Allen J. Bard, Hackerman-Welch Regents Chair Professor and Director of the Center for Electrochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin, USA, passed away on February 11, 2024. Often referred to as the “Father of Modern Electrochemistry,” he was beloved and respected for his research and his dedication to the advancement of many generations of younger scientists.

His research concentrated on electrochemical methods for investigating chemical problems spanning electroorganic chemistry, photoelectrochemistry, electrogenerated chemiluminescence, and electroanalytical chemistry. Notably, he pioneered the scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM), contributed to the discovery of electrochemiluminescence (ECL), advanced the understanding of photoelectrochemistry on semiconductor electrodes, and authored the influential textbook “Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications” (1980; 2nd Ed. in 2001 with L. R. Faulkner; 3rd Ed. in 2022 with L. R. Faulkner and H. S. White).

 

Allen Joseph Bard was born in New York City, USA, on December 18, 1933, and studied chemistry at the City College of New York. After working briefly in industry, he entered Harvard University. There he received his M.Sc. in 1956 and his Ph.D. in 1958 in electroanalytical chemistry under the direction of James J. Lingane. He accepted a teaching position at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin), USA, where he remained until his retirement in 2021.

Since 1985, he has held the position of Hackerman-Welch Regents Professor. He was a visiting scientist at Jean-Michel Savéant’s laboratory in Paris in 1973, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, USA, in 1977, and a visiting professor at Harvard in 1988. Additionally, he was President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from 1991 to 1993, and participated in various professional and academic organizations.

Among his many honors, Allen Bard received the 2019 King Faisal International Prize in Chemistry, the 2014 Enrico Fermi Award, the 2013 National Medal of Science for Chemistry, the 2008 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the 2002 Priestley Medal of the ACS (American Chemical Society), the 1984 Charles N. Reilley Award, and the 1984 ACS Fisher Award in Analytical Chemistry. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990 and of the Electrochemical Society (ECS) in the same year. He has been an Honorary Member of the ECS since 2013.

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Selected Publications

• Allen J. Bard, Larry R. Faulkner, Henry S. White, Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications, 3rd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA, 2022. ISBN: 978-1-119-33405-7
• Li Ji, Martin D. McDaniel, Shijun Wang, Agham B. Posadas, Xiaohan Li, Haiyu Huang, Jack C. Lee, Alexander A. Demkov, Allen J. Bard, John G. Ekerdt, Edward T. Yu, A silicon-based photocathode for water reduction with an epitaxial SrTiO3 protection layer and a nanostructured catalyst, Nature Nanotechnol. 2015, 10, 84–90. https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2014.277
• Jeffrey E. Dick, Christophe Renault, Byung-Kwon Kim, Allen J. Bard, Simultaneous Detection of Single Attoliter Droplet Collisions by Electrochemical and Electrogenerated Chemiluminescent Responses, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201407937
• Son Hoang, Sean P. Berglund, Nathan T. Hahn, Allen J. Bard, C. Buddie Mullins, Enhancing Visible Light Photo-oxidation of Water with TiO₂ Nanowire Arrays via Cotreatment with H₂ and NH₃: Synergistic Effects between Ti³⁺ and N, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134(8), 3659–3662. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja211369s
• Son Hoang, Siwei Guo, Nathan T. Hahn, Allen J. Bard, C. Buddie Mullins, Visible Light Driven Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation on Nitrogen-Modified TiO2 Nanowires, Nano Lett. 2012, 12(1), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl2028188
• Xiaoyin Xiao, Allen J. Bard, Observing Single Nanoparticle Collisions at an Ultramicroelectrode by Electrocatalytic Amplification, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129(31), 9610–9612. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja072344w
• Shigeru Amemiya, Allen J. Bard, Fu-Ren F. Fan, Michael V. Mirkin, Patrick R. Unwin, Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy, Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry 2008, 1, 95-131. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anchem.1.031207.112938
• Allen J. Bard, Integrated Chemical Systems: A Chemical Approach to Nanotechnology, John Wiley & Sons, USA, 1994. ISBN: 978-0-471-00733-3
• Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry (Eds: Allen J. Bard and M. Stratmann), Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, 2002.
• Allen J. Bard, Mark S. Wrighton, Thermodynamic Potential for the Anodic Dissolution of n‐Type Semiconductors: A Crucial Factor Controlling Durability and Efficiency in Photoelectrochemical Cells and an Important Criterion in the Selection of New Electrode/Electrolyte Systems, J. Electrochem. Soc. 1977, 124(11), 1706. https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2133140