Understanding Voltammetry

The power of electrochemical measurements in respect of thermodynamics, kinetics and analysis is widely recognised but the subject can be unpredictable to the novice even if they have a strong physical and chemical background, and most especially if they wish to pursue quantitative measurements. Accordingly, some significant experiments are perhaps wisely never attempted, while the literature is sadly replete with flawed attempts at rigorous voltammetry. This textbook considers how to go about designing, explaining and interpreting experiments centred on various forms of voltammetry (cyclic, microelectrode, hydrodynamic, etc.). The reader is assumed to have knowledge of physical chemistry equivalent to Master's level but no exposure to electrochemistry in general, or voltammetry in particular. While the book is designed to stand alone, references to important research papers are given to provide an introductory entry into the literature. In this fourth edition, important parts of the text have been re-written for optimal clarity, recognising that many readers will not have English as a first language. Updates to the text have been made and new material added, expanding the text whilst retaining the overall concise, to-the-point approach which has proved popular with the readers of the previous editions.

Richard G Compton is a Professor of Chemistry and Aldrichian Praelector at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, where he is also Tutor in Chemistry at St. John's College. Compton is a Member of the Academia Europea and has broad interests in both fundamental and applied electrochemistry and electroanalysis including nanochemical aspects. He is the Physical Chemistry Editor of the Oxford Chemistry Primers series which comprises about 100 short texts covering a wide range of essential topics in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. He has published more than 1700 papers (h-index: 115; Web of Science, January 2024) and holds numerous patents. He has been Chinese Academy of Sciences Visiting Professor at the Institute of Physical Sciences, Hefei and is a Lifelong Honorary Professor at Sichuan University. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Estonian Agricultural University (now the Estonian University of Life Sciences) and Kharkov National University of Radioelectronics (Ukraine) and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the International Society of Electrochemistry. He is also a Fellow of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher from 2014 to 2017 (see http://highlycited.com/). He is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Electrochemistry Communications and joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Current Opinion in Electrochemistry. Both journals are published by Elsevier.

Craig Banks holds a Personal Chair at Manchester Metropolitan University and has published more than 600 papers (h-index: 96; citations:42,000), as well as four books, 20 book chapters, and is the lead inventor on 21 patents. Craig has spun out two companies from his research and was awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry's Harrison–Meldola Memorial Prize (2011) for his contributions to the understanding of carbon materials, in particular graphene and its application as an electrode material. He was also awarded a Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Prize (2023), granted for outstanding contributions to electrochemistry through pioneering additive manufacturing, and also the Royal Society of Chemistry L. S. Theobald Lectureship (2024), bestowed on those who have demonstrated a significant contribution to the development or application of analytical chemistry. Banks is known for both his fundamental and applied aspects of electrochemistry, in particular the significant development of next generation screen-printing electrodes, and more recently the use of additive manufacturing.