Grove Cell

grove cell [′grōv ‚sel]

(electricity)

Primary cell, having a platinum electrode in an electrolyte of nitric acid within a porous cup, outside of which is a zinc electrode in an electrolyte of sulfuric acid; it normally operates on a closed circuit.

---

Grove Cell 

a galvanic cell in which zinc in weak sulfuric acid solution is the cathode and platinum in concentrated nitric acid solution is the anode, the two solutions separated by a porous divider. Electromotive force (emf). 1.98 volts. The cell is named for its inventor (1839) and first investigator, the English physicist W. R. Grove.

The name is also applied to a gas cell that consists of a pair of platinum electrodes—one in hydrogen and the other in oxygen. Sulfuric acid is used as the electrolyte: the hydrogen and oxygen are electrochemically active under these conditions. The emf of this cell equals about 1 volt. Similar cells have been called fuel cells. The cells were improved considerably during the 1960’s and found wider use in a number of countries, including the United States and Great Britain.

N. S. LIDORENKO