Electric fields arise spontaneously at the surface of solid catalysts immersed in liquids, and this common yet largely overlooked phenomenon directly affects the rates of a large class of reactions.

For a reaction to occur, the particles that are reacting must collide with each other. Only some of all the collisions that take place cause a chemical change to happen. These are called 'successful' ...

A catalyst increases the rate of a reaction but it is not used up in the reaction. If a catalyst is present, the reacting particles can collide more successfully with less energy and so the reaction ...