Electrode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11427483-B2
Application number	US-201716312507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2017
Priority date	Jun 29, 2016
Publication date	Aug 30, 2022
Grant date	Aug 30, 2022

Abstract

An electrode for an electrochemical cell is presented which comprises a substrate and an electrode material. The electrode material comprises an electrocatalyst and a solid glass phase which binds the electrocatalyst to the substrate. The electrodes of the invention are durable and can be produced by a much simpler, faster technique than is required for preparing conventional electrodes and can incorporate a wider range of electrocatalytic materials.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrode for an electrochemical cell, the electrode comprising:
a porous electrode material disposed on a substrate;
wherein the electrode material comprises an electrocatalyst and a solid glass phase which binds the electrocatalyst to the substrate;
wherein the electrocatalyst forms an interconnected network of electrocatalyst through the porous electrode material;
wherein the solid glass phase is a sintered glass frit which constitutes at least 50 wt % of the electrode material;
wherein the solid glass phase is substantially free of lead; and
wherein the loading of solid glass phase on the electrode is from 0.2 mg/cm 2 to 20 mg/cm 2 , and
wherein the electrode material comprises exposed electrocatalyst.

2. The electrode according to claim 1 wherein the solid glass phase is a silicate or borosilicate glass phase.

3. The electrode according to claim 1 , wherein the electrode material forms a barrier on the surface of the substrate, thereby preventing contact between the electrolyte and the substrate in use.

4. The electrode according to claim 1 wherein the electrocatalyst is an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst, an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst, a hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst and/or an electrochlorination catalyst.

5. The electrode according to claim 1 wherein the solid glass phase is acid resistant.

6. The electrode according to claim 1 wherein the electrode material has pores and/or pits on an electrolyte-side surface thereof.

7. The electrode according to claim 1 wherein the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the solid glass phase differs from the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the substrate by +/−10% or less.

8. A method of making an electrode for an electrochemical cell comprising applying an electrode formulation comprising electrocatalyst and glass frit to a substrate and firing the electrode formulation so as to give rise to an electrode according to claim 1 .

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the electrode formulation includes at least 10 wt % of the glass frit.

10. The method according to claim 8 wherein the glass frit is a silicate or a borosilicate glass.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein the glass frit is substantially free of lead.

12. The method according to claim 8 wherein the method includes 3 firing steps or fewer, preferably a single firing step.

13. The method according to claim 8 wherein the electrode formulation is applied to the substrate by printing one or more layers of electrode formulation onto the substrate, preferably by screen printing.

14. The method according to claim 8 wherein the firing step comprises heating to a temperature of not more than 120° C. in excess of the temperature at which the glass begins to exhibit macroscopic glass flow.

15. An electrochemical cell comprising an electrode as defined in claim 1 .

16. The electrochemical cell according to claim 15 which is an electrochlorination cell.

17. An electrochemical cell, the electrochemical cell comprising an electrode made according to claim 8 .

Assignees

• Johnson Matthey Plc

Inventors

• Oakes Daniel Charles Howard
• Zalitis Christopher Mark

Classifications

• C02F2001/46161

  Porous electrodes · CPC title

• C02F1/4674 Primary

  with halogen or compound of halogens, e.g. chlorine, bromine · CPC title

• C02F2303/04

  Disinfection · CPC title

• C02F2001/46142

  Catalytic coating · CPC title

• C25B1/26

  Chlorine; Compounds thereof (by simultaneous production of alkali metal hydroxides and chlorine, oxyacids or salts of chlorine C25B1/34) · CPC title