An electrode is a rigid electric conductor that conducts electricity through nonmetallic materials. Electrodes are often good conductors of electricity, however, they do not have to be metals.

The other name we can refer to as an anode and cathode in the electrochemical cells. The anode is an electrode where electrons exit the cell and oxidation occurs. Electrons move into the cell through the cathode, and they undergo a reduction process.

An electrode need not be permanently attached since it can act as an anode or a cathode based on the direction of electron flow.

What is Electrode?

A conductor that makes contact with a nonmetallic component of a circuit is referred to as an electrode. Electrodes are widely employed in electrochemical cells, semiconductors such as diodes, and medical devices. The electrode is the site of electron transport.

Depending on the sort of chemical process that happens, an electrode is classed as a cathode or an anode. If an electrode undergoes an oxidation process (the loss of the electron), the electrode is defined as an anode. If an electrode undergoes a reduction reaction, the electrode is classed as a cathode. Conventional current enters a device through its anode and exits through its cathode in something like a discharged battery.

There is a variation between active electrodes and inert electrodes. A magnesium electrode, for example, is often an active electrode because it contributes to the oxidation-reduction process. Since it does not engage in the oxidation-reduction process, a platinum electrode is often inert. An inert electrode is chemically inert and exists merely to allow current to pass through the electrochemical cell. 

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Classification of Electrodes

When we speak of it a question arises what is an electrode? The electrode is a necessary component of any battery. A brine-soaked paper disc separated a stack of base metals electrodes in this battery. It’s not very useful due to the variability in the voltage generated by the voltaic cell.

The zinc-copper electrode pair is still being used. Many additional batteries have been produced since then, employing a variety of materials. All of this is still based on the usage of two electrodes, which are classified as anodes and cathodes.

  1.Anode

An anode is an electrode that allows conventional current to enter a polarized electrical device. In contrast, a cathode is an electrode that allows conventional current to leave an electrical device. ACID, which stands for “anode current into the device,” is a popular acronym.

Negatively charged electrons flow out of a galvanic cell’s anode and into an outside or external circuit attached to the cell so because the path of conventional current in the circuit is opposite the direction of transfer of energy. In a galvanic and electrolytic cell, the anode is the electrode where the oxidation process takes place the most.

Electrons move away from the anode, while conventional current flows towards it. It is clear that anode’s energy is negative. The electron that enters the anode derives from the oxidation process that occurs nearby.

  2.Cathode

A cathode is an electrode where a polarized electrical device’s conventional current exits. This term may be remembered using the mnemonic CCD, which stands for Cathode Current Departs. The path on which the positive energy moves is described by a conventional current.

Electrons have a negative electrical charge, therefore their movement is diametrically opposite to that of normal current flow. As a result, the mnemonic cathode current exits also denotes electrons flowing into the device’s cathode from the external circuit.

It is the positive electrode, which implies that electrons from the electrical circuit travel through the cathode and into the electrochemical cell’s non-metallic component. The reduction process takes place at the cathode, with electrons arriving from the cathode’s wire and being consumed by the oxidizing agent.

What is electrode potential?

The power or potential difference between a cell formed from a conventional hydrogen electrode and the provided electrode with the required potential is specified as electrode potential. It is the resulting voltage differential between a location on the surface of the electrode and a point in the majority of the electrolyte as a consequence of charged particle transport and polar molecule adsorption. 

The electrode potential is derived from the potential difference formed at the electrode-electrolyte contact.  The cathode and anode of an electrochemical cell each have their own electrode potential, and the discrepancy for them is the cell potential:

Ecell = Ecathode − Eanode.

Uses of electrode potential: –

•         Estimation of chemical or electrochemical events linked to corrosion.
•         Used in the selection of chemicals and technologies for regulating reactions.
•         As electrode potential in crevices and pits is examined for regulating reactions, it aids in the research of crevice corrosion and pitting.

Conclusion

Electrode potentials are one method for determining how quickly a material loses electrons. The related electrode potentials can be used to forecast the feasibility of redox processes. Unless kinetic information (e.g., activation energy) is provided, the number tells us nothing about how the following reaction will occur.