Future proof your potentiostat with Premium range, self-install internal boosters.

BioLogic Premium Potentiostat Boosters: A plug and play solution

BioLogic offers a wide range of internal boosters for its premium potentiostat/galvanostats. Each booster has been developed for specific applications, and they are especially relevant to the field of energy including:  Batteries, Fuel cells, Photovoltaic/Solar panels, and Electrolysis. Because of the wide variations among these  cell types, Premium boosters have different voltage and current ranges:

• ± 1 A / ± 48 V
• ± 2 A / ± 30 V
• ± 4 A / [-3; 14 V]
• ± 10 A / [-1; 6 V]

Future proof boosters – a modular self-install system that enables your potentiostat to adapt to your research needs.

BioLogic Premium boosters are connected directly inside the instrument chassis in the same way as potentiostat boards, resulting in a modular configuration. This modular approach allows you to change the studied cell without having to switch to another instrument.

Example: The plug-and-play approach makes it easy to swap boards if necessary to suit a new research need. For example, it is possible to have one channel board connected to a 1 A board to study coin cells, and then swap to a different 10 A booster board to work on a cylindrical cell when needed.

You can do this yourself at any time, not just when you bought your potentiostat (at the point of purchase). This means that your potentiostat can grow with your research needs. The process is quick and easy, it only takes around 10 minutes to add a new booster.

User case: battery application 

Let’s consider a user working with a VMP-300 chassis in his laboratory. She initially wants to perform experiments on a LIR2032 coin cell that has a capacity of around 30 mA h: a standard channel board can be used for such a purpose. However, sometime later, the same user wants to work with a 26650 cylindrical type battery that has a capacity of around 3 Ah. So, she inserts an additional 10 A booster board in the potentiostat/galvanostat to increase the current range up to 10 A.  But she still needs additional power to study a 30 Ah pouch cell so an additional three 10 A booster boards are added to the  VMP-300 chassis in parallel.

User case: electrolysis

A laboratory is working on the design of the active membrane of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC). At first, researchers are manufacturing membrane prototypes with an active area of 5 cm² to validate their efficiency. PEM can have a current density of up to 2 A/cm², meaning it is possible to use only one 10 A booster board for that purpose. When the design is validated at the proof-of-concept stage, a scale-up is performed to use them on 25 cm² fuel cells. Because of its geometry, this prototype can require up to 50 A. So, five 10 A booster boards are added in parallel.

Note: Only boosters of the same type (of the equivalent Amp rating) can be added in parallel. The different booster models cannot be mixed in parallel to increase both voltage and current. You cannot add a 2 A booster in parallel with a 10 A one. See below for more details.

Increase the scope of the instrument

To increase the maximum current available, you must add booster boards in parallel, with the same amp rating. Adding two booster boards in parallel multiplies the available current by a factor of 2, and so on.

This means you retain the ability to work with EIS with BioLogic Premium boosters and up to 15 boosters can be added in parallel giving you the opportunity to increase the capacity of your Premium potentiostat by up to 150 A.

Nothing else has to be done in terms of configuration as EC-Lab® will automatically and immediately detect the new configuration. It’s that easy.

More information: Working with EIS and High-Power applications

EIS frequency range specifications are especially important for energy applications but represent real technological challenges in terms of potentiostat design and development. BioLogic Premium internal booster boards have been developed to allow high frequency (up to Megahertz) measurements, which can lead to important research opportunities, especially for high-power systems.  Please see the following article: Ensuring the quality of Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy measurements on high-power systems