Capacitive and Solution Resistance Effects on Voltammetric Responses of a Thin Redox Layer Attached to Disk Microelectrodes

A rigorous theoretical analysis of cyclic voltammetry of surface-attached redox layers at disk microelectrodes is presented when effects enforced by the solution resistance and the electrode capacitance cannot be neglected. This allows a precise quantitative evaluation of the influence of each of the current components (faradaic, resistive, and capacitive) on the voltammetric shapes through numerical simulation. It is shown that the consideration of the solution resistance and capacitance effects is crucial for the correct treatment of experimental voltammograms at high-voltage scan rates when the resistance is not compensated.