Electrode potential is defined as the potential of a cell consisting of the electrode in question acting as a cathode and the standard hydrogen electrode acting as an anode. Reduction always takes place at the cathode, and oxidation at the anode. According to the IUPAC convention, the term electrode potential is reserved exclusively to describe half-reactions written as reductions. The sign of the half-cell in question determines the sign of an electrode potential when it is coupled to a standard hydrogen electrode.
Electrode potential is defined by measuring the potential relative to a standard hydrogen half cell
The convention is to designate the cell so that the oxidised form is written first. For example
The e.m.f. of this cell is
By convention, at p(H2) = 101325 Pa and a(H+) = 1.00, the potential of the standard hydrogen electrode is 0.000 V at all temperatures. As a consequence of this definition, any potential developed in a galvanic cell consisting of a standard hydrogen electrode and some other electrode is attributed entirely to the other electrode
Electrodeposition is a process of depositing solid materials on an electrode surface using electrolysis. It is a somewhat loosely used term that is applied to many technologies. There are a number of metal deposition technologies. However, not only metals but also different compounds can be electrodeposited. This is used most often for the formation of oxides (such as manganese dioxide and lead dioxide) by anodic oxidation of dissolved salts.
Electrodialysis is a procedure of dialysis accelerated with an electric field. Dialyser is divided into three sections. Solution flows through the middle section, between two semipermeable membranes alternately to positive ions and negative ions. An electrodes are placed in the neighbouring sections. Under the influence of electric field, positive ions will travel towards the cathode (the negative electrode), and negative ions towards the anode (the positive electrode), whereby travelling of ions through the membrane is accelerated. In this way, the feed water is separated into two streams: one of pure water and the other of more concentrated solution.
Ion selective electrode (ISE) is an electrode or electrode assembly with a potential that is dependent on the concentration of an ionic species in the test solution and is used for electroanalysis. Ion-selective electrodes are often membrane type electrodes.
For general reaction of some redox system
dependence of electrode potential of redox system upon activity of oxidised and reduced form in solution is described in Nernst’s equation for electrode potential:
where E = to electrode potential of redox system
E° = standard electrode potential of redox system
R = universal gas constant
T = thermodymical temperature
F = Faraday’s constant
z = number of electrons exchanged in redox reaction
aO = activity of oxidised form
aR = activity of reduced form
n = stechiometrical coefficient of oxidised form
m = stechiometrical coefficient of reduced form
Sacrificial protection is the protection of iron or steel against corrosion by using a more reactive metal. Pieces of zinc or magnesium alloy are attached to pump bodies and pipes. The protected metal becomes the cathode and does not corrode. The anode corrodes, thereby providing the desired sacrificial protection. These items are known as sacrificial anodes and "attract" the corrosion to them rather than the iron/steel. The sacrificial anodes must be replaced periodically as they corrode.
The iron pipe will be connected to a more reactive metal such as magnesium through cooper wires, the magnesium will donate its electrons to the iron preventing it from rusting. Iron which is oxidises will immediately be reduced back to iron.
Standard electrode potential (E°) (standard reduction potentials) are defined by measuring the potential relative to a standard hydrogen electrode using 1 mol solution at 25 °C. The convention is to designate the cell so that the oxidised form is written first. For example,
The e.m.f. of this cell is -0.76 V and the standard electrode potential of the Zn2+|Zn half cell is -0.76 V.
Electroplating (also called electrodeposition) is the deposition of a metallic coating onto an object by putting a negative charge onto the object and immersing it into a solution which contains a salt of the metal to be deposited. The metallic ions of the salt carry a positive charge and are attracted to the part. When they reach it, the negatively charged part provides the electrons to reduce the positively charged ions to metallic form.
Typically, a brass or nickel object is coated with a layer of silver by making use of electrolysis of a silver solution, using the object to be coated as the cathode. The anode consist of pure silver, and the cathode is the object to be plated. The electrolyte is a mixure of silver nitrate with potassium cyanide. The reactions are:
The cyanide ensures a low concentration of silver ions, a condition for providing the best plating results.
Acid is a type of compound that contains hydrogen and dissociates in water to produce positive hydrogen ions. The reaction for an acid HA is commonly written:
In fact, the hydrogen ion (the proton) is solvated, and the complete reaction is:
This definition of acids comes from the Arrhenius theory. Such acids tend to be corrosive substances with a sharp taste, which turn litmus red and produce colour changes with other indicators. They are referred to as protonic acids and are classified into strong acids, which are almost completely dissociated in water, (e.g. sulphuric acid and hydrochloric acid), and weak acids, which are only partially dissociated (e.g. acetic acid and hydrogen sulphide). The strength of an acid depends on the extent to which it dissociates, and is measured by its dissociation constant.
In the Lowry-Brønsted theory of acids and bases (1923), the definition was extended to one in which an acid is a proton donor (a Brønsted acid), and a base is a proton acceptor (a Brønsted base). An important feature of the Lowry-Brønsted concept is that when an acid gives up a proton, a conjugate base is formed that is capable of accepting a proton.
Similarly, every base produces its conjugate acid as a result of accepting a proton.
For example, acetate ion is the conjugate base of acetic acid, and ammonium ion is the conjugate acid of ammonia.
As the acid of a conjugate acid/base pair becomes weaker, its conjugate base becomes stronger and vice versa.
A further extension of the idea of acids and bases was made in the Lewis theory. In this, a G. N. Lewis acid is a compound or atom that can accept a pair of electrons and a Lewis base is one that can donate an electron pair. This definition encompasses "traditional" acid-base reactions, but it also includes reactions that do not involve ions, e.g.
in which NH3 is the base (donor) and BCl3 the acid (acceptor).
Generalic, Eni. "Srebro%2Fsrebrov klorid elektroda." Croatian-English Chemistry Dictionary & Glossary. 29 June 2022. KTF-Split. {Date of access}. <https://glossary.periodni.com>.
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