The UK-based PerkinElmer, the manufacturer of Ortec products, has recently launched ZSimpWin: this is an equivalent circuit modelling program for use with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data. Data that is acquired by almost any acquisition software module can be imported into ZSimpWin and fitted to a variety of equivalent circuits to aid interpretation.
ZSimpWin uses a DownHill Simplex method of fitting that does not require any initial estimates for the parameters to be used in the equivalent circuit. The user simply selects a circuit description code (CDC) or a picture of the circuit that is to be used, and the program then begins the fitting procedure. The results are displayed as an overlay in one of five different plots: Nyquist, Bode Magnitude/ Phase, Boden Real/ Imaginary, Admittance and Capacitance.
The program can import any data, as long as the format includes the frequency, real and imaginary impedance data.
ZSimpWin can operate in different modes. Along with the iterative fitting mode, there is a simulation mode that allows the prediction of impedance spectra based on an equivalent circuit model. The most powerful mode for the program is batch processing. In this mode, the program will automatically fit a list of impedance data files to a series of equivalent circuit models, from two lists.
•In addition, PerkinElmer Instruments has announced that it is undertaking a strategic alliance with Protean Instruments. The agreement that has been made between the two companies grants worldwide distribution rights to the Ortec sales force for the complete line of Protean alpha/beta counting systems.
