Electrocatalysis catalytic efficiency

Electrocatalysis refers to acceleration of a charge transfer reaction and is thus restricted to Faradaic efficiency, A, values between -1 and 1. Electrochemical promotion (NEMCA) refers to electrocatalytically assisted acceleration of a catalytic (no net charge-transfer) reaction, so that the apparent Faradaic efficiency A is not limited between -1 and 1. 

The urgent need to develop more efficient fuel cell anodes and cathodes has brought the electrochemical, catalytic, and surface science communities closer than ever before and has made electrocatalysis a rapidly growing field both in experimental new findings and in theoretical understanding. It is very likely that the rapid advances in catalyst and electrocatalyst nanoparticle preparation and characterization [10], together with the utilization of new powerful in situ techniques, such as electrochemical nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) [216] in conjunction with... 

This applies when catalytic centers are incorporated as dopants to the lattice of the base porous material. In fact, site isolation of electroactive centers immobilized in microporous materials and doping units in inorganic supports appears to promote efficient electrocatalysis for a variety of analytically significant processes. Some remarks can be made ... 

The Chapter by R. Adzic, N. Marinkovic and M. Vukmirovic provides a lucid and authoritative treatment of the electrochemistry and electrocatalysis of Ruthenium, a key element for the development of efficient electrodes for polymer electrolyte (PEM) fuel cells. Starting from fundamental surface science studies and interfacial considerations, this up-to-date review by some of the pioneers in this field, provides a deep insight in the complex catalytic-electrocatalytic phenomena occurring at the interfaces of PEM fuel cell electrodes and a comprehensive treatment of recent developments in this extremely important field. 

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