Alexander Naumovich Frumkin

Abstract

Odessa in 1919. Since the doctorate degree was abolished during the revolution of 1917, he did not get a degree. By the time it was reinstated, he had no need of one. Professor Mikhail Temkin was kind enough to give me his copy of the thesis, which was inscribed for me by the author, “For the British Museum of Electrochemistry.” Besides containing a masterly survey of current views on the title problems, it contains several notable contributions, among which many of the major themes of Frumkin’s later work may be seen to have their origin. The first of these was a careful experimental test of the basic equations of electrocapillarity. He showed that the charge, measured directly from the current required to keep a dropping mercury electrode at constant potential, was the same as that found from the slope of the electrocapillary curve, even in the presence of strongly adsorbed ions or molecules. At the same time he established the identity of the potential of zero charge (PZC) determined by several methods. He then discussed in detail the adsorption of inorganic ions and showed how Gibbs’ equation may be used to derive surface excesses from electrocapillary curves. These quantities were also calculated from the Gouy‐Chapman diffuse layer theory and compared with his own experimental results. Measurements of the adsorption of organic non-electrolytes and electrolytes were used to show the nature of the potential dependence of the adsorption isotherm. Electrocapillary curves in nonaqueous solvents were used for the calculation of the double layer capacity which was then shown to have no relation to the bulk dielectric constant of the solvent. The final chapters on the electrocapillary properties of amalgams and molten metals and on electrode poten