A reference electrode is an essential component of all three-electrode electrochemical measurements. Common commercial reference electrodes, including the saturated calomel electrode and Ag/AgCl reference electrode, are expensive with the former containing toxic mercury. Cheaper alternatives have been proposed including Ag/AgCl references made from pipets and test tubes. However, electrodes prepared in this way are difficult to work with and are limited by the size and shape of glass casings that are available. This paper proposes an in-house manufactured Ag/AgCl reference electrode that uses some 3D-printed components in the fabrication process. This electrode is cheap to manufacture ($5 vs $60–100 CAD for the commercial reference electrode), and the design can be quickly altered due to the 3D printer’s capabilities in rapidly printing new electrode shapes to suit different analysts’ needs. The lab-made reference electrodes demonstrated stability and consistency in peak potential measurements in the cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments. In ferricyanide CV tests, the recorded differences in anodic and cathodic peak potential (ΔE_p) values for the commercial reference electrode and both lab-made electrodes were 68 ± 9%, 70 ± 12%, and 69 ± 13%, respectively. For all tests, the results were statistically comparable with those of the commercial Ag/AgCl reference electrode.

中文翻译：

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设计和使用3D打印组件，使学生能够制作低成本，可调节，可抛弃且可靠的Ag / AgCl参比电极

参比电极是所有三电极电化学测量的重要组成部分。普通的商业参比电极，包括饱和甘汞电极和Ag / AgCl参比电极，价格昂贵，前者含有有毒汞。已经提出了更便宜的替代品，包括由移液管和试管制成的Ag / AgCl参考。然而，以这种方式制备的电极难以使用，并受到可用玻璃外壳的尺寸和形状的限制。本文提出了一种内部制造的Ag / AgCl参比电极，该参比电极在制造过程中使用了3D打印的组件。这种电极的制造成本低廉（5美元对商业参比电极为60-100加元），由于3D打印机能够快速打印新的电极形状以满足不同分析师的需求，因此可以快速更改设计。在循环伏安法（CV）实验中，实验室制造的参比电极在峰值电势测量中显示出稳定性和一致性。在铁氰化物CV测试中，记录的阳极和阴极峰值电势差异（Δ商业参比电极和两个实验室制造的电极的E _p）值分别为68±9％，70±12％和69±13％。对于所有测试，结果在统计学上均与市售Ag / AgCl参比电极相当。