Minimum grid digital simulation of chronoamperometry at a disk electrode

We seek to find the best ways to achieve a minimum grid with a given target accuracy in the computed current in the simulation of a diffusion limited chronoamperometric experiment at an ultramicrodisk electrode. We present some results for direct discretisation on the cylindrical geometry in (R, Z) space and in transformed coordinates (theta, Gamma), comparing four commonly used transformations. in all cases, the use of multi-point spatial derivative approximations are explored to find an optimum. Orthogonal collocation is studied in the two dimensions, and found less efficient than an evenly divided grid and smaller multi-point approximations. The eigenvalue-eigenvector method is studied and found to be relatively inefficient but was useful in providing some information on error waves seen with three of the four transformations used. These error waves are not due to an error propagation, a fact that became clear from the eigenvalue-eigenvector method, which reproduced the waves. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.