Ion exchange membranes, electrochemical systems, and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016273116-A1
Application number	US-201615071648-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 16, 2016
Priority date	Mar 16, 2015
Publication date	Sep 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed herein are ion exchange membranes, electrochemical systems, and methods that relate to various configurations of the ion exchange membranes and other components of the electrochemical cell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An ion exchange membrane (IEM), comprising: an ionomer membrane with a built-in separator wherein one or more sections of the built-in separator protrude out from at least one surface of the ionomer membrane.

2 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sections of the built-in separator protrude out from front and/or back surfaces of the ionomer membrane.

3 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein amplitude of the protrusion is between about 0.01 mm-1 mm.

4 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 3 , wherein wavelength of the amplitude of the protrusion is between about 0.5 mm-50 mm.

5 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein an average thickness of the ionomer membrane is between about 10 um-250 um.

6 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein the built-in separator is a mesh, cloth, foam, sponge, a planar mesh formed by the overlapping or stacked planes of interwoven fibers or screens, a mattress formed by coils of fibers, an expanded sheet, a plurality of sieves, a plurality of baffles or a plurality of cascading steps, or combinations thereof.

7 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein ratio of cross-sectional area of the built-in separator to nominal cross-sectional area of the IEM is between about 5-70%.

8 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein the built-in separator is made of material selected from the group consisting of polymer, fabric, and glass fibers.

9 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein the protrusion has a repeating pattern.

10 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , wherein the built-in separator is configured to separate the IEM from an anode; separate the IEM from a cathode; separate the IEM from another IEM; or combinations thereof.

11 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 1 , further comprising a gasket material integrated with the IEM.

12 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 11 , wherein the gasket material is integrated to the edges of the IEM.

13 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 11 , wherein the gasket material is integrated on front, back, or both sides of the IEM.

14 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 11 , wherein the gasket material is of thickness between about 0.01 mm-5 mm.

15 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 11 , wherein the gasket material is made of silicone, viton, rubber, cork, felt, foam, plastic, fiber glass, flexible graphite, mica, or polymer.

16 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 15 , wherein the polymer is polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene teraphthalate, nylon, polytetrafluoroethylene, polychlorotrifluoroethylene, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyvinyl chloride, ethylene propylene, ethylene propylenediene, neoprene, or urethane.

17 . The ion exchange membrane of claim 11 , wherein the gasket material is a design selected from flat sheet, or cord sheet.

18 . An electrochemical method, comprising:
applying a voltage between an anode and a cathode; contacting the anode with an anode electrolyte wherein the anode electrolyte comprises metal ions and the anode oxidizes the metal ions from a lower oxidation state to a higher oxidation state; contacting the cathode with a cathode electrolyte; contacting the anode electrolyte with an ion exchange membrane (IEM) comprising an ionomer membrane with a built-in separator and/or contacting the cathode electrolyte with an IEM comprising an ionomer membrane with a built-in separator, wherein one or more sections of the built-in separator protrude out from at least one surface of the IEM.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the built-in separator provides rigidity to the IEM and eliminates a need for an additional separator component.

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the one or more sections of the built-in separator protrude out from front and/or back surfaces of the IEM.

21 . The method of claim 18 , wherein amplitude of the protrusion is between about 0.02 mm-1 mm.

22 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the built-in separator separates the IEM from the anode; separates the IEM from the cathode; separates the IEM from another IEM; or combinations thereof.

23 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising integrating a gasket material to the IEM.

24 . The method of claim 23 , further comprising integrating the gasket material by screen printing, bonding through ultrasonic welding or heat, dipping, polymerization, injection molding, extruding, 3D printing, or digital printing.

25 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the gasket material integrated to the IEM imparts rigidity and strength to the IEM and eliminates a need for a separate gasket component.

Assignees

• Calera Corp

Inventors

• Gilliam Ryan J
• Kostowskyj Michael
• Mcwaid Thomas H
• Mohanta Samaresh
• Zhao Hong

Classifications

• C25B13/04

  characterised by the material · CPC title

• C25B9/00 Primary

  Cells or assemblies of cells; Constructional parts of cells; Assemblies of constructional parts, e.g. electrode-diaphragm assemblies; Process-related cell features · CPC title

• C25B13/02 Primary

  characterised by shape or form · CPC title

• C25B11/036

  Bipolar electrodes · CPC title

• C25B9/19

  with diaphragms · CPC title