Polarography potential

In voltammetry a time-dependent potential is applied to an electrochemical cell, and the current flowing through the cell is measured as a function of that potential. A plot of current as a function of applied potential is called a voltammogram and is the electrochemical equivalent of a spectrum in spectroscopy, providing quantitative and qualitative information about the species involved in the oxidation or reduction reaction.The earliest voltammetric technique to be introduced was polarography, which was developed by Jaroslav Heyrovsky... 

Potential-excitation signal and voltammogram for normal polarography. 

In hydrodynamic voltammetry current is measured as a function of the potential applied to a solid working electrode. The same potential profiles used for polarography, such as a linear scan or a differential pulse, are used in hydrodynamic voltammetry. The resulting voltammograms are identical to those for polarography, except for the lack of current oscillations resulting from the growth of the mercury drops. Because hydrodynamic voltammetry is not limited to Hg electrodes, it is useful for the analysis of analytes that are reduced or oxidized at more positive potentials. 

Potential-excitation signals and voltammograms for (a) normal pulse polarography, (b) differential pulse polarography, (c) staircase polarography, and (d) square-wave polarography. See text for an explanation of the symbols. Current is sampled at the time intervals indicated by the solid circles ( ). 

The concentration of As(III) in water can be determined by differential pulse polarography in 1 M HCl. The initial potential is set to -0.1 V versus the SCE, and is scanned toward more negative potentials at a rate of 5 mV/s. Reduction of As(III) to As(0) occurs at a potential of approximately —0.44 V versus the SCE. The peak currents, corrected for the residual current, for a set of standard solutions are shown in the following table. 

A study of the electrochemical oxidation and reduction of certain isoindoles (and isobenzofurans) has been made, using cyclic voltammetry. The reduction wave was found to be twice the height of the oxidation wave, and conventional polarography confirmed that reduction involved a two-electron transfer. Peak potential measurements and electrochemiluminescence intensities (see Section IV, E) are consistent vidth cation radicals as intermediates. The relatively long lifetime of these intermediates is attributed to steric shielding by the phenyl groups rather than electron delocalization (Table VIII). 

As already indicated, quantitative conventional d.c. polarography is limited at best to solutions with electrolytes at concentrations greater than 10-5M, and two different ions can only be investigated when their half-wave potentials differ by at least 0.2 V. These limitations are largely due to the condenser current associated with the charging of each mercury drop as it forms, and various procedures have been devised to overcome this problem. These include ... 

Cobalt, tris(l,2-ethanediamine)-conformation, 1,25,197 polarography, 1,481 racemization, 1, 466 solid state, 1,466,467 reactions, 1, 27 redox potential, 1, 514 structure, 1, 67... 

Normal-pulse voltammetry consists of a series of pulses of increasing amplitude applied to successive drops at a preselected time near the end of each drop lifetime (4). Such a normal-pulse train is shown in Figure 3-4. Between the pidses, the electrode is kept at a constant (base) potential at which no reaction of the analyte occurs. The amplitude of the pulse increases linearly with each drop. The current is measured about 40 ms after the pulse is applied, at which time the contribution of the charging current is nearly zero. In addition, because of the short pulse duration, the diffusion layer is thinner than that in DC polarography (i.e., there is larger flux of... 

In contrast, aromatic sulphoxides do not need extreme experimental conditions to give a well-defined step in polarography and voltammetry. Thus methyl phenyl sulphoxide (80) exhibits69 a well-defined wave in strongly acidic media at very moderate potential values. The reduction scheme assumes the transient formation of a protonated form prior to the electron transfer ... 

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