ABSTRACT
The chemical potential is the main thermodynamic tool used to treat chemical equilibria. It allows us to predict whether a reaction can happen spontaneously, or to predict the composition of reactants and products at equilibrium. In this book, we shall consider electrochemical reactions that involve charged species, such as electrons and ions. In order to be able to call on the thermochemical methodology, it is convenient to define first of all the notion of electrochemical potential, which will be the essential tool used for characterising the reactions at electrodes as well as the partition equilibria between phases. To do this, let us recall first of all, what a chemical potential is, and in particular the chemical potential of a species in solution.
