Construction of Potentiostat for Educational Lab Use

Abstract

Analytical equipment for electrochemistry is extremely expensive and not always accessible, to not only higher education campuses, but especially secondary education. In order to make electrochemistry education more available at all levels, a homemade potentiostat has been developed to accomplish this. Literature shows that construction of a DStat potentiostat by undergraduates can be accomplished for under $100. The goal of this research is test if this procedure is achievable in an undergraduate setting. Individual parts for the circuit board were obtained and used for construction. The containment area for the board was 3D printed using CAD schematics. The Dstat was designed to be computer compatible via USB. The benefits of a project like this can be a deeper understanding of electrochemistry instrumentation and principles in basic electrochemistry. It can also broaden student knowledge in circuit boards, schematics, and other construction techniques. Once construction is completed, a sample experiment will be run comparing the professionally constructed equipment to the DStat. The sample experiment will determine the amount of acetaminophen in children’s medicine. A calibration curve will be constructed from known amounts of stock solution to compare against an unknown. The accuracy and precision from both procedures on each respective instrument can be compared.