It gives us pleasure in writing the Preface to this volume, in which we tried to bring together a number of stimulating and interesting people discussing physical electrochemistry. The first chapter, by Ashok Vijh, gives a remarkable account of electrochemistry as looked at from a physicist's point of view. Among the revelations of the chapter is that in a recent survey of leading areas in Science, two out of fifteen areas chosen were electrochemical and these two were the only chemical subjects chosen. In Mikhail Vorotyntsev's chapter, one finds a very modern study of the double layer, but...

It is now time for a comprehensive treatise to look at the whole field of electrochemistry. The present treatise was conceived in 1974, and the earliest invitations to authors for contributions were made in 1975. The completion of the early volumes has been delayed by various factors. There has been no attempt to make each article emphasize the most recent situation at the expense of an overall statement of the modern view. This treatise is not a collection of articles from Recent Advances in Electrochemistry or Modern Aspects of Electrochemistry. It is an attempt at making a mature statement...