Cyclone flow cell for the investigation of gas-diffusion electrodes

Electrochemical gas-liquid reactions can be efficiently carried out at porous gas diffusion electrodes (GDE). These electrodes are simultaneously in contact with a gas phase and a liquid phase. For the design and scale-up of electrochemical reactors based on these GDE their macrokinetic behaviour (i.e., the interaction of reaction and internal mass transport phenomena) must be investigated under well defined external mass transfer conditions and controlled wetting conditions. To meet these requirements, a novel cyclone cell has been designed in which two vortex flow fields are realised on either side of a horizontally positioned GDE. The external mass transfer coefficients in this cell are determined from limiting current measurements for the oxidation of Fe(CN6)(4-).