Single drop square wave polarography

Abstract

The theory of square wave voltammetry for reversible electrode reactions is expanded to include average currents and currents flowing to a growing drop (single drop square wave polarography) using an expanding plane model. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment was found for the reduction of Fe(III), good agreement for the reduction of Cd(II). The expanding plane model proved superior, but not greatly superior to the simpler theory. For the case of average current the effect on the polarogram of the times at which integration is started and stopped is discussed. Integration decreases sensitivity but increases signal-to-noise ratio. The conditions for maximum analytical usefulness are presented.