Electrochemistry is a branch of chemistry dealing with chemical reactions that involve electrical currents and potentials. Spectroscopy studies the interaction between matter and electromagnetic radiation.
Spectroelectrochemistry allows these two different types of measurements to be performed at the same time. It combines electrochemical and spectroscopic monitoring, and also allows investigation and sometimes identification of electroactive species or products of redox reactions. Spectroscopic information is obtained from in-situ electrogenerated species. This type of measurement provides a lot of information of the species under study. However, due to the set-up the complexity of the cells and data handling, it is not a widespread technique. In the market, there are just a few commercial cells with low versatility, and instruments are not fully-integrated.
The SPELEC instrument from Metrohm DropSens uniquely combines a biopotentiostat/galvanostat with UV-VIS lamps and spectrometer, allowing a perfect synchronisation of electrochemical and optical analysis. Everything is run by one software allowing simple control of the spectroelectrochemical experiment.
