Impedance Measurements - Instruments, Sensors & Beyond: An introduction on how to choose, design and successfully use setups for electrical impedance spectroscopy

Dipl. phys. Martin Bulst

Lead application emgineer at Sciospec Scientific Instruments GmbH, Bennewitz, Germany

Accurately performing electrical impedance spectroscopy can be a challenging task. Choosing equipment, sensors and configurations for impedance measurements involves making many choices building on a deep understanding of specifications, parameters, and general options that even for experienced engineers and scientists can be tricky. Complex cross-dependencies of the components, practical limitations and all too often, unprecise not generally applicable assumptions are just a few of the obstacles to navigate. This tutorial discusses the most important aspects of measurement setups for electrical impedance spectroscopy and illustrates those on many real-life reference cases both from academic research and industrial application. Some of the topics covered include

Brief review of basics of impedance spectroscopy
A tour of common and some not so common impedance applications
Measuring impedance – overview of available instrument classes and their individual strengths
Deep dive into the most important specifications and what they practically mean
Multichannel options
Parasitic influences
Electrodes and sensors

All topics are illustrated with practical examples for better understanding of their implications. The goal is to deliver a good understanding of the most important things to watch out for when performing impedance measurements, give practical advice on choices and options and shed some light on a few things that all too often are dominated by over-simplifications or commonly found false assumptions.

Short biography:

Martin Bulst studied Physics at the University of Dresden and the University of Leipzig. Still being in university he joined Sciospec in 2010 as a founding member. He obtained a diploma in Physics in 2013 as part of a joint research project with Sciospec, University of Leipzig and the Leibniz Institute of Surface Modification (IOM) in Leipzig. His diploma thesis (2013) dealt with dynamic characterization of organic thin film structures using impedimetric measurement techniques on piezoelectric resonant sensors. Ever since he started working with Sciospec, Martin took a key role in application development. In his position as lead application engineer, he has been part of many product developments both internal and for industrial partners and coordinated several joint research projects.

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