2. Electrochemical process development methods

Given the theoretical knowledge and corresponding data available today, the empiricism and trial-and-error of the early days are no longer appropriate in the design and development of a process using electrolysis, which is instead carried out in a reasoned and systematic way based on the characteristics of the physico-chemical processes involved in the electrolysis cell. These processes are of the same nature as those occurring in the minicells used in the characterization and analysis applications of electrochemistry, known as "analytical electrochemistry" or electroanalysis. Analytical electrochemistry is currently described as the set of electrochemical methods that form an integral part of the panel of analytical sciences. This field of study is considered to have developed from the 1920s onwards with Heyrovský's pioneering work on polarography, using a drop of mercury as the working...