This project is in the general area of analytical and surface chemistry and in the subfield of electrochemistry at polymer modified electrodes. Professor Stanley Bruckenstein of the State University of New York at Buffalo and Professor A. Robert Hillman of the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom will collaborate on a comprehensive and definitive investigation of the kinetics and mechanisms of interfacial mass and charge transfer at polymer modified electrodes. Using quartz crystal microbalance techniques, these researchers will diagnose rate limiting mass and charge transfer processes in electroactive polymer films and study such processes as functions of polymer structure and solution composition. The resulting correlation of polymer structure and solution composition with mechanism of kinetic control should enable the rational design of sensors and molecular electronic devices based on polymer modified electrodes. This research will be conducted at the State University of New York at Buffalo where Professor Hillman holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor of Chemistry. %%% This project will give rise to new fundamental understandings of mass and charge transfer in complex electrochemical systems, resolve many troubling questions which plague electrochemistry at polymer modified electrodes, facilitate progress among many research groups working in this technologically important area, and enable international collaborative research in chemistry.
