Principles of Polarography

Book excerpt: Principles of Polarography is a revised and extended version of an original Czech edition that appeared in 1962 at the Publishing House of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague. Based on a one-term course of lectures for third-year students of chemistry at the Charles University it brings the fundamental results of more than forty years' research in the field of polarography. The book contains 22 chapters and opens with a discussion of the principles of polarography. This is followed by separate chapters on polarizable electrodes used in polarography; charging current; influence of the resistance of the electrolyte on polarographic curves; migration and diffusion-controlled currents; and equation of a reversible polarographic wave. Subsequent chapters deal with reversible processes controlled by diffusion of complex ions; reversible reduction of organic substances; deposition of mercury ions; irreversible electrode processes; applications of limiting currents; polarographic curves for the formation of semiquinones and dimers; and catalytic hydrogen currents.