Positioning the Reference Electrode

The reference electrode compartment is separated from the rest of the solution by a porous plug and the tip of the capillary. Since the current to the reference electrode is essentially zero, the potential anywhere inside the capillary (and up to the reference electrode compartment) is the same as the potential at its outer rim, a distance d away from the working electrode. 

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In addition, the iR drop can be minimized by positioning the reference electrode close to the working electrode. 

As a rule, the iR potential drop is measured and a suitable correction is made, either directly during measurement or in the analysis of the data. When the geometry of the cell is simple, it is possible to calculate this quantity. Such calculations are important because they can yield clear criteria for the design of cells and for positioning the reference electrode with respect to the working electrode, as will be seen below. 

For a given electrolyte resistivity, and relative to positioning the reference-electrode or salt-bridge tip, how can the magnitude of the IR correction be reduced ... 

Positioning the reference electrode (or Luggin probe [34]) close to the working electrode further helps to minimise the IR drop between the reference and working... 

It is necessary to position the reference electrode behind the counter electrode in few cases. This seems to be disadvantageous but is acceptable in special microcells where the electrolyte resistance is extremely small, due to the reduced distance between counter and working electrode (e.g., some pm, [32]). 

From the description above it becomes visible that /i -drop effects in case of an RRDE are indeed of a complex nature, and even issues like positioning the reference electrode may become a eompelling faetor to the success of the experiments. This can be easily proven for example, if we carry out the same measurements presented in Figure 7 but we place the reference electrode to a not so well-chosen position, the presence of crosstalk immediately becomes more obvious (results are shown in Figure 9 here the Luggin capillary was placed too close to the disk electrode). 

Fig. V-17. Schematic diagram for the apparatus for measurement of Vobs (see text). The vibrating reference electrode is positioned close to the surface of a AgN03 solution in which there is an Ag electrode, which, in turn, is in electrical contact with the reference electrode. (From Ref. 196.)...

The potential dependence of the velocity of an electrochemical phase boundary reaction is represented by a current-potential curve I(U). It is convenient to relate such curves to the geometric electrode surface area S, i.e., to present them as current-density-potential curves J(U). The determination of such curves is represented schematically in Fig. 2-3. A current is conducted to the counterelectrode Ej in the electrolyte by means of an external circuit (voltage source Uq, ammeter, resistances R and R") and via the electrode E, to be measured, back to the external circuit. In the diagram, the current indicated (0) is positive. The potential of E, is measured with a high-resistance voltmeter as the voltage difference of electrodes El and E2. To accomplish this, the reference electrode, E2, must be equipped with a Haber-Luggin capillary whose probe end must be brought as close as possible to... 

The principle of the measurement is described with the help of Fig. 2-7 [50]. Potential measurement is not appropriate in pipelines due to defective connections or too distant connections and low accuracy. Measurements of potential difference are more effective. Figure 3-24 contains information on the details in the neighborhood of a local anode the positions of the cathodes and reference electrodes (Fig. 3-24a), a schematic representation of the potential variation (Fig. 3-24b), and the derived values (Fig. 3-24c). Figure 2-8 should be referred to in case of possible difficulties in interpreting the potential distribution and sign. The electrical potentials of the pipeline and the reference electrodes are designated by... 

According to Fig. 3-24 the reference electrode is remotely positioned, outside the voltage cones of the pipeline holidays. Thus it may also be positioned above a section of the pipeline where there are no defects in the coating, which can be tested by a conventional Cg measurement. If now the electrode Bq lies on such a section (0gQ = 0g ), but electrode B, already lies in the voltage cone of a defect in the pipe coating, Eq. (3-61) applies for the position, a, ... 

Even with the superposition of the ac with a cathodic protection current, a large part of the anodic half wave persists for anodic corrosion. This process cannot be detected by the normal method (Section 3.3.2.1) of measuring the pipe/soil potential. The IR-free measurable voltage between an external probe and the reference electrode can be used as evidence of more positive potentials than the protection potential during the anodic phase. Investigations have shown, however, that the corrosion danger is considerably reduced, since only about 0.1 to 0.2% contributes to corrosion. 

Figure 19-1 shows the experimental setup with the position of the steel test pieces and the anodes. The anodes were oxide-coated titanium wires and polymer cable anodes (see Sections 7.2.3 and 7.2.4). The mixed-metal experimental details are given in Table 19-1. The experiments were carried out galvanostatically with reference electrodes equipped to measure the potential once a day. Thus, contamination of the concrete by the electrolytes of the reference electrodes was excluded. The potentials of the protected steel test pieces are shown in Table 19-1. The potentials of the anodes were between U(2u-cuso4 = -1-15 and -1.35 V. 

The H-type cell devised by Lingane and Laitinen and shown in Fig. 16.9 will be found satisfactory for many purposes a particular feature is the built-in reference electrode. Usually a saturated calomel electrode is employed, but if the presence of chloride ion is harmful a mercury(I) sulphate electrode (Hg/Hg2 S04 in potassium sulphate solution potential ca + 0.40 volts vs S.C.E.) may be used. It is usually designed to contain 10-50 mL of the sample solution in the left-hand compartment, but it can be constructed to accommodate a smaller volume down to 1 -2 mL. To avoid polarisation of the reference electrode the latter should be made of tubing at least 20 mm in diameter, but the dimensions of the solution compartment can be varied over wide limits. The compartments are separated by a cross-member filled with a 4 per cent agar-saturated potassium chloride gel, which is held in position by a medium-porosity sintered Pyrex glass disc (diameter at least 10 mm) placed as near the solution compartment as possible in order to facilitate de-aeration of the test solution. By clamping the cell so that the cross-member is vertical, the molten... 

Figure 21. Angular movement of the fee end of a bilayer during the flow of a cathodic current using the conducting polymer as cathode. A platinum sheet (left side of the picture) is used as anode. The reference electrode is observed at the bottom, a to e Movement during the reduction process e to a Movement under flow of an anodic current. The movement is stopped at any intermediate point (a, b, c, d, or e) by stopping the current flow, and this position is maintained for a long time without polarization.

Fig. 16. Small-scalo laboratory cell for preparative electrolysis. A, Pt gauze working electrode. B, Pt sheet secondary electrode. C, Reference electrode. D, Luggin capillary on a syringe barrel so that the position of the tip of the Luggin probe relative to the working electrode is readily adjustable. E, Glass sinter to separate anode and cathode compartments. F, Gas inlet to allow stirring with inert gas or the continuous introduction of reactant. G, Three-way tap where a boundary between the reference electrode and the working solutions may be formed.

On the basis of this argument, the mechanism for the current oscillation and the multilayer formation can be explained as follows. First note that U is kept constant externally with a potentiostat in the present case. In the high-current stage of the current oscillation, the tme electrode potential (or Helmholtz double layer potential), E, is much more positive than U because E is given hy E=U —JAR, where A is the electrode area, R is the resistance of the solution between the electrode surface and the reference electrode, andj is taken as negative for the reduction current. This implies that, even if U is kept constant in the region of the NDR, is much more... 

Fig. 4.10 Capillary electrometer. The basic component is the cell consisting of an ideally polarized electrode (formed by the mercury meniscus M in a conical capillary) and the reference electrode R. This system is connected to a voltage source S. The change of interfacial tension is compensated by shifting the mercury reservoir H so that the meniscus always has a constant position. The distance between the upper level in the tube and the meniscus h is measured by means of a cathetometer C. (By courtesy of L. Novotny)...

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