Preface

According to the definition, electrochemical cells are the devices transferring electrical energy from chemical reactions into electricity, or helping chemical processes through the introduction of electrical energy or electrical field. A common example in this category is battery, which has evolved into a big family and is currently used in all kinds of applications.

As a relatively old scientific topic, the concept and application of electrochemical cells has been invented and utilized by human society has a long history. With the advance of modern science and technology, the research field of electrochemical cells has been more and more involved in the emerging areas of nano-technology, bio-technology, and novel energy storage and conversion systems, especially when serious attentions have been paid to energy, health, and environmental issues for modern industrial society.

It has become useful and necessary to summarize the new advances in both fundamental and practical researches in this field when we want to review the new development in recent years. In this book, parallel efforts have been put on both new advances in fundamental research and recent developments for applications of electrochemical cells, which include electrode design, electrochemical probe, liquid electrolytes, fuel cells, electrochemical detectors for health and environment consideration. Of course, electrochemical cells have been developed into a relatively large research category, which also means this book can only cover a corner of these topics.

> **Yan Shao**, Center for Polymers and Organic Solids, Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

**Part 1** 

**New Advances in Fundamental Research** 

**in Electrochemical Cells** 
