Practical Electrochemical Cells

The chapter illustrates practical electrochemical cells. There are a variety of materials that can be used to make electrochemical cells. The most common ones include glass, Teflon, Kel-F, and Nylon. A Pyrex glass cell is usually used for most electrochemical reactions because it is easy to make and is generally a very low cost material. When a reaction involves media that are corrosive to glass, Teflon, Kel-F, Nylon, or other plastic material are to be used. The exact design of an electrochemical cell varies with the specific needs of an experiment. Two-electrode cells consist of a working electrode and a reference electrode. The reference electrode behaves as an ideal nonpolarized electrode with current passing between working and reference electrodes. Two-electrode cells can be used in polarographic studies with a dropping mercury electrode (DME) as the working electrode and a large mercury pool as the reference. These two electrodes are aligned concentrically. Three-electrode cells are the most commonly used setup in electrochemical studies, especially when the cell resistance is relatively high.