Voltammetry cells

Figure 9.3 Stationary solution voltammetry cells, (a) Platinum wire loop auxiliary electrode, (b) reference electrode or reference electrode probe tip, (c) carbon paste working electrode, (d) graphite auxiliary electrode, (e) dropping mercury electrode, (0 platinum wire contact to mercury pool working electrode, (g) nitrogen gas inlet tube, (h) magnetic stirrer, (i) mercury pool working electrode, (j) glass frit isolation barrier.

The shape and position of the voltammogram depend not only on the kinetics and thermodynamics of the electrochemical reaction, but are affected also by the design of the voltammetry cell and the potentiostat. Closely related to this is the question of measurement precision. 

The two-chamber voltammetry cell was fabricated from acrylic plastic and featured a side-mounted working electrode (WE). The area of the WE was 0.71 cm. The reference electrode, a small Ag/AgCl/1.00 M KCl electrode, was calibrated against an SCE, whose potential was taken to be 242 mV vs... 

In potentiometry, the potential of an electrochemical cell under static conditions is used to determine an analyte s concentration. As seen in the preceding section, potentiometry is an important and frequently used quantitative method of analysis. Dynamic electrochemical methods, such as coulometry, voltammetry, and amper-ometry, in which current passes through the electrochemical cell, also are important analytical techniques. In this section we consider coulometric methods of analysis. Voltammetry and amperometry are covered in Section 1 ID. 

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... 

Scale of Operation Voltammetry is routinely used to analyze samples at the parts-per-million level and, in some cases, can be used to detect analytes at the parts-per-billion or parts-per-trillion level. Most analyses are carried out in conventional electrochemical cells using macro samples however, microcells are available that require as little as 50 pL of sample. Microelectrodes, with diameters as small as 2 pm, allow voltammetric measurements to be made on even smaller samples. For example, the concentration of glucose in 200-pm pond snail neurons has been successfully monitored using a 2-pm amperometric glucose electrode. ... 

Electrochemical methods covered in this chapter include poten-tiometry, coulometry, and voltammetry. Potentiometric methods are based on the measurement of an electrochemical cell s potential when only a negligible current is allowed to flow, fn principle the Nernst equation can be used to calculate the concentration of species in the electrochemical cell by measuring its potential and solving the Nernst equation the presence of liquid junction potentials, however, necessitates the use of an external standardization or the use of standard additions. 

In voltammetry we measure the current in an electrochemical cell as a function of the applied potential. Individual voltammetric methods differ in terms of the type of electrode used, how the applied potential is changed, and whether the transport of material to the electrode s surface is enhanced by stirring. 

Electrochemical Detectors Another common group of HPLC detectors are those based on electrochemical measurements such as amperometry, voltammetry, coulometry, and conductivity. Figure 12.29b, for example, shows an amperometric flow cell. Effluent from the column passes over the working electrode, which is held at a potential favorable for oxidizing or reducing the analytes. The potential is held constant relative to a downstream reference electrode, and the current flowing between the working and auxiliary electrodes is measured. Detection limits for amperometric electrochemical detection are 10 pg-1 ng of injected analyte. 

From the nature of the process described above it has been referred to as stripping polarography , but the term anodic stripping voltammetry is preferred. It is also possible to reverse the polarity of the two electrodes of the cell, thus leading to the technique of cathodic stripping voltammetry. 

Voltaic cells 64. 504 Voltammetry 7, 591 anodic stripping, 621 concentration step, 621 mercury drop electrode, 623 mercury film electrode, 623 peak breadth, 622 peak current, 622 peak potential, 622 purity of reagents, 624 voltammogram, 622 D. of lead in tap water, 625 Volume distribution coefficient 196 Volume of 1 g of water at various temperatures, (T) 87... 

J. Yi, A. Kaloyannis, and C.G. Vayenas, High Temperature cyclic voltammetry of Pt electrodes in solid electrolyte cells, Electrochim. Acta 38(17), 2533-2539 (1993). 

Method Abs, chemical reduction, monitored by absorption spectroscopy CD, chemical reduction, monitored by CD spectroscopy CD/OTTLE, electrochemical reduction using an optically transparent thin layer (OTTLE) cell, monitored by CD spectroscopy CV, cyclic voltammetry EPR, chemical reduction, monitored by EPR. 

Hyun et al. [345] prepared PbS Q-dots in a suspension and tethered them to Ti02 nanoparticles with a bifunctional thiol-carboxyl linker molecule. Strong size dependence due to quantum confinement was inferred from cyclic voltammetry measurements, for the electron affinity and ionization potential of the attached Q-dots. On the basis of the measured energy levels, the authors claimed that pho-toexcited electrons should transfer efficiently from PbS into T1O2 only for dot diameters below 4.3 nm. Continuous-wave fluorescence spectra and fluorescence transients of the PbS/Ti02 assembly were consistent with electron transfer from small Q-dots. The measured charge transfer time was surprisingly slow ( 100 ns). Implications of this fact for future photovoltaics were discussed, while initial results from as-fabricated sensitized solar cells were presented. 

Dynamic techniques are those in which electrolytic processes occur at the electrodes and therefore a finite current is passed through the electrochemical cell. Thig discussion will be limited to controlled-potential techniques, namely voltammetry and ampero-metry. While other dynamic electrochemical techniques have been developed, these two are by far the most commonly used for bioelectroanalytical studies. 

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