Elektrochemie: Von der Thermodynamik zur atomaren Struktur

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Abstract
The last decades have witnessed a remarkable change in electrochemistry: from a macroscopic, thermodynamicsoriented approach towards electrochemical problems to a microscopic, atomistic one. The latter was frequently inspired by models derived for the solid‐vacuum interface. The desire and the necessity to understand electrochemical processes on an atomic or molecular level called for new experimental and theoretical routes. Significant advances in the understanding of electrode reactions resulted from the availability of new techniques in electrochemistry, e.g., by adoption of structure‐sensitive surface‐physics techniques to electrochemical needs. Similarly important was the use of single‐crystal electrodes with well‐characterized surfaces. It was their wide‐spread use which brought to light the importance of the surface structure in electrochemical kinetics. In the following we shall demonstrate with a few selected examples how much information about the microscopic structure of electrode surfaces is nowadays available. In this respect, scanning tunneling microscopy has had a major impact. Finally, future trends in fundamental electrochemical research are discussed.