Electrochemical cell 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 and an anode). The electrolyte is usually a solution of water or other solvents in which ions are dissolved. Molten salts such as sodium chloride are also electrolytes. When driven by an external voltage applied to the electrodes, the ions in the electrolyte are attracted to an electrode with the opposite charge, where charge-transferring (also called faradaic or redox)
Standard electrode potential is sufficient to calculate either one of the potentials. Therefore, standard electrode potential is commonly written as standard reduction potential. The electrode potential cannot be obtained empirically. The galvanic cell potential results from a "pair" of electrodes. Thus, only one empirical value is available in a pair of electrodes and it is not possible to determine the value for each electrode in the pair using the empirically obtained galvanic cell potential. A reference electrode, standard hydrogen electrode (SHE), for which the potential is "defined" or agreed upon by convention, needed to be established. In this case SHE is set to