Voltammetry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltammetry is a category of electroanalytical methods used in analytical chemistry and various industrial processes. In voltammetry, information about an analyte is obtained by measuring the current as the potential is varied.

Voltammetry, and especially polarography, were advanced by Nobel Prize winner Jaroslav Heyrovsky.

Voltametric Sensors A number of voltammetric systems are produced commercially for the determination of specific species that are of interest in industry and research. These devices are sometimes called electrodes but are, in fact, complete voltammetric cells and are better referred to as sensors.

The Oxygen Electrode The determination of dissolved oxygen in a variety of aqueous environments, such as sea water, blood, sewage, effluents from chemical plants, and soils is of tremendous importance to industry, biomedical and environmental research, and clinical medicine. One of the most common and convenient methods for making such measurements is with the Clark oxygen sensor, which was patented by L.C. Clark Jr., in 1956.

[edit] Types of voltammetry

• Cyclic Voltammetry
• Polarography - reducible and oxidizable subtances
• Rotated Disk Voltammetry - A technique in which the working electrode is rotated at a very high rate (2000 to 1000 RPM) in order to assert some control over the mass transport process which brings the analyte to the electrode surface. This technique was made popular through the work of the Russian electrochemist, Benjamin Levich. This technique is useful for studying the kinetics and reaction mechanism for a half reaction. This technique is part of a larger class of electroanalytical methods known as hydrodynamic voltammetry (see also hydrodynamics) and is oftened referred to by the abbreviation "RDE".
• Differential Pulse Voltammetry
• Other types are refered in http://www.electrochemist.com