Electrode - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Electrode

An electrode is an electrical conductor used to

make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit
(e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or
air). The word was coined by William Whewell at
the request of the scientist Michael Faraday from
two Greek words: elektron, meaning amber (from
which the word electricity is derived), and hodos, a
way.[1][2]

The electrophore, invented by Johan Wilcke, was

an early version of an electrode used to study static
electricity.[3]
Electrodes used in shielded metal arc welding

Anode and cathode in electrochemical cells

Primary cell
Secondary cell
Other anodes and cathodes
Welding electrodes
Alternating current electrodes
Uses
Chemically modified electrodes
See also
References

An electrode in an electrochemical cell is referred to as either an anode or a cathode (words that

were coined by William Whewell at Faraday's request).[1] The anode is now defined as the electrode
at which electrons leave the cell and oxidation occurs (indicated by a minus symbol, "−"), and the
cathode as the electrode at which electrons enter the cell and reduction occurs (indicated by a plus
symbol, "+"). Each electrode may become either the anode or the cathode depending on the
direction of current through the cell. A bipolar electrode is an electrode that functions as the anode
of one cell and the cathode of another cell.

Primary cell
A primary cell is a special type of electrochemical cell in which the reaction cannot be reversed,[4]

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and the identities of the anode and cathode are therefore fixed.
The anode is always the negative electrode. The cell can be
discharged but not recharged.

Secondary cell
A secondary cell, for example a rechargeable battery, is a cell in
which the chemical reactions are reversible. When the cell is
being charged, the anode becomes the positive (+) and the
cathode the negative (−) electrode. This is also the case in an
Configuration of the electrode electrolytic cell. When the cell is being discharged, it behaves
like a primary cell, with the anode as the negative and the
cathode as the positive electrode. Charging and discharging
processes, such as those in Lithium-ion batteries, tend to incur large losses through contact
resistance at electrodes. Minimising these electrode localised losses constitutes an important
approach in improving energy usage in electrochemical storage.

In a vacuum tube or a semiconductor having polarity (diodes, electrolytic capacitors) the anode is
the positive (+) electrode and the cathode the negative (−). The electrons enter the device through
the cathode and exit the device through the anode. Many devices have other electrodes to control
operation, e.g., base, gate, control grid.

In a three-electrode cell, a counter electrode, also called an auxiliary electrode, is used only to make
a connection to the electrolyte so that a current can be applied to the working electrode. The
counter electrode is usually made of an inert material, such as a noble metal or graphite, to keep it
from dissolving.

In arc welding, an electrode is used to conduct current through a workpiece to fuse two pieces
together. Depending upon the process, the electrode is either consumable, in the case of gas metal
arc welding or shielded metal arc welding, or non-consumable, such as in gas tungsten arc welding.
For a direct current system, the weld rod or stick may be a cathode for a filling type weld or an
anode for other welding processes. For an alternating current arc welder, the welding electrode
would not be considered an anode or cathode.

For electrical systems which use alternating current, the electrodes are the connections from the
circuitry to the object to be acted upon by the electric current but are not designated anode or
cathode because the direction of flow of the electrons changes periodically, usually many times per
second.

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Electrodes are used to provide current through nonmetal objects to alter them in numerous ways
and to measure conductivity for numerous purposes. Examples include:

Electrodes for fuel cells

Electrodes for medical purposes, such as EEG (for recording brain activity), ECG (recording
heart beats), ECT (electrical brain stimulation), defibrillator (recording and delivering cardiac
stimulation)
Electrodes for electrophysiology techniques in biomedical research
Electrodes for execution by the electric chair
Electrodes for electroplating
Electrodes for arc welding
Electrodes for cathodic protection
Electrodes for grounding
Electrodes for chemical analysis using electrochemical methods
Nanoelectrodes for high-precision measurements in nanoelectrochemistry
Inert electrodes for electrolysis (made of platinum)
Membrane electrode assembly
Electrodes for Taser electroshock weapon

Chemically modified electrodes are electrodes that have their surfaces chemically modified to
change the electrode's physical, chemical, electrochemical, optical, electrical, and transportive
properties. These electrodes are used for advanced purposes in research and investigation.[5]

Working electrode
Reference electrode
Gas diffusion electrode
Cellulose electrode
Battery
Redox (Reduction-Oxidation Reaction)
Cathodic protection
Galvanic cell
Anion vs. Cation
Electron versus hole
Electrolyte
Electron microscope
Noryl
Tafel equation
Hot cathode

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Cold cathode
Electrolysis
Reversible charge injection limit

1. Weinberg, Steven (2003). The Discovery of Subatomic Particles Revised Edition (https://books.
google.com/books?id=cKXuMfnMC4IC&pg=PA81). Cambridge University Press. pp. 81–.
Bibcode:2003dspr.book.....W (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003dspr.book.....W).
ISBN 978-0-521-82351-7. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20160513091347/https://book
s.google.com/books?id=cKXuMfnMC4IC&pg=PA81) from the original on 13 May 2016.
Retrieved 18 February 2015.
2. Faraday, Michael (1834). "On Electrical Decomposition" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110720
203405/http://chimie.scola.ac-paris.fr/sitedechimie/hist_chi/text_origin/faraday/Faraday-electroc
hem.htm). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Archived from the original (http://chi
mie.scola.ac-paris.fr/sitedechimie/hist_chi/text_origin/faraday/Faraday-electrochem.htm) on
2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-01-17. In this article Faraday coins the words electrode, anode,
cathode, anion, cation, electrolyte, and electrolyze.
3. Whitaker, Harry (2007). Brain, mind and medicine : essays in eighteenth-century neuroscience.
New York, NY: Springer. p. 140. ISBN 978-0387709673.
4. Sivasankar (2008). Engineering Chemistry (https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhvy2NiZsQY
C&pg=PA129). Tata McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9780070669321. Archived (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20171221230846/https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhvy2NiZsQYC&pg=PA129)
from the original on 2017-12-21.
5. Durst, R., Baumner, A., Murray, R., Buck, R., & Andrieux, C., "Chemically modified electrodes:
Recommended terminology and definitions (PDF) (http://old.iupac.org/publications/pac/1997/pd
f/6906x1317.pdf) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20140201184359/http://old.iupac.org/p
ublications/pac/1997/pdf/6906x1317.pdf) 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine", IUPAC, 1997,
pp 1317–1323.

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