Quick Start with EC-Lab CYCLIC VOLTAMMETRY - CePoL/MC ...

Starting a Cyclic Voltammetry with EC-Lab Ä
This short tutorial goes through the states
of selecting, setting up and running a typical Cyclic
voltammetry experiment. The setting file (.mps),
raw data file (.mpr) and processed file (.mpp)
corresponding to this experiment are in the data
directory.
Cyclic voltammetry (CV) is the most widely used
technique for acquiring qualitative information
about electrochemical reactions. CV provides
information on redox processes, heterogeneous
electron-transfer reactions and adsorption
processes. It offers a rapid location of redox
potential of the electroactive species. CV consists
of scanning linearly the potential of a stationary
working electrode using a triangular potential
waveform. During the potential sweep, the
potentiostat measures the current resulting from
electrochemical reactions (consecutive to the
applied potential).
The cyclic voltammogram is a current response as
a function of the applied potential.
The aim of this tutorial is to lead the user
for the first time in EC-Lab Ä
software. A Cyclic
voltammetry protocol will be built and run to
describe the instrument and the software. The
operating conditions will be described in the
experimental part (conditions just given as
example). These experiments should not be
considered as scientific results but just as example
to start EC-Lab Ä
software. This paper is not a
scientific article.
I- Starting a Cyclic voltammetry experiment
with EC-Lab Ä software
When starting with EC-Lab Ä for the first time, the
user has to report to the corresponding part in
EC-Lab Ä software Help Menu. The user has to set
his name and choose a channel on the global view
(double click on the channel). On the setting
window, click “Modify” and “New
experiment”. The technique selection window
appears.
Fig.1: EC-Lab Ä technique window with a description of the protocol.
1) In “Voltamperometric Techniques”, choose
“Cyclic voltammetry” and click on “Ok”.
One can see a picture and a description of this
protocol on the right window. This protocol
corresponds to one or several potential sweep
between two potential limits.
2) Then the setting window with Cyclic
voltammetry protocol appears. Three different
tabs are shown: “Advanced settings, Cell
characteristics and Parameter settings”. The
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