Results of an international round-robin exercise on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Abstract

To check the reproducibility of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, 19 laboratories have performed round-robin (RR) testing on EIS using various instruments and three different systems: a dummy cell, and two electrochemical systems of practical interest in the nuclear corrosion domain. The general conclusion drawn from the tests performed with the dummy cell is that the actual commercially available instruments for EIS measurements are suitable to produce good quality data. Differences in the EIS diagrams for the tested electrochemical systems were observed and discussed. This RR exercise, involving for the first time a large number of laboratories, shows that intrinsic scatter (large or small) is present in the impedance data and that reproducibility should be readily checked. While EIS is an excellent technique for investigating the kinetics of electrochemical systems, great care has to be taken on planning and conducting the experiments.Recommendations are given in this paper to help obtaining reliable EIS results.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

“…As EIS measurements are very sensitive to sample preparation and the conditions to which the electrode has been exposed, the use of data repositories as a means to enhance reproducibility has not been widely adapted. Although round-robin tests have been attempted, 122 these have shown scattered results, partly because the protocols used emphasized speed of measurement over data quality. To this end, impedance measurement and interpretation are considered to be specific to each individual application.…”