07-08-2025
The rise, fall and renaissance of electrochemistry
Analysis: The once unfashionable science which began with a dissected frog is now behind a vast array of indispensable modern innovations
Once seen as a dusty branch of chemistry confined to old textbooks full of mathematical equations, electrochemistry is now at the forefront of some of the world's most exciting technologies. In research labs around the world, electrochemists are quietly driving some of the biggest scientific breakthroughs of our time.
But despite its growing influence, most people still don't know what electrochemistry is, or why it's suddenly at the centre of clean-tech innovation that can help solve anything from clean water access to climate change.
So, what is electrochemistry exactly? As the name suggests, it's where chemical reactions and electricity meet. We can use electricity to drive chemical reactions or, conversely, we can use chemical reactions to produce electricity.
From RTÉ Brainstorm, what's going to happen to used electric car batteries?
It's the science behind the batteries that power your phone, watch or car. It's how gold gets plated onto your jewellery and how an ECG can measure your heart function. Even the electricity that powers your TV or computer is rooted in electrochemical processes, often driven by the combustion of fossil fuels. In other words, electrochemistry is everywhere, but you just might not think about it.
It also has a rather odd origin story involving frogs. In the late 1700s, Italian scientist Luigi Galvani was examining a dissected frog and noticed its leg twitched whenever it came into contact with metal. He thought the frog had its own built-in electricity. It didn't, but the idea stuck, and Galvani had unknowingly stumbled across the principles of electrochemistry.
A few years later, Alessandro Volta realised that it was the reaction between two different metals that caused the spark and ended up inventing the first true battery in 1800. Within years, we'd learned h ow to split water into hydrogen and oxygen and how to coat metal surfaces in gold or nickel, By the mid-1800s, the first rechargeable battery was born, the same kind of batteries still found under millions of car bonnets today.
From History of Simple Things, how do rechargeable batteries work?
Electrochemistry subsequently went relatively quiet and was overshadowed by other major scientific advancements during the 20th century. It never quote disappeared, though, and could be found quietly powering metal plating factories and corrosion testing labs. It took a backseat as more on-trend fields as organic chemistry, nuclear physics and molecular biology took attention and resources. Electrochemistry was considered useful, though hardly exciting.
But it has re-emerged recently as central to some of the world's fastest growing technologies, from electric vehicles to wastewater treatments. In med-tech, it underpins biosensors that allow people with diabetes check their blood sugar in real time, and wearable implants and patches that can monitor everything from heart rate to stress levels. These tiny devices can detect glucose, cholesterol and even early markers of cancer in blood, sweat or saliva.
Electrochemistry is also being used in smart drug delivery systems that release medication in precise doses inside the body. As these technologies shrink and become more affordable, they're bringing personalised, preventative healthcare within reach for millions.
From Inside Science, new smart material could automatically deliver your medication inside your body without a reminder
As if powering a medical revolution wasn't enough, electrochemical technologies are also crucial to mitigating climate change. The concept of "ecological footprint" measures how much nature we use compared to how much the planet can regenerate. Back in 2012, the WWF's Living Planet Report warned that we would need the resources of two planet Earths by 2030 if global consumption and emissions continued a "business as usual" path.
More than a decade on, this warning remains just as urgent. Recent data show we are still on track for ecological overshoot, making technological intervention more critical than ever. Right now, most of our energy still comes from fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide when burned.
Electrochemistry offers a cleaner alternative. We can now use renewable electricity from wind or solar to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as electrolysis. That hydrogen can then be used as a clean fuel or stored and used later to generate electricity on demand to power cars, buses, trains.
Electrochemistry has re-emerged recently as central to some of the world's fastest growing technologies, from electric vehicles to wastewater treatments
In addition, electrochemists are also developing new ways to deal with carbon dioxide itself. Researchers are now developing electrochemical systems that can directly capture carbon dioxide from the air and then convert it into something useful such as fuels or chemicals. In theory, this means we could close the carbon loop, using electricity to turn a waste gas into a valuable commodity, without relying on fossil fuels at all. It's early days, but the potential is enormous.
For years, electrochemistry lived somewhat in the shadow of other scientific disciplines, often seen as old fashioned or too complex to be exciting. But as we face urgent global challenges, this "in-between" science is proving to be one of the most powerful tools we have. Whether it's producing clean energy, capturing carbon, or monitoring our health in real time, electrochemistry is having its renaissance, and it won't be overshadowed any time soon.
