Best Practices
A curated index of best-practice, protocol, and tutorial literature for interfacial electrochemistry and electrocatalysis, i.e., recommendations on how electrochemical measurements should be performed, reported, and reproduced. Recommendations on data, metadata, and reproducibility that are not specific to electrochemistry are collected separately in cross-domain references.
The collection is non-exhaustive. Do you know a work that should be listed here? See suggest a link.
Measurement practice
Basic electrochemistry and measurement practice
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Applicability of Platinum as a Counter-Electrode Material in Electrocatalysis Research | 2022 | Jerkiewicz |
| Potentially Confusing: Potentials in Electrochemistry | 2021 | Boettcher et al. |
| Reliable Counter Electrodes for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media | 2020 | Lee & Bang |
| A Practical Beginner’s Guide to Cyclic Voltammetry | 2018 | Elgrishi et al. |
| Voltammetric techniques of analysis: the essentials | 2015 | Scholz |
Uncompensated resistance and iR correction
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| iR Compensation for Electrocatalysis Studies: Considerations and Recommendations | 2023 | Zheng |
| Navigating iR Compensation: Practical Considerations for Accurate Study of Oxygen Evolution Catalytic Electrodes | 2023 | Son et al. |
| Why Careful iR Compensation and Reporting of Electrode Potentials Are Critical for the CO₂ Reduction Reaction | 2022 | Heenan et al. |
Reference electrodes, potential scales and internal standards
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Potentially Confusing: Potentials in Electrochemistry | 2021 | Boettcher et al. |
| Standard and Reversible Hydrogen Electrodes: Theory, Design, Operation, and Applications | 2020 | Jerkiewicz |
| Voltammetric and spectroscopic study of ferrocene and hexacyanoferrate and the suitability of their redox couples as internal standards in ionic liquids | 2017 | Frenzel et al. |
| Conversion constants for redox potentials measured versus different reference electrodes in acetonitrile solutions at 25 °C | 2000 | Pavlishchuk & Addison |
| The Decamethylferrocenium/Decamethylferrocene Redox Couple: A Superior Redox Standard to the Ferrocenium/Ferrocene Redox Couple for Studying Solvent Effects on the Thermodynamics of Electron Transfer | 1999 | Noviandri et al. |
| Chemical Redox Agents for Organometallic Chemistry | 1996 | Connelly & Geiger |
| Recommendations on reporting electrode potentials in nonaqueous solvents (Recommendations 1983) | 1984 | Gritzner & Kůta |
| Ferrocene as an Internal Standard for Electrochemical Measurements | 1980 | Gagné et al. |
Electrolyte preparation and purity
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Reproducibility of Electrochemical Measurements with Ionic Liquids: Role of Supplied Batches, Water and Adventitious Oxygen | 2025 | Heubach et al. |
| Getting the Basics Right: Preparing Alkaline Electrolytes for Electrochemical Applications | 2023 | Márquez et al. |
| A Guide to Evaluate Electrolyte Purity for CO₂ Reduction Studies | 2023 | Cui et al. |
| Identification, Quantification, and Elimination of NOₓ and NH₃ Impurities for Aqueous and Li-Mediated Nitrogen Reduction Experiments | 2023 | Izelaar et al. |
| The pH of Aqueous NaOH/KOH Solutions: A Critical and Non-trivial Parameter for Electrocatalysis | 2021 | Hausmann et al. |
| Effect of Dissolved Glassware on the Structure-Sensitive Part of the Cu(111) Voltammogram in KOH | 2019 | Tiwari et al. |
| Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction: Identification and Elimination of Contamination in Electrolyte | 2019 | Li et al. |
Operando and in situ measurements
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Rigor and Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis: Best Practices for Operando Studies | 2026 | Tackett et al. |
| Best Practices for In-Situ and Operando Techniques within Electrocatalytic Systems | 2025 | Prajapati et al. |
| Potential Pitfalls in the Operando XAS Study of Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts | 2022 | Diklić et al. |
Variable-temperature electrochemistry
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Best Practices for Variable-Temperature Electrochemistry Experiments and Data Reporting | 2025 | De et al. |
Electrodes and surfaces
Surface area determination
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| The Hidden Complexities of Electrochemically Active Surface Area Measurements | 2026 | Mygind et al. |
| Rigor & Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis: Approaches and Considerations for Surface Area Normalization | 2026 | Bates et al. |
| Approaches for measuring the surface areas of metal oxide electrocatalysts for determining their intrinsic electrocatalytic activity | 2019 | Wei et al. |
| Do the Evaluation Parameters Reflect Intrinsic Activity of Electrocatalysts in Electrochemical Water Splitting? | 2019 | Anantharaj & Kundu |
| Electrochemical Methods of Real Surface Area Determination of Noble Metal Electrodes – an Overview | 2016 | Łukaszewski et al. |
| Real surface area measurements in electrochemistry | 1991 | Trasatti & Petrii |
Well-defined surfaces and single-crystal electrochemistry
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Who Will Keep the Vacuum Pumping? The Need to Sustain UHV-Based Surface Science in Electrocatalysis | 2026 | Kibsgaard |
| Single Crystal Electrochemistry as an In Situ Analytical Characterization Tool | 2020 | Climent & Feliu |
| Effect of Dissolved Glassware on the Structure-Sensitive Part of the Cu(111) Voltammogram in KOH | 2019 | Tiwari et al. |
| Thirty years of platinum single crystal electrochemistry | 2011 | Climent & Feliu |
| Cyclic voltammetry at gold single-crystal surfaces. Part 1. Behaviour at low-index faces | 1996 | Hamelin |
Reactions and devices
Water electrolysis and HER/OER/ORR electrocatalysis
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| A Guide to Electrocatalyst Stability Using Lab-Scale Alkaline Water Electrolyzers | 2024 | Marquez et al. |
| Navigating iR Compensation: Practical Considerations for Accurate Study of Oxygen Evolution Catalytic Electrodes | 2023 | Son et al. |
| Unveiling the Pitfalls of Comparing Oxygen Reduction Reaction Kinetic Data for Pd-Based Electrocatalysts without the Experimental Conditions of the Current–Potential Curves | 2022 | Wang et al. |
| Potential Pitfalls in the Operando XAS Study of Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysts | 2022 | Diklić et al. |
| Comparing the Intrinsic HER Activity of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides: Pitfalls and Suggestions | 2021 | Wu & Hofmann |
| The pH of Aqueous NaOH/KOH Solutions: A Critical and Non-trivial Parameter for Electrocatalysis | 2021 | Hausmann et al. |
| The Pitfalls of Using Potentiodynamic Polarization Curves for Tafel Analysis in Electrocatalytic Water Splitting | 2021 | Anantharaj et al. |
| Best Practices in Using Foam-Type Electrodes for Electrocatalytic Performance Benchmark | 2020 | Zheng et al. |
| Reliable Counter Electrodes for the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction in Acidic Media | 2020 | Lee & Bang |
| Good practice guide for papers on fuel cells and electrolysis cells for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Chatenet et al. |
| How to Reliably Report the Overpotential of an Electrocatalyst | 2020 | Niu et al. |
| Do the Evaluation Parameters Reflect Intrinsic Activity of Electrocatalysts in Electrochemical Water Splitting? | 2019 | Anantharaj & Kundu |
| Recommended Practices and Benchmark Activity for Hydrogen and Oxygen Electrocatalysis in Water Splitting and Fuel Cells | 2019 | Wei et al. |
| Benchmarking Hydrogen Evolving Reaction and Oxygen Evolving Reaction Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices | 2015 | McCrory et al. |
| Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction | 2013 | McCrory et al. |
Carbon dioxide reduction
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| A Guideline to Determine Faradaic Efficiency in Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction | 2024 | Dutta et al. |
| A Guide to Evaluate Electrolyte Purity for CO₂ Reduction Studies | 2023 | Cui et al. |
| An Advanced Guide to Assembly and Operation of CO₂ Electrolyzers | 2023 | Iglesias van Montfort et al. |
| Best practices for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide | 2023 | Seger et al. |
| How membrane characteristics influence the performance of CO₂ and CO electrolysis | 2022 | Garg et al. |
| Why Careful iR Compensation and Reporting of Electrode Potentials Are Critical for the CO₂ Reduction Reaction | 2022 | Heenan et al. |
| Voltage Matters When Reducing CO₂ in an Electrochemical Flow Cell | 2020 | Salvatore & Berlinguette |
| Addressing the Interfacial Properties for CO Electroreduction on Cu with Cyclic Voltammetry | 2020 | Sebastián-Pascual & Escudero-Escribano |
| Towards accelerated durability testing protocols for CO₂ electrolysis | 2020 | Nwabara et al. |
| Introductory Guide to Assembling and Operating Gas Diffusion Electrodes for Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction | 2019 | Liu et al. |
| Standards and Protocols for Data Acquisition and Reporting for Studies of the Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide | 2018 | Clark et al. |
Nitrogen reduction
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Identification, Quantification, and Elimination of NOₓ and NH₃ Impurities for Aqueous and Li-Mediated Nitrogen Reduction Experiments | 2023 | Izelaar et al. |
| The Difficulty of Proving Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis | 2019 | Kibsgaard et al. |
| Electrochemical Nitrogen Reduction: Identification and Elimination of Contamination in Electrolyte | 2019 | Li et al. |
Organic electrosynthesis
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| A guide to troubleshooting metal sacrificial anodes for organic electrosynthesis | 2024 | Ware et al. |
| Understanding the effects of forced and bubble-induced convection in transport-limited organic electrosynthesis | 2024 | Bloomquist et al. |
| Advanced Electroanalysis for Electrosynthesis | 2023 | Brachi et al. |
| Reproducibility in Electroorganic Synthesis—Myths and Misunderstandings | 2021 | Beil et al. |
| A Survival Guide for the “Electro-curious” | 2020 | Kingston et al. |
| The Fundamentals Behind the Use of Flow Reactors in Electrochemistry | 2019 | Noël et al. |
| Flow Electrolysis Cells for the Synthetic Organic Chemistry Laboratory | 2018 | Pletcher et al. |
Batteries, supercapacitors and fuel cells
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Workflows and principles for collaboration and communication in battery research | 2026 | Kuhn et al. |
| The Importance of Basic Electrochemistry Terminology in the Era of Interdisciplinary Battery Research | 2024 | Nature Nanotechnology |
| Navigating the minefield of battery literature | 2022 | Xu |
| An Experimental Checklist for Reporting Battery Performances | 2021 | Sun |
| A Minimal Information Set to Enable Verifiable Theoretical Battery Research | 2021 | Mistry et al. |
| Good practice guide for papers on batteries for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Li et al. |
| Good practice guide for papers on supercapacitors and related hybrid capacitors for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Arbizzani et al. |
| Good practice guide for papers on fuel cells and electrolysis cells for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Chatenet et al. |
| Methods and Protocols for Reliable Electrochemical Testing in Post-Li Batteries (Na, K, Mg, and Ca) | 2019 | Dugas et al. |
| Recommended Practices and Benchmark Activity for Hydrogen and Oxygen Electrocatalysis in Water Splitting and Fuel Cells | 2019 | Wei et al. |
Reporting and rigour
Benchmarking and activity metrics
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Unveiling the Pitfalls of Comparing Oxygen Reduction Reaction Kinetic Data for Pd-Based Electrocatalysts without the Experimental Conditions of the Current–Potential Curves | 2022 | Wang et al. |
| The Pitfalls of Using Potentiodynamic Polarization Curves for Tafel Analysis in Electrocatalytic Water Splitting | 2021 | Anantharaj et al. |
| Comparing the Intrinsic HER Activity of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides: Pitfalls and Suggestions | 2021 | Wu & Hofmann |
| How to Reliably Report the Overpotential of an Electrocatalyst | 2020 | Niu et al. |
| Best Practices in Using Foam-Type Electrodes for Electrocatalytic Performance Benchmark | 2020 | Zheng et al. |
| Do the Evaluation Parameters Reflect Intrinsic Activity of Electrocatalysts in Electrochemical Water Splitting? | 2019 | Anantharaj & Kundu |
| Recommended Practices and Benchmark Activity for Hydrogen and Oxygen Electrocatalysis in Water Splitting and Fuel Cells | 2019 | Wei et al. |
| Best Practices for Reporting Electrocatalytic Performance of Nanomaterials | 2018 | Voiry et al. |
| Best Practices in Pursuit of Topics in Heterogeneous Electrocatalysis | 2017 | Chen et al. |
| Toward Benchmarking in Catalysis Science: Best Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities | 2016 | Bligaard et al. |
| Benchmarking Hydrogen Evolving Reaction and Oxygen Evolving Reaction Electrocatalysts for Solar Water Splitting Devices | 2015 | McCrory et al. |
| Benchmarking Heterogeneous Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Evolution Reaction | 2013 | McCrory et al. |
Reproducibility, uncertainty and rigour
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Reporting for Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis | 2026 | Clark & Escudero-Escribano |
| Experimental choices shape electrocatalytic data: reproducibility and validity for researchers new to electrocatalysis | 2026 | Jung et al. |
| Rigor & Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis: Integrating Theory and Experiment | 2026 | Árnadóttir et al. |
| Rigor and Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis: Best Practices for Operando Studies | 2026 | Tackett et al. |
| Rigor & Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis: Approaches and Considerations for Surface Area Normalization | 2026 | Bates et al. |
| Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis (NiFe OER interlaboratory study) | 2025 | Hausmann et al. |
| Reproducibility of Electrochemical Measurements with Ionic Liquids: Role of Supplied Batches, Water and Adventitious Oxygen | 2025 | Heubach et al. |
| Error, reproducibility and uncertainty in experiments for electrochemical energy technologies | 2022 | Smith & Dickinson |
| To Err is Human; To Reproduce Takes Time | 2022 | Scott et al. |
| Why Seeing Is Not Always Believing: Common Pitfalls in Photocatalysis and Electrocatalysis | 2021 | Christopher et al. |
| Reproducibility in Electroorganic Synthesis—Myths and Misunderstandings | 2021 | Beil et al. |
| A Minimal Information Set to Enable Verifiable Theoretical Battery Research | 2021 | Mistry et al. |
Terminology, nomenclature and IUPAC recommendations
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| The Importance of Basic Electrochemistry Terminology in the Era of Interdisciplinary Battery Research | 2024 | Nature Nanotechnology |
| Terminology of electrochemical methods of analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2019) | 2020 | Pingarrón et al. |
| Nomenclature, symbols and definitions in electrochemical engineering (IUPAC Recommendations 1993) | 1993 | Gritzner & Kreysa |
| Recommendations on reporting electrode potentials in nonaqueous solvents (Recommendations 1983) | 1984 | Gritzner & Kůta |
| Electrode Reaction Orders, Transfer Coefficients and Rate Constants. Amplification of Definitions and Recommendations for Publication of Parameters (Recommendations 1979) | 1980 | Parsons |
| Manual of Symbols and Terminology for Physicochemical Quantities and Units. Appendix III: Electrochemical Nomenclature (Recommendations approved 1973) | 1974 | Parsons |
Journal, publisher and vendor guidelines
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Revised the Instructions for Authors for Electrochemistry – From the Editorial Office of Electrochemistry | 2025 | Editorial Office of Electrochemistry |
| Tutorials in Electrochemistry: Electrocatalysis (collection editorial, the source of sections 1-5) | 2024 | Kamat |
| An Essential Guide to the Best Laboratory Practices for Electrochemistry | 2024 | Bio-Logic Science Instruments |
| New Guidelines for Presenting Electrochemical Data in All ACS Journals | 2023 | Minteer et al. |
| Good practice guide for papers on batteries for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Li et al. |
| Good practice guide for papers on supercapacitors and related hybrid capacitors for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Arbizzani et al. |
| Good practice guide for papers on fuel cells and electrolysis cells for the Journal of Power Sources | 2020 | Chatenet et al. |
Computational and theoretical modelling
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Atomistic Modeling for Electrochemical Reactions: From the State of the Art to a Strategic Roadmap for Future Research within EU-CONCERT | 2026 | Doblhoff-Dier et al. |
| Methodological Frameworks for Computational Electrocatalysis: From Theory to Practice | 2026 | Re Fiorentin et al. |
| Rigor & Reproducibility in Electrocatalysis: Integrating Theory and Experiment | 2026 | Árnadóttir et al. |
| A Minimal Information Set to Enable Verifiable Theoretical Battery Research | 2021 | Mistry et al. |
Education and tutorials
| Title | Year | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Experimental choices shape electrocatalytic data: reproducibility and validity for researchers new to electrocatalysis | 2026 | Jung et al. |
| Tutorials in Electrochemistry: Electrocatalysis (collection editorial, the source of sections 1-5) | 2024 | Kamat |
| An Essential Guide to the Best Laboratory Practices for Electrochemistry | 2024 | Bio-Logic Science Instruments |
| Single Crystal Electrochemistry as an In Situ Analytical Characterization Tool | 2020 | Climent & Feliu |
| A Survival Guide for the “Electro-curious” | 2020 | Kingston et al. |
| A Practical Beginner’s Guide to Cyclic Voltammetry | 2018 | Elgrishi et al. |
| Voltammetric techniques of analysis: the essentials | 2015 | Scholz |
| Thirty years of platinum single crystal electrochemistry | 2011 | Climent & Feliu |