Elsevier

HardwareX

Volume 11, April 2022, e00290
HardwareX

PassStat, a simple but fast, precise and versatile open source potentiostat

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2022.e00290Get rights and content
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Abstract

This work presents 4 open source potentiostat solutions for performing accurate measurements in cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry at a low price. A very simple and easy to reproduce analogic board (c.a. 10 €) was driven either by a Teensy card from the company PJRC under an Arduino/Python software solution (39 €) or by an Analog Discovery 2 device from Digilent (less than 300 €). A smartphone Bluetooth Android interface was also created to circumvent the use of a computer. We demonstrated that our scheme is suitable for measurements in classical electrochemical conditions but also to carry out experiments with ultramicroelectrodes. We could thus reach a noise resolution of less than 1 pA. Scan rates of 8000 Vs−1 with ohmic drop compensation were also achieved. The device is suitable for teaching purposes but also for experiments in a participative science context on the ground, or countries with lower financial possibilities.

Keywords

Potentiostat
Cyclic voltammetry
Square wave voltammetry
Ultramicroelectrodes
Open hardware
Analytical chemistry

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Emmanuel Maisonhaute studied physical chemistry at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan. He obtained his PhD in electrochemistry under the supervision of Pr. Christian Amatore in 2000 at the Ecole Normale Superieure (Paris). After a post-doctoral internship at Oxford in the group of Pr. Richard Compton, Emmanuel returned to Paris as associate professor and then professor at Universite Pierre et Marie Curie (now Sorbonne Universite). In 2010, he moved to the Laboratoire Interfaces et Systemes Electrochimiques (Sorbonne Universite, Paris). Emmanuel developed several original electrochemical instrumental setups. Among them are an ultrafast potentiostat, a coupled system to monitor transient species produced by radiolysis and more recently several Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy approaches to explore electrochemical reactivity. He was awarded the instrumentation prize (2008) of the French Chemical Society in 2008.