Electrochemistry has been used extensively in the past three decades to determine the chemical composition of environmental samples from the water column, sediments, soils, biofilms, and microbial mats. These electrochemical methods have many advantages over other analytical techniques for environmental research: (1) the techniques are non-destructive, which minimize sample perturbation, (2) the data can be collected rapidly and reproducibly, (3) the detection limits have appropriate sensitivity for most environmental applications, (4) direct information on the chemical speciation can be obtained, (5) the instrumentation can be very compact, which is attractive for field deployment, and (6) the electrochemical sensors can be miniaturized, allowing for non-invasive in-situ sampling.
