Cell and method of operating a liquid-gas electrochemical cell

摘要

An electrochemical cell having improved current efficiency and a method for electrochemically reacting a liquid electrolyte with a gas in an electrochemical cell. The cell has at least two electrodes separated by a cell separator wherein at least one of said electrodes is a porous, self-draining, gas diffusion electrode. In one embodiment of the invention, an electrolyte is flowed through said cell separator into a porous, self-draining electrode and simultaneously the electrode is fed with a mixture of a reactive gas and water or an electrolyte. In another embodiment of the invention in which the cell separator is an ion exchange permselective membrane, a mixture of a reactive gas and an electrolyte are fed to the porous, self-draining electrode. Preferably said porous, self-draining electrode is a cathode.