It has been fashionable to describe electrochemistry as a discipline at
the interface between the branches of chemistry and many other sciences.
A perusal of the table of contents will affirm that view.
Electrochemistry finds applications in all branches of chemistry as well
as in biology, biochemistry, and engineering; electrochemistry gives us
batteries and fuel cells, electroplating and electrosynthesis, and a
host of industrial and technological applications which are barely
touched on in this book. However, I will maintain that electrochemistry
is really a branch of physical chemistry. Electrochemistry grew out of
the same tradition which gave physics the study of electricity and
magnetism. The reputed founders of physical chemistry-Arrhenius,
Ostwald, and van't Hoff-made many of their contributions in areas which
would now be regarded as electrochemistry. With the post-World War II
capture of physical chemistry by chemical physicists, electrochemists
have tended to retreat into analytical chemistry, thus defining
themselves out of a great tradition. G. N. Lewis defined physical
chemistry as "the study of that which is interesting." I hope that the
readers of this book will find that electrochemistry qualifies.