Hard Potato: A Python Library to Control Commercial Potentiostats and to Automate Electrochemical Experiments

Here, we develop and show the use of an open-source Python
library
to control commercial potentiostats. It standardizes the commands
for different potentiostat models, opening the possibility to perform
automated experiments independently of the instrument used. At the
time of this writing, we have included potentiostats from CH Instruments
(models 1205B, 1242B, 601E, and 760E) and PalmSens (model Emstat Pico),
although the open-source nature of the library allows for more to
be included in the future. To showcase the general workflow and implementation
of a real experiment, we have automated the Randles–Ševčı́k methodology to determine
the diffusion coefficient of a redox-active species in solution using
cyclic voltammetry. This was accomplished by writing a Python script
that includes data acquisition, data analysis, and simulation. The
total run time was 1 min and 40 s, well below the time it would take
even an experienced electrochemist to apply the methodology in a traditional
manner. Our library has potential applications that expand beyond
the automation of simple repetitive tasks; for example, it can interface
with peripheral hardware and well-established third-party Python libraries
as part of a more complex and intelligent setup that relies on laboratory
automation, advanced optimization, and machine learning.