Quantum Electrochemistry - History and Contributors

History and Contributors

The first development of "quantum electrochemistry" is somewhat difficult to pin down. This is not very surprising, since the development of quantum mechanics to chemistry can be summarized as the application of quantum wave theory models to atoms and molecules. This being the case, electrochemistry, which is particularly concerned with the electronic states of some particular system, is already, by its nature, tied into the quantum mechanical model of the electron in quantum chemistry. There were proponents of quantum electrochemistry, who applied quantum mechanics to electrochemistry with unusual zeal, clarity and precision. Among them were Revaz Dogonadze and his co-workers. They developed one of the early quantum mechanical models for proton transfer reactions in chemical systems. Dogonadze is a particularly celebrated promoter of quantum electrochemistry, and is also credited with forming an international summer school of quantum electrochemistry centered in Yugoslavia. He was a main author of the Quantum-Mechanical Theory of Kinetics of the Elementary Act of Chemical, Electrochemical and Biochemical Processes in Polar Liquids. Another important contributor is Rudolph A. Marcus, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1992 for his Theory of Electron Transfer Reactions in Chemical Systems.