What solvents and salts are appropriate for an electrolyte solution?
The salt must become fully dissociated in the solvent in order to generate a conducting (i.e., ionic) solution. The electrolyte solution must also be able to dissolve the analyte, must be electrochemically inert over a wide potential range (i.e., no current due to electrolyte solution oxidation/reduction), and must be pure (e.g., the presence of water decreases the size of the potential range). It must also be chemically inert, so that it will not react with any reactive species generated in the experiment (e.g., acetonitrile is nucleophilic, so can react with electrogenerated cations). If the temperature is to be varied, the electrolyte solution must have an appropriate liquid range.
