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Дата изменения: Wed Jan 6 10:57:21 2010 Дата индексирования: Mon Oct 1 19:45:12 2012 Кодировка: |
Oleg A. Petrii
Professor, PhD, DSc
Head of Department of Electrochemistry
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Oleg Petrii, a true artist in electrochemistry
(from J. Solid State Electrochem. 12 (2008) 329)
By publishing this special issue, we celebrate simultaneously
two jubilees: the 70th birthday of Professor Oleg
A. Petrii, who is now Head of the Department of Electrochemistry
at Moscow State University, and the 50th
anniversary of Oleg's scientific activities that have started
while he was still a student. His first paper, published in
1958, was submitted in 1957. Nobody who knows Oleg
Petrii would ever have any doubts of his electrochemical
erudition. He is an international celebrity and admired for
his uniquely friendly style of communication. His approximately
350 papers in refereed journals, 8 textbooks, 18
monographic chapters, and 12 reviews in periodicals make
hima true electrochemical classic.He has supervised 40 Ph.D.
students and was the host of numerous research visitors from
various countries. Oleg is a very unpretentious person, and
therefore, we do not want to write a too ceremonial and formal
review of his achievements but instead straight away discuss
what he has given to the scientific community during the
various stages of his scientific career.
All his publications are electrochemically oriented;
however, they cover several different topics, and sometimes
they are related to other disciplines, like material science,
physics, power and chemical engineering, and even environmental
chemistry. Thus, it is difficult to group his papers
according to their content, as frequently, one and the same
paper is related to different fields of research. Nevertheless,
for a clearer presentation of his achievements, such classification is justified and helpful. One can mark out at
least four general fields of Petrii's activities. They are listed
in this paper in more or less chronological sequence.
Experimental verification of the charge transfer theories
Petrii's contribution of the early 1960th was a comprehensive
verification of the slow discharge theory, and by this, he made
the procedure of the Frumkin correction widely accepted for
data treatment. During the last decade, Petrii's group started
with more detailed molecular level approaches to electrostatic
effects in electrode kinetics and also moved to the
verification of quantum mechanical theory of charge transfer.
Because of his work, a more profound understanding of
several model reactions was elaborated. Especially his work
on the electrode reactions of several anions should be
mentioned. Using the Frumkin approach, he could qualitatively
explain important effects, e.g., the decrease of current
with overvoltage. In recent years Oleg Petrii and his associates
investigated the role of different molecular parameters,
which affect the kinetics of electrode reactions of
various complex species. The role of atomic charge distribution
and non-spherical shape of reactants, the presence of
supporting cations, and ionic association were better
understood, in particular, in terms of preferential reactant
orientation in the reaction layer. In addition to some model
reactions, more complex electrode reactions were investigated
as well. These studies are important not only for the
progress of electrochemical kinetics but also exert an impact
on the understanding of charge (electron) transport in more
complex environments, including biological systems.
Electrocatalysis
In 1965, Petrii's paper on the anomalously
high electrocatalytic activity of electrodeposited Pt-Ru was
one of three pioneering publications that have built up the
basis for a long and still continuing mainstream research.
His subsequent Pt-Ru studies of 1966-1969 are still very
beneficial for people interested in such important details
like Pt-Ru potential of zero free charge, the high activity of
pure Ru at elevated temperatures, and the analysis of
oxidation products of various organic fuels.
Also, in this field, we should point at some other
important papers of Oleg Petrii, for instance, those that deal
with adsorption and oxidation of compounds that may be
potentially used in fuel cells, as for instance, in the methanol
fuel cells. The kinetic peculiarities of methanol oxidation on
platinum, including the role of dissociative adsorption and
chemical interaction in the adlayer, were already well
understood by him in 1965. Oleg also published important
papers on hydrogen electrode reactions at various electrodes.
These reactions are of primary interest for both fuel cell
technology and industrial electrolysis. The importance of
these papers is even increasing in recent years, as hydrogen
power engineering is in the center of scientific attention. From
this point of view, Oleg Petrii's work related to hydrogen
sorption by metals and alloys is of lasting significance.
Surface thermodynamics of the perfectly polarizable
electrode
This is probably the most spacious, the most
deep-going, and simultaneously, the most complex field of
Petrii's research. In his D.Sc. thesis (1970), he found a way
to do a general treatment of the numerous experimental data
on platinum metals obtained by original and very sophisticated
techniques. The resulting findings related to total and
free charge has been later reviewed jointly with Frumkin.
Frumkin and Petrii proposed a systematic approach to the
verification of various thermodynamic relationships for
hydrogen adsorbing electrodes, and Petrii arranged a set of
very specific and elegant experimental techniques to separately
measure differential quantities and to measure directly
the Gibbs surface excess of ions. The most basic electrochemical
notions, like potentials of total and free zero
charge, and the correct thermodynamic understanding of the
metal-adsorbate charge transfer grew from these studies.
Electrochemical material science
Starting in the mid-1970s,
Oleg Petrii initiated consistent studies of non-noble electrode
materials (carbides, oxides, hydride-forming alloys, amorphous,
and ion-implanted metals, conducting polymers,
nanoscale composite materials). His great experience in
surface thermodynamics and electrocatalysis made it possible
to discover basic phenomena governing the behavior of
these complex systems. However, the platinum group metals
continued to attract his permanent interest, especially in the
context of underpotential deposition of foreign metals and,
later, template nanostructuring for improving electrocatalysis
and hydrogen sorption. It is difficult to remember a type of
modified electrode he missed to study.
The achievements of Oleg Petrii in this field are partly
related to modified electrodes, which are in a rapid development.
These studies were mostly focused on the
electrocatalytic phenomena, but the possibility of some
other applications is also quite evident. From another side,
the electrodes prepared by deposition of various substances
on conducting supports, in particular, templated deposits,
were studied by him intensively and systematically.
There are also some papers that are more outside the
above-mentioned classes of his research activities: Among
them, we should mention current transients at the growing
mercury drop, nitrate reduction on platinum (inducing more
and more interest in the community), two pathways of
peroxodisulfate reduction on catalytically active metals,
urea coadsorption with CO (a rare example of an 'reversible'
organic adsorbate on Pt), electrochemistry of high temperature
superconductors, and various versions of nanoelectrochemistry
(starting from the electrochemistry of ultra thin
films as early as in 1970s!).
Oleg Petrii has a lot of obligations and duties in Russian
and various international scientific committees, and we
avoid presenting a list of all his positions. We only would
like to mention that he is a member of the Editorial Board
of the Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry starting from
the very beginning, and thus, it is our pleasure to honor him
with this special issue.
Finally, we would like to disclose in this paper some
secrets: The first secret is that, starting from his scientific
youth, Oleg Petrii showed extraordinary glass-blowing
abilities. He can solder extremely thin capillaries and repair
any glass cell himself, usually better than any professional
glass blower. Another secret is that he is a gifted singer, on his
own or jointly with his closest friend, Professor Boris
Damaskin. He also likes to compose songs and to stimulate
a relaxing social life at the Department. Probably the most
known piece of art that he has created with assistance of his
student Rein Marvet is a portrait of Frumkin painted in the
style of Picasso and consisting of various classical electrochemical
curves. Oleg is also an enthusiastic swimmer, and
his participation in various scientific meetings was also
stimulated by the wish to swim in all seas and oceans of the
world. He is still waiting for a swim at the coast of Australia
and the Antarctic. Perhaps, this wish might prompt the
International Society of Electrochemistry to consider organizing
meetings at these locations?
Finally, Petrii is a flesh of Frumkin's school, and it is
more than symbolic that he is working now in Frumkin's
former office, using Frumkin's historic bureau, and sitting
on Frumkin's original chair. He creatively continues to
apply Frumkin's approaches to various problems of modern
electrochemistry. These applications are always illuminated
with Petrii's ingenious creativity and optimistic foresight, a
solid guarantee of the sequential development of the
famous Frumkin school.
We wish Oleg Petrii to keep his elating spirit for many
years to come, to be surrounded (as always) by faithful
pupils and coworkers, and to overcome the problems with
his usual ease resulting from his breadth of mind and views
in combination with strong but well-wishing temper. We
surely wish him health and many sunny days.
Zbigniew Galus
Galina Tsirlina