Insights into electrochemical reactions by differential electrochemical mass spectrometry

• Different types of differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) cells.
• DEMS as in-situ technique for qualitative and quantitative analysis.
• Calibration of DEMS.
• Applicable aqueous and aprotic electrolytes for DEMS.

Differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) has become an indispensable tool for not only qualitative and quantitative detection of volatile products or intermediates of continuous Faradaic reactions, but also determination of the amount of adsorbates (sub-layer or monolayer) at different electrode surfaces by means of their desorption.In the present review, we give a short introduction about the history of the combination of electrochemistry and MS (EC-MS), followed by a summary of the several types of DEMS cell that are applicable for different purposes. We present in detail the calibration of DEMS systems and their application in aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes.