Electrode, use thereof, and an electrochemical cell

Abstract

The invention relates to an electrode for an electrochemical cell, which is either a piece of a monocrystal grown from doped titanium dioxide or which contains a multiplicity of monocrystals grown from doped titanium dioxide.

1 . An electrode for an electrochemical cell comprising:
 a piece of a monocrystal grown from doped titanium dioxide; or   a multiplicity of monocrystals grown from doped titanium dioxide.   
     
     
         2 . The electrode according to  claim 1 , wherein the electrode is a crystal plate cut from the grown crystal. 
     
     
         3 . The electrode according to  claim 2 , wherein the thickness of the crystal plate is between 0.5 mm and 10 mm. 
     
     
         4 . The electrode according to  claim 1 , wherein the electrode is a multiplicity of crystals embedded as a single layer in a substrate layer made of a non-conductive material, the crystals being exposed on both sides of the substrate layer. 
     
     
         5 . The electrode according to  claim 4 , wherein the crystals have a particle size between 100 μm and 5 mm, the particle size being adapted to the thickness of the substrate layer. 
     
     
         6 . The electrode according to  claim 1 , wherein the titanium dioxide is doped with lithium, niobium, aluminum, phosphorous, gallium, boron, arsenic, indium, germanium, iridium, ruthenium, rhodium, antimony, nitrogen, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, chromium or yttrium, or with one or more oxides or fluorides of said elements. 
     
     
         7 . The electrode according to  claim 4 , wherein the substrate layer consists of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). 
     
     
         8 - 11 . (canceled) 
     
     
         12 . An electrochemical cell, which, as an edge electrode thereof, contains an electrode as defined in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         13 . The electrochemical cell according to  claim 12 , which further contains at least one diamond electrode as an edge electrode or a bipolar electrode. 
     
     
         14 . An electrochemical cell, which, as a bipolar electrode thereof, contains an electrode as defined in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         15 . The electrode according to  claim 3 , wherein the thickness of the crystal plate is up to 3 mm. 
     
     
         16 . The electrode according to  claim 5 , wherein said particle size is between 200 μm and 800 μm. 
     
     
         17 . The electrode according to  claim 14 , which further contains at least one diamond electrode as an edge electrode or a bipolar electrode.