Virtual Research Information Management System (VRIMS) for Impedance Spectroscopy
 

The development of the Information and Communication Technologies opens a niche for faster and easier application and dissemination of new techniques. They need virtual components, since the “Internet Highway” is extremely convenient and efficient for “transportation” of knowledge, raw data and final results.
The applied management system for virtual research (VRIMS) in the field of Impedance answers the demands for a “smooth” transition from traditional to new scientific instruments.

VRIMS offers:

◘ Unified data exchange formats, which overcome the difficulties coming from the increasing number of companies, producing measuring instruments of different generations and versions;

◘ Data Exchange Formats (DEF), which ensure efficiency in data banking (storage, sorting, archiving etc.) and high speed virtual (Internet) exchange of automatically produced large sets of data files;

◘ “Glossary” for symbolic description of impedance models, needed for DEF operation. The following conventions are introduced:

Structures:

La (ladder); Vo (Voigt); Ma (Maxwell);

Elements:

R (resistance), C (capacitance), L (inductance), W (Warburg element), BW (bounded Warburg element), CPE (constant phase element), BCP (bounded constant phase element), T (time-constant);

Connections:

“ “(ASCII code 32) – in series; “/”(ASCII code 47) – in parallel;

Parameters:

dimensions in SI, “;”(ASCII code 59)– delimiter, “\” (ASCII code 92) – separator of multiple parameters elements ;

Abbreviations:

model – M, element – El, parameters – par.

◘ Large structured files (LSF) for DEF description of series of experimental impedance data
    

Examples on the convention for short description of the impedance models:
 

1. Example on Randles model:

  • equivalent circuit:
     

  • short description:

M = La: R1 C/R2 W;

par. 120; 1E-5; 333; 256

 

1. Example on modified Randles model:

  • equivalent circuit:
     

  • short description:

M = La: R1 C/R2 CPE;

par. 120; 1E-5; 333; 0.1\0.85

 

Example of LSF on real data of SOFC composite electrode (LSM/YSZ) – one page of the LSF:
 

          LSF                        for               Impedance Images

A part of LSF, presenting raw impedance data for

composite LSM/YSZ sample

Complex-plane impedance diagram
 
The presented LSF page has a memory of  3kB. The memory needed for representing this complex-plane impedance image  is 40 kB,  i.e. it is more than 10 times bigger. Very often the  data set  corresponding to one impedance experiment includes  hundreds of  images (complex-plane, Bode, DIA, NODIS etc.)