Electrode potential Electrode potential Electrode potential, "E", in chemistry or electrochemistry, according to a IUPAC definition, is the electromotive force of a cell built of two electrodes: The SHE is defined to have a potential of 0 V, so the signed cell potential from the above setup is SHE is cathode and electrode is anode Electrode potential appears at the interface between an electrode and electrolyte due to the transfer of charged species across the interface, specific adsorption of ions at the interface, and specific adsorption/orientation of polar molecules, including those of the solvent. Electrode potential is the electric potential on an
Reference electrode Reference electrode A reference electrode is an electrode which has a stable and well-known electrode potential. The high stability of the electrode potential is usually reached by employing a redox system with constant (buffered or saturated) concentrations of each participant of the redox reaction. There are many ways reference electrodes are used. The simplest is when the reference electrode is used as a half cell to build an electrochemical cell. This allows the potential of the other half cell to be determined. An accurate and practical method to measure an electrode's potential in isolation (absolute electrode potential) has yet to