Polymeric electrolyte membrane water electrolysis

Membrel cell — (membrane electrolysis) Electrochemical cell developed by BBC Brown Boveri Ltd, now joined with ASEA AB, to ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd) for water electrolysis. A polymeric cation exchange membrane acting as -> solid electrolyte is placed between a catalyst-coated porous graphite plate acting as cathode and a catalyst-coated porous titanium plate acting as anode. 

In RFCs with alkahne electrolytes, the conducted ion is hydroxide (OH ). The typical electrolyte is a mixture of potassium hydroxide (KOH) and water. The electrolyte is circulated in the cells by a pump and fixed by microporous structures. Another option is to fix the electrolyte in a matrix [38, p. 4-4] or to use an anion-exchange membrane. For electrolysis, polymeric diaphragms have been developed with a high porosity and small pore size in order to achieve low gas permeability [39]. The typical operating temperatures are in the range 60-120 °C, but higher temperatures... 

Some vinyl fluoride-based polymers with side chains of perfluorosulfonic acid (the Nation family) are important ion-exchange membrane materials used in practice for electrolysis of NaCl and in certain fuel cells. They show a proton conductivity of 0.01 S cm- at room temperature. However, such fast ionic transport occurs only when they are swollen with water. It is therefore not appropriate to call them solid electrolytes in the tme sense of the word. It was in 1970 that anionic conductivity, though not high, was reported for crown ether complexes such as dibenzo-18-crown-6 KSCN, in which cations are trapped by the ligand. " A few years later much higher cationic (instead of anionic) conduction was found in complexes of a chain-like polyether such as PEO or PPO with alkaline salts here, PEO stands for poly(ethyleneoxide), (CHjCHj-O), and PPO for poly(propyleneoxide)."2>"3 These were the flrst examples of tme polymer solid electrolytes and were followed by a great number of studies. Polymeric electrolytes are advantageous in practice because they are easily processed and formed into flexible Aims. 

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