I performed cyclic voltammetry to measure the reduction potential of two proteins. One is the wild type and the other is a mutant. In the voltammograms, I found anodic and cathodic peaks. And the mutant had more positive reduction potential. However, the heights of peaks for WT and mutant were different. The mutant had smaller peaks than WT.
How can I understand this result?
Eunjeong Kim in cyclic voltammetry, the peak current for a reversible system is governed by the Randles-Sevcik equation:
ip = (2.69x10^5) n^(3/2) A D^(1/2) C v^(1/2)
where n is the number of electrons transferred, A is the electrode area, D is the diffusion coefficient and v is the scan rate.
Therefore, you must analyze if these parameters are being constant when you perform your experiment with the two proteins, because if any of these parameters are changing then the peak current will change.
Now, if all things being equal the peak current is higher for one protein than for the other, this indicates that the charge transfer process is more kinetically favored in one case than in the other. Because the current is the amount of charge that crosses the electrode per unit time (i = Q/t), therefore, a higher current tells us that there is more charge transferred per unit time, i.e., the process is faster.
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