Preparation And Optimization Of PbO₂/SPE Composite Membrane Electrode

Solid Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (for short SPEM) is a kind of polymer material which can conduct ion just like liquid electrolyte. And PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode can be prepared by applying or plating PbO₂ with high oxygen evolution potential on one or two sides of SPE membrane .Due to its advantages such as perfect catalytic performance, good electrical conductivity, long operating life, ideal corrosion resistance to many strong acids and oxidants, PbO₂ is considered to be an excellent anode material. Being a kind of non-noble metal, PbO₂ can substitute some traditional catalyst such as Pt, Ti, Au in some certain areas to reduce the cost of electrochemical reaction. Nowadays PbO₂ electrode compounded with traditional material such as metal, plastic, ceram plate and graphite plate has many disadvantages, such as, narrow application range, low mechanical robustness, short operating life and so on.. Thanks to the merits of SPE membrane, the PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode which is prepared by attaching PbO₂ to SPE membrane, can resist elevated temperature and high pressure as well as strong acid and strong alkali, and has good chemical stability, thermostability and mechanical stability. PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode is widely used in the areas of inorganic and organic chemical engineering as well as environmental protection, especially in electrolyzing the waste water that is difficult to degradation, acting as a kind of advanced oxidation technology. However, currently literature on preparing PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode by chemical plating have not been found.The method of plating β-PbO₂ to prepareβ-PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode, with the polymer cation exchange membrane as the substrate material for SPE membrane electrode, was investigated in this paper. The way of optimizing this kind of electrode was also studied, and the electricity catalysis performance of the electrodes was compared by using the electrochemistry test technology.Firstly, one kind of preparing technology of PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode was developed by systematic experiments: Using Nation 324 which is produced in American Du Pont company as the basal membrane, and chlorine as the oxidant, by macerating-oxidizing method, PbO₂ is prepared by plating on the membrane to prepare PbO₂/SPE composite-membrane electrode. The results indicate that it is feasible to prepare PbO₂/SPE composite membrane electrode by chemical plating. And it is demonstrated by the XRD chart that the material deposited on the membrane is β-PbO₂ with high catalytic activity, as well as small-diameter crystal, the...