Cyclic voltammetry experimental parameters

Useful experimental parameters in cyclic voltammetry are (i) the value of the separation of the potentials at which the anodic and cathodic peak currents occur, A = Pia — PiC, and (ii) the half wave potential, 1/2, the potential mid-way between the peak potentials. A value of AE of c. 0.057 V at 25°C is diagnostic of a Nernstian response, such as that shown in Figure 2.87. More generally, if n electrons are transferred from R, then the separation will be 0.057/n V. It should be noted that the expected value for AE of 0.57/nV has no relationship to the usual Nernstian slope of RT/nF = 0.059/n V at 25UC. 

For the rapid electron transfer process, which follows a reversible chemical step (CE), a procedure is presented for the determination of chemical and electrochemical kinetic parameters. It is based on convolution electrochemistry and was applied for cyclic voltammetry with digital simulation [59] and chronoamperometric curves [60]. The analysis was applied to both simulated and experimental data. As an experimental example, the electroreduction of Cd(II) on HMDE electrode in dimethylsulphoxide (DM SO) [59] and DMF [60] with 0.5 M tetraethylammonium perchlorate (TEAP) was investigated. 

Digital simulation software, which is now commercially available, is useful in analyzing cyclic voltammograms of complicated electrode reactions [67]. If we assume a possible reaction mechanism and can get simulated CV curves that fit the experimental CV curves, we can confirm the reaction mechanism and obtain thermodynamic and kinetic parameters concerning the electron transfer and chemical processes. By the development of simulation softwares, cyclic voltammetry has become a very powerful technique. On the contrary, without a simulation software, cyclic voltammetry is not as convenient.14)... 

The concentration profile of fixed oxidized and reduced sites within the film depends on the dimensionless parameter Dcjr/d2, where r is the experimental timescale, i.e. RT/Fv in cyclic voltammetry, and d is the polymer layer thickness. When Dcix/d2 1, all electroactive sites within the film are in equilibrium with the electrode potential, and the surface-type behavior described previously is observed. In contrast, Dcjx/d2 <3C 1 when the oxidizing scan direction is switched before the reduced sites at the film s outer boundary are completely oxidized. The wave will exhibit distinctive diffusional tailing where these conditions prevail. At intermediate values of Dcjr/d2, an intermediate ip versus v dependence occurs, and a less pronounced diffusional tail appears. 

Slow ET between redox species confined to two immiscible solvents was first observed by Guainazzi et al. (18). Several different theoretical and experimental studies of ET between redox species at the ITIES have been reported in the last several years (6-8,15,19-21). Severe experimental problems complicate extraction of the kinetic parameters from conventional electrochemical measurements at the ITIES (e.g., by cyclic voltammetry). Besides the difficulty of discrimination between ET and IT, there are also distortions from the double-layer charging current and /R-drop in the highly resistive nonaqueous solvents, and the limited potential window for studying ET in the absence of currents controlled by IT (1,16). 

The popularity of the cychc voltammetry (CV) technique has led to its extensive study and numerous simple criteria are available for immediate anal-j sis of electrochemical systems from the shape, position and time-behaviour of the experimental voltammograms [1, 2], For example, a quick inspection of the cyclic voltammograms offers information about the diffusive or adsorptive nature of the electrode process, its kinetic and thermodynamic parameters, as well as the existence and characteristics of coupled homogeneous chemical reactions [2]. This electrochemical method is also very useful for the evaluation of the magnitude of imdesirable effects such as those derived from ohmic drop or double-layer capacitance. Accordingly, cyclic voltammetry is frequently used for the analysis of electroactive species and surfaces, and for the determination of reaction mechanisms and rate constants. 

The triangular potential waveform employed in cyclic voltammetry is shown in Figure 1. Typically, the potential is ramped linearly from an initial potential, Ej, to the switching potential, Emax- The direction of the potential sweep is then reversed and scanning continues until E ,in is reached. The potential sweep may be terminated at the end of the first cycle or it may continue for an arbitrary number of cycles. The primary experimental parameters are the initial potential, the switching potentials, and the potential sweep rate. Typical sweep rates for cyclic voltammetry, employing electrodes of conventional sizes (e.g.. 

The advantages of using EIS are numerous. First of all, it provides a lot of useful information that can be further analyzed. In practical applicatiOTis of cyclic voltammetry, simple information about peak currents and potentials is measured. These parameters contain very little information about the whole process especially when hardware and software is able sampling the current-potential curve producing thousands of experimental points every fraction of mV. On the other hand, one can use voltammetry with convolution, which delivers information at each potential, although very few people know and use this technique in current research. EIS contains analyz-able informatimi at each frequency. This is clearly seen from the examples that follow. 

The kinetic analysis of a complicated electrochemical process involves two crucial steps the validation of the proposed mechanism and the extraction of the kinetic parameter values from experimental data. In cyclic voltammetry, the variable factor, which determines the mass transfer rate, is the potential sweep rate v. Therefore, the kinetic analysis relies on investigation of the dependences of some characteristic features of experimental voltammograms (e.g., peak potentials and currents) on v. Because of the large number of factors affecting the overall process rate (concentrations, diffusion coefficients, rate constants, etc.), such an analysis may be overwhelming unless those factors are combined to form a few dimensionless kinetic parameters. The set of such parameters is specific for every mechanism. Also, the expression of the potential and current as normalized (dimensionless) quantities allows one to generalize the theory in the form of dimensionless working curves valid for different values of kinetic, thermodynamic, and mass transport parameters. 

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