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Soft Potato

An open-source electrochemical simulation and analysis toolkit in Python.

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Chip — Soft Potato Mascot

  • Analytical Electrochemistry Analytical Electrochemistry

    A library of commonly used electrochemical equations such as Cottrell, Nernst, Levich, Randles-Sevick, Butler-Volmer, SECM, etc.

    Analytical Module

  • Numerical PDE Solvers Numerical PDE Solvers

    1D multi-species reaction-diffusion solvers including stiff Method of Lines ODE integration (scipy_ivp Radau/BDF), Crank–Nicolson, and implicit/explicit finite-difference engines.

    Solver Module

  • Parameter Fitting & Benchmarking Parameter Fitting & Benchmarking

    Extract diffusion coefficients (\(D\)), rate constants (\(k^0\)), transfer coefficients (\(\alpha\)), and SECM parameters (\(R_g\), \(d_{\text{offset}}\)) with full confidence intervals, or validate numerical solvers against exact analytical solutions.

    Fitting & Benchmarks

  • Tutorials Tutorials: Electrochemistry, Python & Linux

    Interactive Jupyter notebooks for electrochemical simulations alongside practical tutorials on basic programming in Python.

    Browse Tutorials

Installation

Install the latest stable release of Soft Potato from PyPI using pip:

pip install softpotato

Don't have Python? See Installing Python.

Quick Example

Simulate or evaluate analytical electrochemistry in just a few lines of Python:

import numpy as np
import softpotato as sp

# 1. Analytical Cottrell current transient at a planar electrode
t = np.linspace(0.01, 10.0, 200)
current = sp.analytical.cottrell(
    t=t,
    n=1,
    D=1e-9,  # m^2 / s
    c_bulk=1.0,  # mol / m^3 (1 mM)
    A=1e-4,  # m^2 (1 cm^2)
)

# 2. Fit experimental chronoamperometric data to recover diffusivity D
fit = sp.analytical.fit_cottrell(t=t, current=current, n=1, A=1e-4, c_bulk=1.0)
print(f"Extracted D = {fit.D:.3e} m^2/s (R^2 = {fit.r_squared:.5f})")

Chip's Tip: Always Use SI Units!

Soft Potato functions use SI base units throughout: lengths in meters (\(\text{m}\)), areas in \(\text{m}^2\), diffusion coefficients in \(\text{m}^2\cdot\text{s}^{-1}\), and concentrations in \(\text{mol}\cdot\text{m}^{-3}\) (conveniently, \(1\text{ mM} = 1\text{ mol}\cdot\text{m}^{-3}\)!).

Citation

If you use Soft Potato in your research or project, please cite the ChemRxiv preprint:

Rodríguez, O. (2022). Soft Potato: an open source electrochemical simulator and toolkit. ChemRxiv. doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-4bs3w

@article{rodriguez2022softpotato,
  author    = {Rodr{\'i}guez, Oliver},
  title     = {Soft Potato: an open source electrochemical simulator and toolkit},
  journal   = {ChemRxiv},
  year      = {2022},
  doi       = {10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-4bs3w},
  url       = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-4bs3w}
}

Rodríguez, O. (2022). Soft Potato: an open source electrochemical simulator and toolkit. ChemRxiv. https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv-2022-4bs3w

Support Soft Potato

If you find Soft Potato useful in your research or teaching, consider supporting its ongoing open-source development:

   or on Buy Me a Coffee.