Cyclic voltammetry simulation software

D. K. Gosser, Jr., Cyclic Voltammetry Simulation and Analysis of Reaction Mechanisms, VCH, New York, 1993 (includes CVSIM software). 

The analysis of a cyclic voltammogram is simplified today, thanks to the availability of commercial software that produces simulated voltammograms [333,335]. Derivative cyclic voltammetry (DCV) is another improvement of the technique, where plots of di/dE versus E are obtained (i.e., the derivative of the... 

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 task now at hand is to find solutions to these second-order differential equations under theboundary conditions defined by the electroanalytical method in question. Nowadays, this is most often accomplished by numerical integration, known in electroanalytical chemistry as digital simulation. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to go into the mathematical details, and the interested reader is referred to the specialist literature [33]. Commercial user-friendly software for linear sweep and cyclic voltammetry is available (DigiSim ) software for other methods has been developed and is available through the Internet. 

The field has a well-developed nomenclature and symbolism. The one-electron electrode reaction is designated by E and a chemical reaction by C. There are extensions of this system, such as E+E for a two-electron electrode reaction, and for reduction and oxidation. Cl and C2 for first- and second-order reactions and Cl for a pseudo-first-order reaction. Cyclic voltammetry is the most widely used technique because of the availability of appropriate instrumentation, and the number of 2q>pIications is likely to increase with the recent availability of software to simulate cyclic voltammograms. Such simulations generally are essential for the determination of meaningful kinetic parameters. 

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