Potentiostat electrode

Figure C2.8.3. A tliree-electrode electrochemical set-up used for the measurement of polarization curves. A potentiostat is used to control the potential between the working electrode and a standard reference electrode. The current is measured and adjusted between an inert counter-electrode (typically Pt) and the working electrode.

Schematic diagram of a manual potentiostat C = counter electrode ...

The solution to reference electrode instabiUty is the introduction of a third or auxiUary electrode. This particular electrode is intended to carry whatever current is required to keep the potential difference between the working and reference electrodes at a specified value, and virtually all potentiostats (instmments designed specifically for electrochemistry) have this three-electrode configuration. Its use is illustrated in Figure 3. 

Protection current devices with potential control are described in Section 8.6 (see Figs. 8.5 and 8.6) information on potentiostatic internal protection is given in Section 21.4.2.1. In these installations the reference electrode is sited in the most unfavorable location in the protected object. If the protection criterion according to Eq. (2-39) is reached there, it can be assumed that the remainder of the surface of the object to be protected is cathodically protected. 

Since usually the reference electrode is not equipped with a capillary probe (see Fig. 2-3), there is an error in the potential measurement given by Eq. (2-34) in this connection see the data in Section 3.3.1 on IR-free potential measurement. The switching method described there can also be applied in a modified form to potential-controlled protection current devices. Interrupter potentiostats are used that periodically switch off the protection current for short intervals [5]. The switch-off phase is for a few tens of microseconds and the switch-on phase lasts several hundred microseconds. 

Reference electrodes at the test points may only be needed part of the time, depending on the mode of operation of the protective systems (e.g., for monitoring or for permanent control of potential-controlled protection current equipment). Potentiostatic control is always preferred to galvanostatic systems where operational parameters are changing. 

Figure 6.2-1 Simplified circuit of a potentiostat with working electrode (WE) on ground.

Reference electrode (RE) and potentiostatic setpoint are fed to the inverting and noninverting input of an operational amplifier. The counter-electrode (CE) is connected to the output of the operational amplifier. I (EC) electrochemical current. 

Over the years the original Evans diagrams have been modified by various workers who have replaced the linear E-I curves by curves that provide a more fundamental representation of the electrode kinetics of the anodic and cathodic processes constituting a corrosion reaction (see Fig. 1.26). This has been possible partly by the application of electrochemical theory and partly by the development of newer experimental techniques. Thus the cathodic curve is plotted so that it shows whether activation-controlled charge transfer (equation 1.70) or mass transfer (equation 1.74) is rate determining. In addition, the potentiostat (see Section 20.2) has provided... 

Each of these two procedures can be varied by proceeding from a low to a high current density (or potential) or from a high to a low current density (or potential) the former is referred to as forward polarisation and the latter as reverse polarisation. Furthermore, there are a number of variations of the potentiostatic technique, and in the potentiokinetic method the pwtential of the electrode is made to vary continuously at a predetermined rate, the current being monitored on a recorder in the pulse method the electrode is given a pulse of potential and the current transient is determined by means of an oscilloscope. 

The potentiostatic technique discussed here involves the polarisation of a metal electrode at a series of predetermined constant potentials. Potentio-stats have been used in analytical chemistry for some time Hickling was the first to describe a mechanically controlled instrument and Roberts was the first to describe an electronically controlled instrument. Greene has discussed manual instruments and basic instrument requirements. 

Instruments very suitable for corrosion work are readily available, with several different models produced commercially. Although most, if not all, of the available potentiostats are properly designed, it should be kept in mind that corrosion studies require the instrument to have a low internal resistance and to react quickly to changes of potential of the working electrode. 

Fig. 19.36 Basic circuit for a poiemiostat. (a) Basic circuit for a potentiostat and electrochemical cell, (b) Equivalent circuit, (c) Circuit of a basic potentiostat. A.E. is the auxiliary electrode, R.E. the reference electrode and W.E. the working electrode (6 and c are from Polen-tiostat and its Applications by J. A. von Fraunhofer and C. H. Banks, Butlerworths (1972))...

The low conductivity of high-purity water makes it difficult to study electrode processes potentiostatically, since too high an electrical resistance in the circuit can affect the proper functioning of a potentiostat, and it can also introduce large iR errors. The increase in conductivity of water with temperature has been measured and /7 -corrected polarisation data have been obtained in hot water that originally had very low conductivity at room temperature. Other results in high-temperature water are all for tests where the conductivity was deliberately increased through the addition of electrolytes. 

Cahan, Nagy and Genshaw examine design criteria for an electrochemical measuring system to be used for potentiostatic transient investigation of fast electrode reactions. They emphasise the importance of co-design of the experimental cell and electronics. 

The anode compartment contains a reference electrode and counterelectrode and by means of a potentiostat the anode side is maintained at a constant potential. The coverage of adsorbed hydrogen on the cathode side will depend on the current density i and the nature of the electrolyte solution, and the cell can be used to study the effect of a variety of factors (composition and structure of alloys, pH of solution, effect of promoters and inhibitors) on hydrogen permeation. 

Potentiostatic Polarisation polarisation of an electrode during which the potential is maintained at a predetermined constant value by means of a potentiostat. 

At all stages of the electrolysis the electronic voltmeter reads the potential difference between the cathode and the reference electrode, and the required limiting value of this potential difference is entered into the potentiostat. If the measured potential at any instant differs from the pre-set value, the potentiostat will adjust the current flowing to restore the required potential difference. 

If a controlled-potential determination is to be carried out, additional equipment will be required, namely an electronic voltmeter, a potentiostat and a reference electrode. The latter is most commonly a saturated calomel electrode, the construction of which is described in Chapter 14. 

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