Cyclic biamperometry.

Cyclic biamperometry has been investigated as a method for the quantitation of one form of a reversibly electroactive redox couple in the presence of the other form, using the ferri-ferrocyanide couple in aqueous KCl. A triangular voltage waveform applied across two equal-area, planar gold electrodes yields peak currents that depend on the square root of the applied voltage scan rate, when one form of the redox couple is present in excess. Independent measurement of electrode-to-solution potential during biamperometric scans allowed estimation of the fractional impedance at each electrode-solution interface, and these values allow calculation of the effective potential scan rates at each electrode. Results show that when one form is present in a 5-fold excess or greater, the potential scan rate for the limiting reaction is nearly identical to the applied voltage scan rate. Similar values were obtained from impedance calculations, but discrepancies between the predicted and experimental values are evident when the two forms are present at near equivalent concentrations. When one form of the redox couple is present in excess, cyclic biamperometric peak currents depend linearly on the concentration of the limiting form, and these currents can be amplified by using cells with one electrode much larger than the other. Because this method does not require a reference electrode, it can, in principle, be readily incorporated into new electrochemical array or lab-on-a-chip devices.