ELECTROCHEMISTRY IN SOLIDS PREPARED BY SOL-GEL PROCESSES

Sol-gel chemistry provides a route to preparing inorganic polymers wit h ionically conducting properties by room temperature synthetic routes . The products, which are rigid solids, are well-suited as media for c onventional electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry. Thi s property, when combined with their ability to host a wide variety of species, has allowed development of a variety of devices of interest in electrochemistry and analytical chemistry. Examples include cathode s for fuels cells, electrochromic devices, biosensors, and amperometri c sensors for analytes in the gas phase. In this review, the emphasis will be on reported applications to analytical chemistry; however, stu dies on the general properties of these materials and on their use in electrochemical science also will be summarized because they may provi de the basis for further development of sensors.