectrochemical Systems for the Detection of Metals.

In the last part of this volume, we are delighted to provide a cultural overview of this subject from the two most populated countries in the World: Shi-Gang Sun and co-workers report on Nanoelectrochemistry in The People's Republic of China and allows for the presentation in English, for the first time, of otherwise inaccessible Chinese literature. This is followed by Rama Kant's overview of Nanoelectrochemistry in India.

We hope you enjoy this volume. It remains for us to thank Bruce Gilbert (chair of the editorial board), Merlin Fox, Alice Toby-Brant and the rest of the RSC Publishing team for all their diligent work.

Richard Compton

Oxford University

Jay Wadhawan

University of Hull