Episode 8: Jackson's hard time circuit fitting

Welcome to The Electrochemistry Podcast, where we discuss all things electrochemistry! This is a flagship podcast launched in 2023 by Pine Research USA to give a light-hearted look into the world of electrochemistry research. Listen along with Dr. Alex Peroff and Dr. Neil Spinner of Pine Research as they discuss stories about various researchers and the issues they encounter in the lab, try to help with electrochemistry troubleshooting tips, and interview people from around the electrochemistry world, all while making a lot of bad jokes and movie references. We hope you'll be as informed as you are entertained.
Episode 8: Jackson's Hard Time Circuit Fitting - In this episode of The Electrochemistry Podcast, Alex and Neil discuss post-doc Jackson who is developing new materials for electrochemical sensors. Jackson uses DC techniques and AC techniques to characterize his materials. He got some very good experimental results, but when he started doing EIS circuit fitting he found that the circuit fit wasn't working. No matter how much he played with the settings and the equivalent circuit elements, he couldn't get the EIS data to fit. Alex and Neil dive into the world of EIS circuit fitting to see if they can figure out what is causing Jackson's problem. We'll finish up the podcast with a fun game of Two Truths and a Lie!
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[@ferriswhitehouse1476]

very encouraging to learn that all that time I spent on StarCraft is going to pay off for eis circuit fitting!

[@Pineresearch]

Indeed yes! No efforts have gone to waste with all your past gaming!

[@yumnakhan4914]

Hi, i have a question..
What is the effect of concentration of KOH electrolyte on elect4ochmeical results? For example...i am doing my experimwnts by using 6M KOH electrolyte what if i use less concentrated...what will be the effect?

[@Pineresearch]

It probably depends exactly which experiments you are doing. But one of the impacts of KOH concentration is that the pH will change, and potential shifts at a rate of roughly -60 mV per pH unit. For something as concentrated as 6M KOH, the pH is 14 or even above, though to be honest I am not sure at that level of alkaline the measurement of pH continues to be perfectly accurate. But for instance, if you went to something like 0.1M KOH, the pH would be approximately 13, so in this example if you went from pH 14 to 13, theoretically any features electrochemically would shift in potential positively by about 60 mV.
Apart from that, there could be other effects from changing the electrolyte concentration but I would need to know more about the specifics of the experiments being done. And ultimately, the best answer to this question is to simply change the concentration yourself, run the experiments, and see what happens (if anything).

[@yumnakhan4914]

@@Pineresearch i am running experiments of three electrode system in which my electrode is a nickel foam coated with transition metal oxide and sulfide based nanocomposite..and for this experiment i am using 6M KOH electrolyte solution..

[@Pineresearch]

@@yumnakhan4914 I think the answer to what will happen by changing KOH concentration in your experiment is the same as I mentioned previously, which is that you just need to try it and see what happens, if anything. I imagine you have a good reason for wanting to adjust the electrolyte concentration, so you may likely need to run the experiments yourself and see how it affects results.