Electrochemical Reduction

Introduction

Electrochemical reduction is the process of chemical reduction that happens at the cathode of an electrochemical cell. Electrochemical reduction happens when an atom accepts an electron. Electrochemical reduction is one part of redox reactions, the counterpart being electrochemical oxidation.

Electrochemical Reduction

Redox means reduction-oxidation; these are known as the electrochemical processes that involve transfer of electron to or from a single molecule or an ion to another in a system. This reaction happens when an external voltage is applicable or by releasing chemical energy.
In electrochemical reduction, the electron rich molecule or ion donates one or more electrons and gets oxidised. The molecule that accepts these electrons gets reduced as now it has more number of electrons and reduced number of protons.
Reduction and oxidation as a rule happen in pairs. If one component of an electrochemical system gets oxidised, there will be another component in the same system that will get reduced. This is a redox reaction.
For reactions involving oxygen, the loss of oxygen means the reduction of the atom or molecule to which oxygen is added. In Organic compounds, like butane or ethanol, the gain of hydrogen implies reduction of the molecule from which it is lost.  Thus a reaction in which there is loss of oxygen or gain of hydrogen means there was electrochemical reduction.
The atom or molecule that loses electrons is known as the reductant, or reducing agent, and the atom or molecule that accepts the electrons is called the oxidant, or oxidizing agent. The oxidizing agent is always reduced in a reaction and the reducing agent is always oxidized.

Conclusion for Electrochemical Reduction

Electrochemical reduction is the process of gaining an electron by an ion or molecule in electrochemical processes. If there is electrochemical reduction in a process, there is bound to be and electrochemical oxidation in the same process simultaneously.