The use of staircase ramps for cyclic voltammetry rather than true linear analog ramps can lead to significant misinterpretation of the signals recorded for the measurement of diffusional redox species with either reversible or irreversible electrode kinetics measured at electrodes modified with porous layers. Most notably a large perturbation of the expected peak current is apparent which can preclude the extraction of meaningful data, for example in respect of surface coverages or in the identification of electro-catalysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.