Electrolytic cell laboratory

Fluorine was first produced commercially ca 50 years after its discovery. In the intervening period, fluorine chemistry was restricted to the development of various types of electrolytic cells on a laboratory scale. In World War 11, the demand for uranium hexafluoride [7783-81-5] UF, in the United States and United Kingdom, and chlorine trifluoride [7790-91 -2J, CIF, in Germany, led to the development of commercial fluorine-generating cells. The main use of fluorine in the 1990s is in the production of UF for the nuclear power industry (see Nuclearreactors). However, its use in the preparation of some specialty products and in the surface treatment of polymers is growing. 

What can be learnt from XPS about electrochemical processes will be demonstrated and discussed in the main part of this chapter by means of specific examples. Thereby a survey of new XPS and UPS results on relevant electrode materials will be given. Those electrode materials, which have some potential for a technical application, are understood as practical and will be discussed with respect to the relevant electrochemical process. The choice of electrode materials discussed is of course limited. Emphasis will be put on those materials which are relevant for technical solid polymer electrolyte cells being developed in the author s laboratory. 

In the following chapter examples of XPS investigations of practical electrode materials will be presented. Most of these examples originate from research on advanced solid polymer electrolyte cells performed in the author s laboratory concerning the performance of Ru/Ir mixed oxide anode and cathode catalysts for 02 and H2 evolution. In addition the application of XPS investigations in other important fields of electrochemistry like metal underpotential deposition on Pt and oxide formation on noble metals will be discussed. 

A laboratory-made electrolytic cell was designed as an electrolytic generator of the molecular hydride of Cd. The influence of several parameters on the recorded signal was evaluated by the experimental design and subsequently optimised univariately... 

Bunsen is remembered chiefly for his invention of die laboratory burner umned after him. He engaged in a wide range of industrial and chemical research, including blast-furnace firing, electrolytic cells, separation of metals by electric current, spectroscopic techniques (with Kirchhoff). and production of light metals by electrical decomposition of their molten chlorides. He also discovered two elements, rubidium and cesium. 

Fluorine. The distinguished chemist Henri Moissan first prepared fluorine by the electrolysis of a solution of potassium fluoride in liquid hydrogen fluoride. Because of the extreme chemical activity of this element, the electrolytic cell employed had to be made of platinum. At the present time, fluorine is produced in the laboratory and commercially by the electrolysis of fused potassium hydrogen fluoride (KHF2) in the manner described in the section on electrolysis. 

The design of an electrolytic cell for batchwise operation in the laboratory normally does not present any problems. Many different types of cells of more or... 

When I arrived at the University of British Columbia in 1958 to set up a fluorine-chemistry laboratory, I had the immediate benefit of the work of Professor Howard C. Clark, who had arrived in Vancouver in the previous year. He had already on hand much of the needed equipment and chemicals. This included fluorine gas in a large cylinder. Neither of us had previously used pressurized fluorine gas. Fortunately, we encountered no serious problems in the installation and usage of the fluorine gas source, and we were soon able to carry on our fluorine chemistry with even greater effectiveness than with electrolytic cells. My immediate personal research focus was on a volatile product formed when platinum was fluorinated in the presence of oxygen (a project in which I was greatly assisted by my first Ph.D. student D. H. Lohmann), but for less experienced coworkers the projects usually did not involve direct use of elemental fluorine. 

Electrolysis, the splitting (lysing) of a substance by the input of electrical energy, is often used to decompose a compound into its elements. Electrolytic cells are involved in key industrial production steps for some of the most commercially important elements, including chlorine, copper, and aluminum. The first laboratory electrolysis of H2O to H2 and O2 was performed in 1800, and the process is still used to produce these gases in ultrahigh purity. The electrolyte in an electrolytic cell can be the pure compound (such as H2O or a molten salt), a mixture of molten salts, or an aqueous solution of a salt. The products obtained depend on several factors, so let s examine some actual cases. 

At the age of 36, Dr. Baekeland used part of the "Velox" money to build a small laboratory adjacent to his home ("Snug Rock") at Yonkers, NY. His second major invention was an electrolytic cell for the production of chlorine and caustic soda. After successful pilot plant runs, this cell was used to establish the Hooker Chemical Co. at Niagara Falls, NY. It is of interest to note that his research associate, ().P. Townsend, who was coinventor of the "Townsend Cell" served as Baekeland s patent attorney for many years. 

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