This course is intended for chemists, physicists, materials scientists, and engineers with an interest in applying electrochemical impedance techniques to study a broad variety of electrochemical processes. The attendee will develop a basic understanding of the technique, the sources of errors in impedance measurements, the manner in which experiments can be optimized to reduce these errors, and the use of graphical methods to interpret measurements in terms of meaningful physical properties.

Topics to be covered

• The motivation for using impedance spectroscopy advantages as compared to other transient techniques and the conditions under which its use is ideally suited;
• The basic concepts of how impedance is measured;
• Proper selection of experimental parameters;
• Graphical representation of impedance data, including methods to extract some physically meaningful parameters;
• Constant-phase elements;
• Application of electrical circuit analogues, and
• The meaning of the Kramers-Kronig relations.

The concepts will be illustrated by applications to different systems including corrosion, fuel cells, batteries, and transport through membranes such as skin. A list of suggested references will be provided.

This course is the first in a two course sequence offered at alternating ECS meetings by Professor Orazem. The second course in the series, “Advanced Impedance Spectroscopy,” introduces model development based on proposed reaction mechanisms, statistical analysis of impedance data, and regression analysis.