Editorial overview: Innovative methods in electrochemistry (2023): Electrochemical techniques: Smart approaches for timely problems

The potentiostat – the single tool that is unique to electrochemists, used for the automated, precise control of the electrochemical driving force for an electrode reaction, and enabling the extent of the interfacial charge transfer reaction to be monitored, was developed in Leicester, UK, 82 years ago, and published during the Second World War [1]. Just thirty years later, potentiostats bore “little resemblance to the original device” [2], owing to the advancement of solid-state operational amplifiers. This empowered electrochemists with a multitude of opportunities to innovate, capitalizing on their high-speed, low current specifications, together with single, rather than dual rail power requirements. This opened out the creation of electrochemical equipment capable of accessing the nanosecond time domain, forging miniaturized, integrated detection systems, and with potentiostatic circuitry of reduced energy footprints, the longevity of power sources when electrochemical equipment is translated from laboratory to the field.