General Behavior of the I–E and ΔI–E Curves Obtained when a Multistep Potential is Applied to an Electroactive Monolayer

Simple, analytical and fully explicit expressions for the I–E curves of a charge transfer process of a diffusionless system corresponding to staircase voltammetry (SCV) are presented. We have analyzed the reversibility influence and our results indicate that SCV curves obtained at different sampled times tend to coincide as the rate constant decreases. Moreover, the current–potential SCV response converts to that corresponding to linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) when the pulse amplitude ΔE→0. We have also obtained the theoretical expression for the response of differential staircase voltammetry (DSCV) which presents two peaks and a cross potential at which ΔI=0.