A microfluidic electrochemical cell with integrated PdH reference electrode for high current experiments
Date
2017
Authors
Fanavoll, Espen V.
Harrington, David A.
Sunde, Svein
Singh, Gurvinder
Seland, Frode
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Electrochimica Acta
Abstract
An on-chip thin-film palladium hydride reference electrode is described for use with microfluidic electrochemical cells. A Pd electrode fabricated by photolithographic methods is charged with hydrogen in-situ with a simple current step technique. The placement of the reference electrode in a side channel means that it is unaffected by species in the main channel. Placement upstream of the working and sense electrodes is shown to be a significant improvement over cells with the reference electrode placed externally. The adverse effects of solution resistance are investigated quantitatively, and it is shown that the described configuration allows for high current experiments while maintaining accurate potential measurement. A simple formula for calculating the maximum current density for a certain cell geometry and electrolyte resistivity is presented.
Description
Keywords
Microfluidics, Electrochemistry, Palladium hydride, Reference electrode, IR drop
Citation
Fanavoll, E.V., Harrington, D.A., Sunde, S., Singh, G. & Seland, F.(2017). A microfluidic electrochemical cell with integrated PdH reference electrode for high current experiments. Electrochimica Acta, 225, 69-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2016.11.147