Public Lab Research note


I know that this project is a while in the past, but I hope the potentiostat can be resurrected...

by nitrous2022 | September 29, 2021 18:47 29 Sep 18:47 | #27812 | #27812

there seems to be a lot of interest in the potentiostat project.

I'd like to connect with the original author to see what might be needed to put this back onto the kit offerings.

I'm a former physical chemist - long time ago before jumping over to medicine...

But I'm also recently retired.... so... :)

Thanks folks.

Doug


4 Comments

This is related to an old lab we did in college. Polarography using a dropping mercury electrode (DME), which is a form of voltammetry ( The potentiometer project is too, correct?). A quick search looks like mercury might still be involved. That was from a Public Lab research note published 6 years ago. That research note is not current, to say the least. And using a different material like graphite (say from pencil lead) would be good for safeties sake. Physical chemistry? Wow. Congrats on that.

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I said potentiometer. Sorry. I meant potentiostat. Too much electronics on my mind. Regards!

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Paging @JSummers !!

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Hi Doug, I would be happy to help you. Here is the status of the potentiostat project: Our original design was limited to outputting +/- 1.65 volts on the working and counter electrodes. I could easily send you one of these, but the second design (model 7) was much improved, being able to output +/- 5 volts on the working electrode and +/-12 on the counter electrode. If you look at my website, it says the model 7 is sold out but I recently found a few circuit boards and could put one together for you if you wish. The major limitation of the model 7 was the current limit (about +/- 7 mA). People complained because they wanted to do electrochemical synthesis with hundreds of mA. Other people wanted to do high frequency work for electrochemical impedence spectroscopy for corrosion analysis, I guess. I have been working on the design for a third model which will be able to run about +/- 300 mA and be able to do the EIS work. Anyway, I hesitate to have a bunch of the model 7 circuits fabricated since I am close to finishing the newer model. right now, there is a prototype potentiostat sitting on my kitchen table that needs firmware code written for it. Once it has firmware, it will need to be tested and I will need to update the user interface. I built this prototype over the summer and then I got sidetracked working on a spectroscopy project. Let me know what you are interested in doing and I will give you my opinion of the best way to proceed. Best, Jack

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