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is a good starting value when using the 1.5 mm thick standard separator and electrodes of
around 0.1 mm thickness.
2.3Three electrode assembly
In the reference mode, a gold pin is making contact with the reference material which needs
to be loaded upfront into the feed-through hole of the REF sleeve. The center of the 0.3 mm
diameter REF hole is located 0.9 mm above the bottom of the cell base (see sketch below).
Accordingly, the thickness of the lower electrode and the separator must be chosen so as to
prevent a short between any of the two 18 mm electrodes and the reference in between.
Optionally, the reference pin itself can be used as a reference, e.g. when using a platinum wire
as a pseudo reference. In this case, the reference pin must be sharpened so as to make sure
that the pin gets into mechanical contact with the separator.
Note: The use of conventional reference electrodes with salt bridge is restricted by the narrow
1.6 mm diameter of the feed-through in the cell base.
Assembly steps:
1. Load the feed-through hole of the REF sleeve with a small amount of the ductile reference
material (such as PTFE bound activated carbon). When using powdery reference materials,
we advise a different procedure. First, plug the narrow section of the hole with a small
piece of glass fiber separator; only then load the powdery material into the hole. The glass
fiber serves as an electrolyte wick (salt bridge), and holds the reference powder in place. .
A dedicated tool, the ECC-RefLoad, is optionally available to ease this assembly step
(http://el-cell.com/products/tools-accessories/ecc-refload)
2. Insert the Central Upper Piston into the REF sleeve and hold the piston/sleeve assembly
with the contact face of the piston pointing upwards.
3. Place the Current collector (Au), the working electrode and the glass fiber separator on
top of the piston inside the sleeve. Chose the thickness of the separator so as to avoid a
short circuit between the reference and one of the two sandwich electrodes.
4. Dispense a defined amount of electrolyte onto the separator.
5. Place the counter electrode and finally the second Current collector (Au) on top of the
stack inside the sleeve.
