Solid polymer electrolyte chlor-alkali process and electrolytic cell

Claim 1

In an electrolytic cell having an anode separated from a cathode by a permionic membrane, said anode and said cathode both contacting said permionic membrane, the improvement wherein said anode comprises a pervious substrate having anodic electrocatalyst bonded thereto, said anode bearing upon the permionic membrane, said cathode is bonded to and embedded in the permionic membrane, and said permionic membrane comprises a fluorocarbon resin having the moieties: --CF.sub.2 -CXX'-- and --CF.sub.2 -CXY-- where X is chosen from the group consisting of --F, --Cl, --H, and --CF 3 ; X' is chosen from the group consisting of --F, --Cl, --H, --CF 3 , and (CF 2 ) m CF, where m is an integer from 1 to 5; Y is chosen from the group consisting of --A, --φA, --P--A, and --O--(CF 2 ) n --(P,Q,R)--A, where P is (--CF 2 ) a (CXX') b (CF 2 ) c , Q is (--CF 2 --O--CXX') d and R is (--CXX'--O--CF 2 ) e , (P,Q,R) is or contains one or more of P, Q, and R n is 0 or 1; a,b,c,d, and e are integers from 0 to 6; φ is a phenylene group and A is chosen from the group consisting of --COOH, --CN, --COF, --COCl, --COOR, --COOM, and --CONR 2 R 3 , where R 1 is a C 1 to C 10 alkyl group, and R 2 and R 3 are chosen from the group consisting of --H, and C 1 to C 10 alkyl groups; and m is chosen from the group consisting of --H and alkali metals.