Liquid metal electrode

A major advantage of the DME is that each drop has a smooth and uncontaminated surface free from any adsorbed analyte or impurity.

This advantage comes at the cost of a working electrode with a constantly changing surface area.

In some experiments the traces are continually sampled, showing all the current deviation resulting from the drop growth.

The DME's periodic expansion into the solution and hemispherical shape also affects the way the analyte diffuses to the electrode surface.

[7] Experiments run with dropping mercury electrodes are referred to as forms of polarography.

If the experiments are performed at an electrode with a constant surface (like the HMDE) it is referred as voltammetry.