Electrolytic cell membrane/SPE formation by solution coating

Claim 1

A method for forming an electrolyte electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of a copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one of sulfonyl, carbonyl and phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing an electrode structure that includes interstices; (3) at least once applying the dispersion to the electrode structure, whereby the dispersion at least partially coats the electrode structure bridging the interstices; and (4) removing the dispersion media.

Claim 2

A method for forming an electrolyte electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of a copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one of sulfonyl, carbonyl and phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing an electrode structure that includes interstices; (3) at least once applying the dispersion to the electrode structure, whereby the dispersion at least partially coats the electrode structure bridging the interstices; and (4) removing the dispersion media.

Claim 6

A method for making an electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of a copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one sulfonyl, carbonyl and and phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a reticulate electrode structure; (3) at least once coating the reticulate electrode with the dispersion and removing the dispersion media until a coating of a desired thickness has been attained on the reticulate electrode structure, and interstices between elements of the reticulate electrode structure have been bridged; and (4) removing a portion of the coating to expose a portion of the reticulate electrode structure.

Claim 7

A method for making an electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of a copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one sulfonyl, carbonyl and and phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a reticulate electrode structure; (3) at least once coating the reticulate electrode with the dispersion and removing the dispersion media until a coating of a desired thickness has been attained on the reticulate electrode structure, and interstices between elements of the reticulate electrode structure have been bridged; and (4) removing a portion of the coating to expose a portion of the reticulate electrode structure.

Claim 10

A method for making a perfluorocarbon copolymeric membrane and solid polymer electrolyte electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight of greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one of sulfonyl, carbonyl phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a reticulate electrode structure including a surface portion comprising at least one electrocatalytic compound; (3) masking the electrocatalytic surface portion; (4) at least once coating the reticulate electrode structure with the dispersion media whereby the dispersion bridges interstices between the elements of the reticulate electrode structure; (5) removing the dispersion media; (6) repeating steps 4 and 5 until a coating of desired thickness is achieved upon the reticulate electrode structure completely bridging the interstices; and (7) removing the masking.

Claim 11

A method for making a perfluorocarbon copolymeric membrane and solid polymer electrolyte electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight of greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one of sulfonyl, carbonyl phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a reticulate electrode structure including a surface portion comprising at least one electrocatalytic compound; (3) masking the electrocatalytic surface portion; (4) at least once coating the reticulate electrode structure with the dispersion media whereby the dispersion bridges interstices between the elements of the reticulate electrode structure; (5) removing the dispersion media; (6) repeating steps 4 and 5 until a coating of desired thickness is achieved upon the reticulate electrode structure completely bridging the interstices; and (7) removing the masking.

Claim 14

A method for making a perfluorocarbon copolymeric membrane having an equivalent weight of greater than 900 but less that about 1500 and solid polymer electrolyte electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of the copolymeric perfluorocarbon in solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a reticulate electrode structure including a surface portion comprising at least one electrocatalytic compound; (3) placing a sheet of resinous material beneath a sheet of aluminum foil; (4) placing the reticulate electrode structure upon the aluminum foil with the electrocatalytic surface portion opposing the aluminum foil; (5)pressing the reticulate electrode structure into the aluminum foil, the resinous material undergoing cold flow whereby the aluminum foil generally conforms to contours of the reticulate electrode structure; (6) at least once coating the reticulate electrode structure with the dispersion and removing the dispersion media until a coating of a desired thickness has been built upon the electrode bridging between the elements of the reticulate electrode structure; and (7) removing the aluminum foil and resinous material.

Claim 15

A method for making a perfluorocarbon copolymeric membrane having an equivalent weight of greater than 900 but less that about 1500 and solid polymer electrolyte electrode assembly for use in an electrochemical cell comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of the copolymeric perfluorocarbon in solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a reticulate electrode structure including a surface portion comprising at least one electrocatalytic compound; (3) placing a sheet of resinous material beneath a sheet of aluminum foil; (4) placing the reticulate electrode structure upon the aluminum foil with the electrocatalytic surface portion opposing the aluminum foil; (5)pressing the reticulate electrode structure into the aluminum foil, the resinous material undergoing cold flow whereby the aluminum foil generally conforms to contours of the reticulate electrode structure; (6) at least once coating the reticulate electrode structure with the dispersion and removing the dispersion media until a coating of a desired thickness has been built upon the electrode bridging between the elements of the reticulate electrode structure; and (7) removing the aluminum foil and resinous material.

Claim 16

The method of either of claims 5 and 11 wherein the electrocatalytic compound comprises at least one compound selected from a group consisting of oxides of manganese, tin, antimony, titanium, vanadium and a platinum group metal.

Claim 17

The method of any of claims 1 through 11 wherein the perfluorocarbon copolymer is polymerized from at least two monomers, one such monomer consisting essentially of at least one fluorinated vinyl compound and said other monomer consisting essentially of at least one monomer having the structure ##STR2## wherein R 1 is a bifunctional perfluorinated radical containing from 2 to 8 carbon atoms which carbon atoms can be at least once interrupted by one or more oxygen atoms and X is selected from a group consisting of sulfonyl fluoride, carboxyl fluoride, sulfonate ester, carboxylate ester, and saponification products of sulfonyl fluoride and carboxyl fluoride.

Claim 18

The method of any of claims 1 through 11 wherein the dispersion media is selected from a group of chlorotrifluoroethylene; perfluorooctanoic acid; perfluorodecanoic acid; perfluorotributylamine; perfluoro-1-methyldecalin; decafluorobiphenol; pentafluorophenol; pentafluorobenzoic acid; N-butylacetamide; tetrahydrothiophene-1,1-dioxide (tetramethylene sulfone); N-N-diethylacetamide; N-N-dimethylpropionamide; N,N-dibutylformamide; N,N-dimethylacetetamide; perfluorotrialkylamine; and dipropylamide.

Claim 19

The method of any of claims 1, 5, 8 and 11 including the additional step of adhering coated portions of a second electrode assembly to the electrode assembly using at least one of heat, pressure and solvent.

Claim 20

A method for forming a perfluorocarbon copolymer coated structure comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of a copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one of sulfonyl, carbonyl and phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a substrate structure that includes interstices; (3) at least once applying the dispersion to the substrate structure, whereby the dispersion at least partially coats the substrate structure bridging the interstices; and (4) removing the dispersion media.

Claim 21

A method for forming a perfluorocarbon copolymer coated structure comprising the steps of: (1) dispersing a quantity of a copolymeric perfluorocarbon having an equivalent weight greater than 900 but less than about 1500 and having one of sulfonyl, carbonyl and phosphorous based pendant functional groups in a solvating dispersion media; (2) providing a substrate structure that includes interstices; (3) at least once applying the dispersion to the substrate structure, whereby the dispersion at least partially coats the substrate structure bridging the interstices; and (4) removing the dispersion media.