Professor Michiel Sprik

Physical chemistry of electrochemical interfaces

The interface between an electrode and electrolytic solution is a location of strong interaction between chemistry and physics. The adsorption/dissolution and oxidation/reduction of chemical species is controlled by the physics of excess charge accumulated at both sides of the interface. The theoretical and computational tools to investigate these two aspects tend however to be different. The chemistry normally requires the atomistic detail of realistic force fields or electronic structure calculation. The physics can be studied using more elementary particle models or continuum theory focusing instead on the thermodynamics and statistical mechanics of non-uniform systems. Here a consistent theoretical treatment is crucial. An example is the interaction between the electrostatic forces at charged interfaces and stress, both in the solution and solid electrode. This is the field of thermo-electromechanics, which recently has become the main subject of my research interests after a long period of working on atomistic modelling of electrochemical interfaces.