Electrochemistry Basics
The electrode where oxidation occurs in an electrochemical cell.
What is the anode?
This common household device uses electrochemistry to convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy and powers remote controls and flashlights.
What is a battery?
This Italian scientist's experiments with frog legs in 1780 led to the discovery of "animal electricity" and sparked the field of electrochemistry.
Who is Luigi Galvani?
This term describes the repeating three-dimensional arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline solid.
What is a crystal lattice?
What are Hillsborough street and Western Boulevard?
This term describes the minimum energy difference required to drive a non-spontaneous electrochemical reaction, beyond the thermodynamic cell potential.
What is overpotential?
This electrochemical process is used to deposit a thin layer of metal onto a conductive surface for decoration or corrosion protection.
What is electroplating?
In 1800, this Italian physicist invented the first true battery, known as the voltaic pile, using alternating discs of zinc and copper.
Who is Alessandro Volta?
These are the three basic cubic crystal systems: simple cubic, body-centered cubic, and this third type with atoms at each corner and face center.
What is face-centered cubic (FCC)?
This is NC State's mascot, representing the university at athletic events and campus celebrations.
Who is the Wolfpack (or Mr./Ms. Wuf)?
This equation relates the cell potential to the concentrations of reactants and products at non-standard conditions.
What is the Nernst equation?
These rechargeable batteries, commonly used in electric vehicles, store energy through the reversible intercalation of ions between layered cathode and anode materials.
What are lithium-ion batteries?
This English scientist discovered electrolysis in 1832 and formulated two fundamental laws relating the amount of substance produced to the quantity of electricity passed.
Who is Michael Faraday?
This non-destructive analytical technique uses the diffraction of X-rays to determine the atomic structure and spacing in crystalline materials.
What is X-ray diffraction (XRD)?
Founded in 1887, NC State was originally established under this name before being renamed in 1965.
What is North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (or NC State College)?
This dimensionless quantity represents the efficiency of an electrochemical process, calculated as the ratio of actual to theoretical charge transferred.
What is coulombic efficiency?
This sustainable electrochemical technology splits water into hydrogen and oxygen gas, producing a clean fuel with only water as a byproduct when combusted.
What is water electrolysis
In 1889, this Swedish chemist proposed that salts dissolved in water dissociate into ions, earning him the 1903 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Who is Svante Arrhenius?
These crystallographic defects are one-dimensional imperfections where a line of atoms is missing or misaligned, and they play a crucial role in the mechanical properties of materials.
What are dislocations
This iconic landmark on NC State's campus is a 115-foot bell tower completed in 1937 and serves as a symbol of the university.
What is the Memorial Bell Tower (or Memorial Belltower)?
This characteristic decrease in current is observed in a cyclic voltammogram after we scan past the peak current potential.
What are mass transport/diffusion limitations
These have recently become the most common battery type used in electric vehicles, due to their low cost and increased safety.
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)
At age 97, this electrochemist became the oldest Nobel laureate ever when he won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of lithium-ion batteries.
Who is John B. Goodenough?
This quantity, defined as the ratio of the volume occupied by atoms to the total volume of the unit cell, reaches its maximum value of 0.74 for both FCC and HCP structures.
What is atomic packing factor (or packing efficiency)?
This NC State graduate and former governor of North Carolina has a state-of-the-art library on Centennial Campus named in his honor, opened in 2013.
Who is James B. Hunt Jr.?