Described here are applications other than industrial chloralkali, water electrolysis and fuel cells. The applications are divided into six general classes.
SeparatorsThe use of Nafion as a separator in cells for chloralkali electrolysis is described elsewhere. The exceptional chemical inertness and thermal stability coupled with favourable electrical conductivity being of particular advantage in this application. These properties have been exploited in a number of other electrochemical applications.The RAI Research Corporation also offers a range of battery separators under the name of Permion (1) . These membranes are made by radiation grafting of a suitably active group onto an inert base film. The active groups include weak acids such as acrylic and substituted acrylic acid and stronger acidic groups such as sulfonated styrene. The base film can be Teflon R, polyethylene or polypropylene. They are thus not strictly perfluorinated membranes as is Nafion, but in chemical inertness and in many physical properties such as electrical conductivity and ion flux are useful as separators in batteries.Grot (2, 3, 4) has summarized the properties of some perfluorinated membranes used as separators, mainly for chloralkali electrolysis, and also described regeneration of chromic acid solutions. Solutions of chromium(VI) in sulfuric acid are used in a number of industrial processes. For example in etching plastics prior to metallizing. The used solution contains chromium(III) which can be electrolytically reoxidized to chromium(VI) using lead anodes. Nafion in tubular form (80 mm diameter) is used as the separator in cylindrical cells. Sulfuric acid is used as the catholyte, the permselectivity of the Nafion ensuring that little sulfate ion migrates to the chromium(VI) solution. In the regeneration of chrome plating solutions even small amounts of sulfate migrating across the separator would upset the critical ratio 0097-6156/82/0180-0475$05.00/0