1 A novel gel polymer electrolyte cell for in-situ application of corrosion electrochemical techniques E. Cano*, A. Crespo, D. Lafuente, B. Ramirez Barat Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalúrgicas (CENIM), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). Avda. Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid, Spain. *Corresponding autor: ecano@cenim.csic.es Phone: +34 5538900 Abstract Electrochemical techniques, such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), are widely used for corrosion studies. However, their applicability to studies on metallic cultural heritage has been less spread due to the usual need of performing measurements in-situ on sculptures or monuments. This paper presents the development of a gel polymer electrolyte (G-PE) cell to overcome the difficulties associated with the use of liquid electrolytes for in-situ measurements. 5% agar has been employed to gelify a 0.3 M NaCl electrolyte. Laboratory comparison has demonstrated that gelification with agar does not affect EIS results in a significant way. A robust and convenient electrochemical cell has been fabricated using this G- PE and has been successfully applied to obtain EIS data from a bronze sculpture in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid (Spain). Keywords: EIS, cultural heritage, gel polymer electrolyte, corrosion NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Electrochemistry Communications. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Electrochem. Comm. Doi: 10.1016/j.elecom.2014.01.016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2014.01.016