Zero-Current Techniques

Potentiometry (discussed in Chapter 5), which is of great practical importance, is a static (zero current) technique in which the information about the sample composition is obtained from measurement of the potential established across a membrane. Different types of membrane materials, possessing different ion-recognition processes, have been developed to impart high selectivity. The resulting potentiometric probes have thus been widely used for several decades for direct monitoring of ionic species such as protons or calcium, fluoride, and potassium ions in complex samples. 

Several types of electrochemical techniques have been used in automated systems (see Table 24.1). At first glance, their use in instrument systems appears straightforward, since each transducer converts chemical information directly into an electrical signal. Unfortunately, few applications are found for those methods involving net current flow (e.g., amperometry) because the rate of mass transfer (and hence the current) depends on the sample flow-rate, which may vary, and on how clean the electrode surface is. This discussion will therefore be restricted to potentiometry, a zero-current technique. 

The thermoelectric power is a very useful method of characterization of intrinsic electrical properties of materials, because it is a zero-current technique, therefore it is not very sensitive to contacts. ... 

Coulometry (5) is not usually the technique employed. Even in the absence of kinetics, the several minutes required for the electrolysis seems excessive and destmction of the sample is not a desirable result. Furthermore, coulometric precision can be exceptionally poor at low concentration, and currents almost never decay to zero because of the trace contaminants present. One has to decide when zero current has been obtained. 

According to the definition, a passive technique is one for which no appHed signal is required to measure a response that is analytically usehil. Only the potential (the equiHbrium potential) corresponding to zero current is measured. Because no current flows, the auxiHary electrode is no longer needed. The two-electrode system, where the working electrode may or not be an ion-selective electrode, suffices. 

Oxirene is probably a true intermediate, but is separated from ketene by only a very low barrier. Since its instability results from unimolecular isomerization rather than from attack of other molecules, the only viable current technique for its direct observation seems to be generation and spectroscopic examination in an inert matrix at temperatures near absolute zero. 

Controlled-potential (potentiostatic) techniques deal with the study of charge-transfer processes at the electrode-solution interface, and are based on dynamic (no zero current) situations. Here, the electrode potential is being used to derive an electron-transfer reaction and the resultant current is measured. The role of the potential is analogous to that of the wavelength in optical measurements. Such a controllable parameter can be viewed as electron pressure, which forces the chemical species to gain or lose an electron (reduction or oxidation, respectively). 

With a low constant current -1 (see Fig. 3.71) one obtains the same type of curve but its position is slightly higher and the potential falls just beyond the equivalence point (see Fig. 3.72, anodic curve -1). In order to minimize the aforementioned deviations from the equivalence point, I should be taken as low as possible. Now, it will be clear that the zero current line (abscissa) in Fig. 3.71 yields the well known non-faradaic potentiometric titration curve (B B in Fig. 2.22) with the correct equivalence point at 1.107 V this means that, when two electroactive redox systems are involved, there is no real need for constant-current potentiometry, whereas this technique becomes of major advantage... 

Potentiometry is the most widely used electroanalytical technique. It involves the measurement of the potential of a galvanic cell, usually under conditions of zero current, for which purpose potentiometers are used. Measurements may be direct whereby the response of samples and standards are compared, or the change in cell potential during a titration can be monitored. 

Voltammetric techniques involve perturbing the initial zero-current condition of an electrochemical cell by imposing a change in potential to the working electrode and observing the fate of the generated current as... 

Please note the use of the hydrodynamic technique to detect the zero-current potential value... 

In this present book, we will look at the analytical use of two fundamentally different types of electrochemical technique, namely potentiometry and amper-ometry. The distinctions between the two are outlined in some detail in Chapter 2. For now, we will anticipate and say that a potentiometric technique determines the potential of electrochemical cells - usually at zero current. The potential of the electrode of interest responds (with respect to a standard reference electrode) to changes in the concentration of the species under study. The most common potentiometric methods used by the analyst employ voltmeters, potentiometers or pH meters. Such measurements are generally relatively cheap to perform, but can be slow and tedious unless automated. 

Potentiometry The techniques and methodology of determining an activity as a function of potential (at zero current). Activity and concentration can often be interchanged at low ionic strength. 

If the bias is zero, current peaks are observed during the thermal activation transition from the polarized state to the equilibrium state. This technique is known in the literature as TSDC. 

Before considering instrumentation in some detail in later chapters, it will be helpful to outline the kinds of experiments that we wish to implement electronically. It is useful to characterize electroanalytical techniques as either static or dynamic. Static methods are philosophically akin to the passive observation mentioned earlier. They entail measurements of potential difference at zero current such that the system defined by the solid-solution interphase is not disturbed and Nernstian equilibrium is maintained. Although such potentiometric measurements (e.g., pH, pM) are of great practical importance, our focus here will be on the dynamic techniques, in which a system is intentionally disturbed from equilibrium by excitation signals consisting of a wide variety of potential and current programs. 

Galvanostatic methods for localized corrosion. At constant chosen currents, the evolution of potential as a function of time is recorded until the rate of change in potential with time approaches zero. This technique is under development for aluminum alloys in ASTM Gl4 as a test method for application to aluminum alloys. (Scully)14... 

Transition time (for chronopotentiometry) — Electrolysis time required before the surface concentration of a redox species drops to zero in - chronopotentiometry. In constant-current chronopotentiometry (see also -> constant-current techniques), the transition time r is given by the - Sand equation ... 

Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), also known as linear sweep chronoamperometry, is a potential sweep method where the applied potential (E) is ramped in a linear fashion while measming cnrrent (i). LSV is the simplest technique that uses this waveform. The potential range that is scanned begins at an initial or start potential and ends at a final potential. It is best to start the scan at rest potential, the potential of zero current. For a reversible couple, the peak potential can be calcnlated nsing equation (6). ... 

Bridge methods are also a standard technique for conductivity measurements. The basic Wheatstone bridge circuit is illustrated in Fig. 18. When the bridge is balanced, i.e. the detector D indicates zero current, then the unknown resistance is given by... 

Fig. 9.10. Examples of pulsed-current charge techniques. Dotted lines are for rests (zero current), low-current discharges or discharge-rest combinations.

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