Electrolytic cell Electrolytic cell An electrolytic cell is an electrochemical cell that drives a non-spontaneous redox reaction through the application of electrical energy. They are often used to decompose chemical compounds, in a process called electrolysis—the Greek word lysis means "to break up". Important examples of electrolysis are the decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen, and bauxite into aluminium and other chemicals. Electroplating (e.g. of copper, silver, nickel or chromium) is done using an electrolytic cell. Electrolysis is a technique that uses a direct electric current (DC). An electrolytic cell has three component parts: an electrolyte and two electrodes (a cathode
Silver chloride electrode chloride is a popular choice of biological electrodes due to its low half-cell potential of approximately 220 mV and the lower of the impedance of the electrode by silver chloride. When appropriately constructed, the silver chloride electrode can be used up to 300 °C. The standard potential (i.e., the potential when the chloride activity is 1 mol/kg) of the silver chloride electrode is a function of temperature as follows: Bard et al. give the following correlations for the standard potential of the silver chloride electrode between 0 and 95°C as a function of temperature (where t is temperature in °C):