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I have an AUTOLAB potentiostat: working electrode (WE, Pt wire), counter electrode (CE, Pt wire), reference electrode (RE, Ag/AgCl solid state).

I would like to capacitively couple the potentiostat and the three electrode cell system through the working electrode by connect a capacitor in series with the WE.

Am I doing it right? I read in a paper by van Dongen and Serdijn [1] and by Christie Q. Huang et al. [2] that capacitive coupling could increase the cell potential during stimulation I would like to do. How should I do it to prevent this increase, or minimize it? Even the OCP (offset voltage) is not the same, if I connect the capacitor into the cell.

I would like to do stimulation on the Pt electrode 1000 - 2000 pulse per seconds (biphasic, square signals) for hours.

Reference

  1. van Dongen, M. N.; Serdijn, W. A. Does a Coupling Capacitor Enhance the Charge Balance during Neural Stimulation? An Empirical Study. Med Biol Eng Comput 2016, 54 (1), 93–101. DOI: 10.1007/s11517-015-1312-9.
  2. C.Q. Huang et al. / Hearing Research 116 (1998) 55-64
Ryksa
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  • What's a potentiostat? It's not a word I'm personally familiar with. – Hearth Jul 27 '21 at 13:47
  • A [potentiostat](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Potentiostat) is an electrochemical, compact workstation, which enable the user to do lab experiments in a three-electrode cell. The main advantage of the instrument is to conduct and measure the current or/and voltage of a system simultaneously. – Ryksa Jul 27 '21 at 13:53
  • There is a voltage between the RE and WE outputs. However I measure the potential of the WE (vs. RE), which is dependent of the reference electrode. It is a complex system with solutions and conductive salts in practice. Long story...the important thing here is to cancel out the DC offset on the output cable of WE, without changing the output potential. How to do it? In the linked references, capacitive coupling is used, but that (tried 1 uF, 100 nF in series) just changed the potential of WE so much that it can damage the WE material in the long run. – Ryksa Jul 27 '21 at 14:05
  • Show us a schematic of what you're doing, or I don't think we'll be able to help all that much. – Hearth Jul 27 '21 at 14:31

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