09135 IUPAC Gold Book - DC polarography 10.1351/goldbook.09135 09135 current synonym: classical polarography 1 Linear scan voltammetry with slow scan rate in which a dropping mercury electrode is used as the working electrode. See figure.Electric current as a function of applied potential for DC polarography, showing oscillations of current as the dropping mercury electrode grows and is detached. This is the oldest variant of polarographic techniques, introduced by Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967). Usually the drop time is between 1 and \(\pu{5 s}\) and the pseudo-steady-state wave-shaped dependence on potential is called a polarogram. If the limiting current is controlled by diffusion, it is expressed by the Ilkovič equation. If the whole scan is performed on a single growing drop, the technique should be called single drop scan voltammetry. The term polarography in this context is discouraged. Ilkovič equation https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09139 dropping mercury electrode https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09103 voltammetry https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09148 PAC, 2020, 92, 641. 'Terminology of Electrochemical Methods of Analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2019)' on page 671 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2018-0109) https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09135/html https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09135/json https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09135/plain Citation: 'DC polarography' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.09135 The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) for individual terms. If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org . The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using. 2026-06-05T02:17:15+00:00