Potentiostat–Galvanostat Platform for Low- and High-Current Electrochemical Measurements

The need for electrochemical measurement systems is increasing due to the growing applications that require such measurements. Among these applications, battery monitoring is crucial to ensure efficient and safe operation since batteries have become an integral part of daily life. There are several tests that are performed on batteries such electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry, and aging experiments. Besides batteries, other applications make use of electrochemical measurements, including solar panels, material properties characterization, and biomedical analysis. In this context, there is no single low-cost solution able to perform both low-current and high-current tests using arbitrary signals. This article proposes a custom-developed low-cost hardware platform which is capable of addressing this issue. The platform implements a reconfigurable and programmable potentiostat/galvanostat capable of a current range of ±5 A and a voltage range of ±10 V. The results of an experimental validation of the proposed platform are presented. Specifically, low-current EIS measurements were performed on a lithium-ion battery and a solar panel. Furthermore, the high current capability of the proposed platform was validated by performing several charging and discharging cycles on a lithium-polymer battery. The results confirm the feasibility of a single hardware platform capable of performing commonly required measurement tasks for electrochemical applications.