Solid electrode
AssigneeElement Six Limited
InventorsJonathan James Wilman, Patrick Simon Bray, Timothy Peter Mollart
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Abstract
The present invention provides a solid diamond electrode, a reactor, in particular a reactor comprising an anode, a cathode and at least one bipolar electrode having first and second major working surfaces positioned therebetween wherein the at least one bipolar electrode consists essentially of diamond, and methods in which the reactors are used.
Claims53
A reactor comprising an anode, a cathode and at least one bipolar electrode having first and second major working surfaces positioned therebetween wherein the at least one bipolar electrode consists essentially of diamond and the diamond comprises a dopant such that the diamond is conductive and has an electrical resistivity of 1 MΩcm or less and wherein the average concentration of the dopant in a region of at least one of the major working surfaces to a depth of 50 nm is at least 8×1019 atoms/cm3.
A reactor comprising an anode, a cathode and at least one bipolar electrode having first and second major working surfaces positioned therebetween wherein the at least one bipolar electrode consists essentially of diamond and the diamond comprises a dopant such that the diamond is conductive and has an electrical resistivity of 1 MΩcm or less and wherein the average concentration of the dopant in a region of at least one of the major working surfaces to a depth of 50 nm is greater than ⅕ of the average concentration of the dopant in the remainder of the at least one bipolar electrode.
An electrode consisting essentially of diamond wherein the diamond comprises a dopant such that the diamond is conductive and has an electrical resistivity of 1 MΩcm or less and wherein the average concentration of dopant in a region of at least one of the major working surfaces, to a depth of 50 nm, is at least 8×1019 atoms/cm3 and wherein the electrode has at least one of the following features
- a) the concentration of dopant atoms in any 1 mm3 volume does not vary from the concentration of dopant atoms in any other 1 mm3 by more than 50%,
- b) the uniformity of doping through the thickness of the electrode when measured by SIMS at least five points approximately uniformly spaced through the thickness is such that the maximum dopant concentration is less than about 150% of the mean value and the minimum concentration is greater than about 50% of the mean value,
- c) a thickness in the range 0.2 mm to 5 mm,
- d) at least one lateral dimension of at least 10 mm, and,
- e) a surface area of at least 10 cm2.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.