Electroanalytical and Other Methods (MCH-004)

This course is introduced to give you a reasonable understanding in the major techniques of electroanalytical methods, thermal methods and radioanalytical methods. In this course we will cover the basic theory, the practical aspects and scope of all individual techniques of these three categories. In electroanalytical techniques we use one or more electrical properties under controlled condition to obtain qualitative and quantitative information of a sample. These techniques can be divided into several classes depending on which aspects of the electrochemical cell are controlled and which are measured. You may be familiar with some of the electroanalytical techniques like potentiometry. In this course along with these techniques we will also introduce few new electroanalytical techniques like coulometry and voltametry. All these electroanalytical techniques will be discussed in Blocks 1, 2 and 3. Similar to electrical properties, in thermal methods we study changes in the physical and chemical properties of a sample while it is undergoing heating process. We are also focusing on three important thermal techniques, that is, thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). There techniques are discussed in Block 4. In last block of this course, i.e. Block 5, you will study radioanalytical methods which are unique with regard to theoretical principles involved, handling of radioisotopes, and instrumentation.