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Available online at http://www.journalcra.com

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
OF CURRENT RESEARCH
International Journal of Current Research
Vol. 9, Issue, 05, pp.51072-51075, May, 2017

ISSN: 0975-833X
RESEARCH ARTICLE

DEVELOPMENT OF A CYCLIC VOLTAMMETRY SYSTEM BY DESIGNING A LOW COST

POTENTIOSTAT
*,1Joshi, P. S., 2Relekar, A. S. and 3Sutrave, D. S.
1Walchand
Institute of Technology, Solapur-413006,
Solapur Solapur University, Maharashtra, India
2Shankarrao Mohite Mahavidyalaya, Akluj, Maharashtra, India
3D.B.F. Dayanand College of Arts and Science, Solapur-413002,
Solapur Solapur University Maharashtra, India

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Article History: Cyclic voltammetry (CV) is a potentiodynamic electrochemical measurement in which working
Received 25th February, 2017 electrode’s potential is ramped in the opposite direction to return to its initial potential. Potentiostat is
Received in revised form an electronic hardware
hardware that controls the three electrode cell by maintaining the voltage between
21st March, 2017 working electrode and reference electrode constant by adjusting the current at a counter electrode.
Accepted 14th April, 2017 Though now a day, many manufacturers are developing potentiostats having high aaccuracy and
Published online 31st May, 2017 resolution, but the high cost is the obstruction. We have developed a low cost, portable CV system by
designing a low cost and low component count potentiostat. TL054 op op-amp and Arduino Mega 2560
Key words: microcontroller board is used to build a system. The developed system has been tested and showed the
Cyclic Voltammetry, Potentiostat, successful working.
Op-amp, Microcontroller.

Copyright©2017 Joshi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Citation: Joshi, P. S., Relekar, A. S. and Sutrave, D. S. 2017. “Development

Development of a cyclic voltammetry system by designing a low cost potentiostat
potentiostat”,
International Journal of Current Research, 9, (05), 51072-51075.
51072

INTRODUCTION Applied Research; Wang, 20002000; Nicholson and Shain, 1964).

Thus it is a powerful technique to study the redox reaction
Electrochemistry is defined as the branch of chemistry that which plays a key role for charge storage mechanism in the
examines the phenomena resulting from combined chemical study of supercapacitor. Cyclic voltammetry, a thrthree electrode
and electrical effects. The branch of electrochemistry known as electrochemical cell, is based on varying the applied potential
voltammetry is developed from the discovery of polarography. at a working electrode in both forward and reverse directions
Currently there are various forms of voltammetry such as (at some scan rate) while observing the current. This technique
Polarography, Cyclic Voltammetry, Normal Pulse involves a linear and a cyclic variation of electrode potential
Voltammetry (NPV), Differential Pulse Voltammetry (DPV), between the working and reference electrodes within a
Square-Wave
Wave Voltammetry (SWV), Anodic Stripping potential window by measuring the current that flows between
Voltammetry, Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry, Adsorptive working and counter electrodes. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) is a
Stripping Voltammetry, etc which are used for fo different potentiodynamic electrochemical measurement in which
analytical purposes. In all these techniques, the potential is working electrode’s potential is ramped in the op opposite
applied and current is measured but slight difference is the way direction to return to its initial potential. Potentiostat is an
and timing for applying potential. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) electronic hardware that controls the three electrode cell by
has become a significant and broadly used electroanalytical maintaining the voltage between working electrode and
technique in many areas of chemistry. It is generally used for reference electrode constant by adjusting the current at a
the study of redox
ox processes, in the analyses of electrochemical counter electrode. Potentiostat is used to run most
reactions between ions and surface atoms of electrodes under electroanalytical experiments for investigating the mechanism
the investigation for understanding reaction intermediates for of a redox reaction. In recent times, the interest in developing
obtaining stability of reaction products, for qualitative the potentiostat for various applications has been increased.
information on electrode reaction mechanisms, qualitative Though numbers of companies ies are manufacturing potentiostat
properties of the charge transfer reactions between electrolyte instruments that deliver high precision but they are at equally
ions and electrons from the electrode surface (Princeton high cost. There manufacturers usually make available the
*Corresponding author: Joshi, P. S.
software for data analysis, electrochemical cells and the
Walchand Institute of Technology, Solapur
Solapur-413006, Solapur electrodes. Due to high cost, these instr
instruments are not easily
University, Maharashtra, India. reachable for academic reason or for preliminary research
51073 Joshi et al. Development of a cyclic voltammetry system by designing a low cost potentiostat

study. Also there are a number of low cost potentiostats which Hardware
deliver low accuracy or resolution. So if the potentiostat is
developed for specific purpose or function then the cost as well Figure 2. shows the functional block diagram of cyclic
as complexity of the circuit can be reduced. In this paper, we voltammetry system. Initially the data that is upper and lower
present the development of cyclic voltammetry system by threshold voltage values are entered through keypad.
designing the potentiostat which can be used for the study of Microcontroller ARDUINO MEGA 2560 (http://www.atmel.
supercapacitors where cyclic voltammetry is considered as a com/Images/Atmel-2549-8-bit-AVR-Microcontroller-ATmega
very preliminary characterization. 640-1280-1281-2560-2561_datasheet.pdf) accepts the data
from keypad and generates the appropriate data in digital form
Instrumentation for DAC. Here digital to analog converter AD 5761 is used. It
converts the digital data into corresponding analog form
To develop a handy and cost effective cyclic voltammetry (http://www.atmel.com/Images/Atmel-2549-8-bit-AVR-
system with different scan rates are the specific aims of the Microcontroller-ATmega640-1280-1281-2560-2561_
work. Even if cost effective, the system must be able to set the datasheet.pdf).
system parameters i.e voltages scan range and scan rate, it
should be able to monitor the current in the electrode, it should
convert the current from analog to digital form and should
have the recorded data available over USB to a computer for
data analysis. The major goal of the work is to create a
microcontroller based scanning system which can accept the
given input voltage range (in both positive and negative
directions) and record the corresponding change in current.
This voltage is provided by potentiostat. Hence the main
concern is to design a potentiostat having simple circuit with a
low cost and low component count. The block diagram for
cyclic voltammetry scanning system is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 2. Functional Block Diagram for Hardware Methodology

Then the signal is given to potentiostat. Potentiostat is a circuit

composed of operational amplifiers TL054. The main function
of potentiostat is to provide the potential window and scan rate
(10mV/Sec/50 mV/Sec/100 mV/Sec) to the working electrode.
The signal then passes through electrochemical cell consisting
of working, counter, reference electrodes and electrolyte. A
staircase modulated voltage with regular increase of 0.1 V
Figure 1. Block Diagram for Cyclic voltammetry Scan System
voltage is provided. Preset voltage range is scanned. The
The potentiostat applies a known potential and monitors the current from counter electrode is converted to voltage by the
corresponding change in current. It provides the staircase transimpedence amplifier from potentiostat. The resultant
modulated potential in which there is a constant potential voltage is then passed to analog to digital converter MCP 3551
increment with steps. The advantage of such modulated signals (http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/devicedoc/21950b.p
is that every small change in capacitive current can be df). Microcontroller converts the data received from ADC into
observed.ADC converts the analog value of the current into the the appropriate form that is current and also drives the LCD
digital value.DAC generates analog output. Microcontroller and stores the data into USB flash drive. This stored data can
initiates all the commands to interface with other blocks and be used for further analysis. Potentiostat consists of operational
also performs the functions as to accept commands from amplifiers as shown in Figure 3. The circuit has two parts. First
keyboard, to set the system parameters, to drive LCD, to part provides the necessary power supply or potential to
provide DAC digital data to generate output voltage. The value working electrode. This is then fed back to the same through
from ADC will be converted into appropriate data by electrolyte and reference electrode.
microcontroller and stores the data into USB flash drive. This part is required for the following reasons:
Keypad is used to modify various settings, saves them and
starts/stops the process. LCD displays the input parameters as  The amplifier in this stage protects the DAC output from
Max and Min Voltage, Scan Rate, and important messages loading.
such as START, PROCESSING and END. USB flash drive  This keeps the DAC voltage non-distorted upto the
stores the data that can be used for further analysis. An working electrode end of potentiostat.
electrochemical cell is a sample holder consisting of an  The buffer stage at the working electrode end ensures that
aqueous electrolyte and three electrodes – counter, reference the potential at working and reference electrode remains
and working. equal.
51074 International Journal of Current Research, Vol. 9, Issue, 05, pp.51072-51075, May, 2017

signal from DAC and feedback from reference electrode and

convert the current from counter electrode to voltage. The
DAC used here AD 5761 is a single channel, 16 bit serial
input, voltage output, digital-to-analog converter. It uses a
serial interface that operates at clock rates of upto 50 MHz and
is compatible with DSP and microcontroller interface
standards. The DAC will start its operation when the user will
input the parameters required to run the sweeping voltage.
DAC output amplifier is capable of generating both unipolar
and bipolar voltages. Data is written to AD 5761 in a 24 bit
word format via a 4 wire (SYNC, SCLK,SDI and SDO) digital
interface that is SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) compatible.

MCP 3551 device is 2.7 V to 5.5 V low power, 22 bit Delta-

Sigma analog-to-Digital Converter. It provides high accuracy
and low noise performance. Serial communication between
microcontroller and ADC is achieved using CS, SCK and
SDO/RDY. SCK synchronizes data communication with the
device. SDO/RDY is the output data pin for the devices. CS
gets all communication to the device and can be used to select
multiple devices that share the same SCK and SDO/RDY pins.
Keypad 4X4 is used for loading numeric into the
microcontroller (https://www.parallax.com/sites/default/files/
downloads/27899-4x4-Matrix-Membrane-Keypad-v1.2.pdf). A
16X2 LCD is used to display the input parameters as well as
the messages while processing the scan (https://
Figure 3. Simple Schematic of Potentiostat circuitdigest.com/article/16x2-lcd-display-module-pinout-
datasheet). The CH376S USB read/write module has a
CH376S chip onboard (http://arduinobasics.blogspot.in/ 2015/
This is the main and utmost required condition in cyclic 05/ch376s-usb-readwrite-module.html). The Arduino Mega is
voltammetry analysis and potentiostat design. Second part is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560
Transimpedence amplifier. This stage converts the small (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardMega2560). It
amount of current through electrolyte into the voltage. The has 54 digital input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as
output of DAC is fed to inverting input of op-amp U1. Due to PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial
inverting amplifier configuration, this voltage is converted to ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power
negative equivalent voltage. This inverted voltage is then again jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button. It contains everything
inverted and initial voltage is obtained at the output of U2. In needed to support the microcontroller. Below ()Figure 4 is the
this way U1 and U2 forms a buffer amplifier. U3 and U4 are photograph of developed CV system.
unity gain amplifiers. The feedback of this configuration is
through the electrolyte, working electrode, reference electrode
and U4. Due to unity gain configuration, the potential between
working electrode and reference electrode is kept constant. For
the purpose to avoid the loading effect, operational amplifier
U4 is used. U5 is transimpedence amplifier which converts the
current from counter electrode to the voltage. As the circuit
generates bipolar voltages, a reference voltage is added at the
transimpedence stage. This voltage shifter converts the bipolar
voltage to unipolar voltage. The reference voltage is set to 2.5
V by adjusting POT. The operational amplifier U6 used is
again in unity gain buffer configuration. This helps in reducing
the loading effect and reading the non-distorted voltage
measured. Loading effect is when the device at the output of
any power supply tries to get more current than power supply
can provide. This affects the voltage and the voltage decreases
in order to keep the power at the output constant.

So when current increases, the voltage decreases. Now, the Figure 4. Photograph of developed CV System
voltage from U6 is given to ADC. ADC reads the voltage and
converts in digital form. Then microcontroller converts that RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
voltage into current. The operational amplifier TL054 is
designed to use with dual power supplies, high output current After testing the hardware, the cyclic voltammetry was carried
(http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tl054.pdf). The advantage is out using an electrochemical cell consisting of metal oxide thin
there are 4 isolated op-amps in each package. This simplifies film as working electrode, Pt auxiliary electrode as counter
the circuitry and reduces the cost. The potentiostat circuit is electrode and a saturated Calomel electrode as reference
composed of these operational amplifiers and used to process electrode. For this Mn doped Ruthenium Oxide thin film was
51075 Joshi et al. Development of a cyclic voltammetry system by designing a low cost potentiostat

used as working electrode. The cyclic voltammetry was carried Conclusion

out in a potential window -0.8 V to 0.6 V for three different
scan rates 10 mV/Sec, 50 mV/Sec and 100 mV/Sev in a 0.1 M The system has achieved the initial Specific aims. The system
KOH electrolyte. Here the voltage is stepped in 0.1 V upto is able to present a working potentiostat which is capable of
final voltages. After completion of the predefined scan, the performing cyclic voltammetry according to user-inputted
data is stored in USB flash drive and used for further analysis. parameters. The system has been able to accept the voltage in
The CV plot is shown in Figure 5. both directions, generates the step voltage increase of 0.1 V,
measures the corresponding current and stores the data in USB
flash drive which can be used for analysis. Simultaneously, the
system is able to display the input variables, start and end of
the process. It is able to run the scan at three different scan
rates 10 mV/Sec, 50 mV/Sec and 100 mV/Sec. The results
obtained show the rectangular shape of voltammogram giving
supercapacitive behaviour. Successful scanning in both
positive and negative voltage windows, generation of
satisfactory and bipolar current, increase in current density,
increase in area under the curve and decrease in specific
capacitance with increase in scan rate are seen from results.
The similar observations are seen as compared to laboratory
tests.

REFERENCES
http://arduinobasics.blogspot.in/2015/05/ch376s-usb-readwrite-
module.html
http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/devicedoc/21950b.pdf
Figure 5. Cyclic voltammogram for Mn: RuO2 thin film electrode http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-
from developed CV system documentation/datasheets/ AD5761R_5721R. pdf
http://www.atmel.com/Images/Atmel-2549-8-bit-AVR-
The data stored in USB was used for further analysis. The Microcontroller-ATmega640-1280-1281-2560-
rectangular shape of CV curve showed the supercapacitive 2561_datasheet.pdf
behaviour. Also the area under the curve was increased with http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tl054.pdf
increase in scan rate which in turn decreased the specific https://circuitdigest.com/article/16x2-lcd-display-module-pinout-
capacitance. Our system showed the similar results as the datasheet
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/arduinoBoardMega2560
laboratory tests. The calculated specific capacitance values
https://www.parallax.com/sites/default/files/downloads/27899-
were 262 F/g, 149 F/g and 124 F/g for 10, 50 and 100 mV/Sec
4x4-Matrix-Membrane-Keypad-v1.2.pdf
scan rate respectively. These values are comparatively less Nicholson R.S. and I. Shain, 1964. Theory of stationary electrode
than the laboratory test values. In laboratory the similar test polarography, single scan and cyclic methods applied to
was conducted using the same sample by CH electrochemical reversible, irreversible and kinetic systems, Anal. Chem., 36,
workstation. The decrease in values may be due to low pp706-723.
resolution and sophistication. The sophistication may be of Princeton Applied Research, Applied Instrument Group, Basics of
different levels. First may be about the microcontroller used, voltammetry and polarography, Application Note P-2, pp 1-
secondly about component sophistication and third can be 12.
signal conditioning and board creation. Due to these Wang, J. 2000. Analytical Electrochemistry, Chapter 2, John
limitations there may be difference in results. Wiley & Sons.

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