Regenerating the reference electrode

When required, most REs can easily be refreshed with new filling solution or a new frit, but in some cases, the entire electrode must be rebuilt. The possible actions for each RE are summarized in Table 4.12. 

Before the washing procedure, the RE filling solution must be removed, and if possible, the active portion of the RE should be removed from the electrode body or the frit removed from the electrode body and cleaned alone, to prevent any contamination or reactions from destroying the RE 

Proteins (69) Soak in a 0.1 M HCl and 1 wt% pepsin solution followed by thorough rinsing with deionized water 

Organic (49) Soak the frit in a strong oxidizing solution (e.g., 30% (i.e., yellowed HjOj or concentrated HNOj with a few crystals of KClOj 

Vycor) or NaClOj) heated to 100 °C until any color disappears. 

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