It is no overstatement to promise that this book will once be regarded as of epochal importance. This is the first German comprehensive textbook of electrochemistry for many years, having in the last century as predecessors only the textbooks of Kortüm [1], Schwabe [2], and Hamann and Vielstich [3], of which two have been translated into English [4, 5].

The size of Gunther Wittstock’s textbook is extraordinary: 1036 pages (+ xxxiii pages containing abbreviations, symbols, etc.), 994 figures (out of which 856 are in color), and 118 tables. Gunter Wittstock is well known as an electrochemist with a main interest in studying the electrolyte|electrode interface using electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques. Bernd Speiser is known for his work in organic electrochemistry. Julia Witt, a former Ph.D. student of Wittstock, has drawn most of the figures (and polished existing figures), which has to be highly praised, as we all know what hard work this is and how important, especially in a textbook!

As it is impossible to discuss here in detail the contents of the textbook, it should suffice to give the following information. Part I, entitled “Basics”, contains Chapter 1 “The electrode reaction – the core of electrochemistry”, Chapter 2 “Thermodynamics of electrochemical reactions”, Chapter 3 “Electrochemical kinetics – homogeneous and heterogeneous processes”, and Chapter 4 “Mass transport and interfacial layers”. Part II, entitled “Techniques of electrochemistry”, contains Chapter 5 “Electroanalytical methods and electrochemical sensors”, Chapter 6 “Elucidation of the mechanism of electrochemical reactions in liquid electrolytes” (written by Bernd Speiser), Chapter 7 “Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy” and Chapter 8 “Study of the structure of interfaces”. Part III, entitled “Materials of and for electrochemistry”, contains Chapter 9 “Electrochemical deposition of materials”, Chapter 10 “Semi-conductor electrochemistry”, Chapter 11 “Solid electrolytes and other unconventional electrolyte systems”, Chapter 12 “Electrocatalysis”, and Chapter 13 “Modified electrodes”. Part IV, entitled “Applications”, has Chapter 14 “Corrosion and corrosion protection”, Chapter 15 “Batteries”, Chapter 16 “Fuel cells”, Chapter 17 “Electrosynthesis in the laboratory and in industry” and Chapter 18 “Bioelectrochemistry.”

Supporting material is available via the website of the publisher. This comprises Excel tables for calculations using the Butler-Volmer equation for cases with and without transport limitation and a table to simulate the characteristic line of a fuel cell as a function of some material constants.

It is clearly very welcome that the authors included electrophoresis in the textbook. Unfortunately, electrophoresis is often excluded from electrochemistry books and left to books on separation techniques and to those on general analytical chemistry.

It is really great that the textbook includes a lot of basic material, which is not electrochemistry, but necessary to understand electrochemistry. Examples are defects in solids, the function of operational amplifiers, the basics of several spectroscopies and crystallography, microscopic techniques, and the electronic structure of solids.

The structure of the textbook corresponds exactly to the demands of teaching electrochemistry: starting with general discussions of electrodes and electrochemical cells, then going via thermodynamics, kinetics, mass transport, and the structure of interfaces to techniques of and for electrochemical studies. After these fundamentals follow the material-specific chapters and finally the applications, which duly deal with all the modern stuff, such as batteries and fuel cells. The textbook can indeed be studied from the start to the end without much going forth and back. It is thus best suited for extensive electrochemistry courses at the university level. However, it is also useful for students, who will have only limited courses on electrochemistry, when they choose selected chapters.

I am most impressed by the exactness of the physical equations and symbols: they are all very carefully written, completely consistent, and clear. Nowhere is the possibility of misunderstandings, as they frequently happen, when, as an example, e (Euler number) and e (elementary charge) are not distinguished by upright and italicized letters. Thus, the textbook can serve students also as an example of how to write a scientific text.

The textbook has many question/answer couples, which are marked with a blue Thomas mark on the side margin. The questions give testimony of the long experience of the authors in teaching. It is obvious that they know all the small and big questions of students. These question/answer couples are distinguished from the main text by having a larger side margin.

Another special mark is a blue pitfall mark. This is used to indicate important messages; often a warning is given.

Each chapter has at its end a list of exercises (without the solutions) and a list of references for extended readings.

The textbook has a large number of references, which allow students to access primary literature. It is also most helpful to students that the German textbook includes the common English translations of scientific terms.

The quality of the text and figures is excellent. I did not find typos (although there may be some).

I also noted with satisfaction that the authors present topics, which usually remain unmentioned in textbooks. Examples are tensammetry, speciation analysis, in vitro studies of exocytosis events, simulation of electrode mechanisms, porous electrodes, and preparation of single crystal electrodes.

All in all, I can strongly suggest this textbook to everybody who understands German. As I know from the authors, an English translation is in preparation. Once the English translation will be published, this textbook will be in first place internationally, with respect to both size and quality.

In the end, I have the duty of a reviewer to point to some weaknesses, which, however, in no way diminish the high value of this textbook. In view of the titanic work to write this textbook, these minor flaws are forgivable:

  • On one side, it is an advantage that the authors did not use the term electromotive force (elektromotorische Kraft). However, as this term is still widespread in literature, it would have been better to mention and critically discuss it. This is more surprising, as the authors use the term protonmotive force (protonenmotorische Kraft), unfortunately also without explicitly saying that this is not a force.

  • Page 107: The example of a silver electrode in an oxygen-containing solution is not really a very impressive example of a mixed potential. Although better examples are given much later in the textbook, it would be good to have an impressive and more relevant example at this place.

  • Page 112: An exercise is given referring to a solution containing 1 mmol L−1 of [Fe(H2O)6]2+ and [Fe(H2O)6]3+ and 1 mol L−1 KNO3. As the pH of that solution is near to neutral, and the iron concentrations are rather small, hydrolysis would certainly lead to hydroxide complexes. If the authors would have said that the pH has been lowered to about 2, such consideration would be obsolete. However, exactly such omissions produce a wrong understanding of metal solutions. Here, this omission is clearly related to the rather superficial explanation of formal potentials.

  • Galvanic series of half-cell reactions: The authors missed the chance to mention that a galvanic series is specific for each solvent system. The galvanic series given in the textbook is that of water. Possibly, they could have also mentioned attempts to generalize galvanic series.

  • Fig. 4.50, p. 162: The figure is meant to explain chronoamperometry. It uses in (a) a steady-state voltammogram, however, without mentioning it and without explanation. The corresponding current–time curves follow 2 pages later. Some additional words would be helpful.

  • Membrane electrodes: Fig. 5.4 gives a schematic classification of membrane electrodes, which is not logical when glass membranes are distinguished from solid membranes. It is also questionable to summarize polymer membranes among liquid membranes.

  • The heading of 5.2.7 should be Potentiometric Gas Sensors, not Potentiometric Sensors, as the entire Chapter 5.2 relates to potentiometric sensors.

  • Cyclic voltammetry, Chapter 5.3.5: It would have been appropriate to mention that even for electrochemically reversible cases, the peak potentials are affected by the diffusion coefficients, possibly giving the respective equations. It is also a pity that the authors did not discuss the use of CV for determining the redox state of a compound, as this is a very frequently studied question.

  • Chapter 5.3.10, stripping techniques: The authors should also mention adsorptive stripping.

  • Page 754: In the case of Pourbaix diagrams, I missed an explicit warning that these diagrams are only as good as the underlying models (reaction schemes) and the precision of thermodynamic data (equilibrium constants). Such a warning is implicitly mentioned on page 760, but it can easily be overlooked by students.

  • Page 826: The electrochemistry of the MnO2/MnO(OH) electrode is denoted as a “two-phase reaction.” Obviously, the authors mean two time phases, which they should have made clear. Discussing the reaction 15.8: 2MnO2 + 2H+  + 2e−  → 2MnO(OH), the authors write that no new solid phase is formed. This is not correct, and a student cannot understand it when looking at the chemical equation. The authors should have explained that a mixed phase of MnO2 and MnO(OH) is formed, which is clearly a new phase.

  • Formal potential: Although it is a thermodynamic quantity, it is mentioned in Chapter 3 dealing with the kinetics of electrochemical reactions. There, formal potentials are explained taking into account only activity coefficients. This is not wrong, but it is only the most simple difference between standard potentials and formal potentials. Much more important differences arise due to chemical equilibria coexisting with the electrochemical equilibrium. The textbook would have given the chance to teach students a deeper understanding of formal potentials. This can easily be treated on one or two additional pages.

  • Ion transfer at the interface between immiscible electrolyte solutions is mentioned on page 51, but it would be desirable to see at least the scheme of a 4-electrode cell to study it (although such a scheme is given in another chapter).

  • Insertion electrochemistry would have deserved getting its own, perhaps small, chapter. Here, it would be good to explain that an insertion electrochemical system comprises always two charge transfer reactions, one of the electrons and one of the ions.

  • The use of electroanalytical techniques for direct analysis and characterization of solid materials would also have deserved a small separate chapter, pointing to the many possibilities to study analytical, thermodynamic, and kinetic features of solid materials.

  • Electrochemical reversibility/irreversibility could have been discussed in a deeper way, as it is central to almost all electrochemistry and electroanalysis.

Finally, I like to mention that this textbook is a must for all university libraries, and I strongly suggest that every person teaching electrochemistry acquires a copy.