Ultrafast cyclic voltammetry: performing in the few megavolts per second range without ohmic drop

Abstract

A new concept of a three-electrode potentiostat involving positive feedback compensation of ohmic drop is used to investigate nanosecond time scales by allowing the recording of ohmic drop-free voltammograms at scan rates of a few megavolts per second. This range of scan rates corresponds to the development of diffusion layers whose widths are only a few nanometers thick. Independent tests on dummy cells (Bode plots) demonstrated that the potentiostat behaved excellently in the megavolt per second range. Examination of the well-established voltammetric reduction of anthracene in highly concentrated (0.9 M) supporting electrolyte confirmed that this potentiostat allowed the recording of undistorted ohmic drop-free voltammograms up to 2.25 MV s −1.