The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 23, 2019
Filed:
Nov. 26, 2013
Trustees of Boston University, Boston, MA (US);
Uday B. Pal, Dover, MA (US);
Soumendra N. Basu, Westwood, MA (US);
Yihong Jiang, Boston, MA (US);
Jiapeng Xu, Boston, MA (US);
TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY, Boston, MA (US);
Abstract
A method of manufacturing silicon via a solid oxide membrane electrolysis process, including providing a crucible, providing a flux including silica within the crucible, providing a cathode in the crucible in electrical contact with the flux, and providing an anode disposed in the crucible spaced apart from the cathode and in electrical contact with the flux. The cathode includes a silicon-absorbing portion in fluid communication with the flux. The anode includes a solid oxide membrane around at least a portion of the anode. The method also includes generating an electrical potential between the cathode and anode sufficient to reduce silicon at an operating temperature, and cooling the silicon-absorbing portion to below the operating temperature, and precipitating out the silicon from the silicon-absorbing portion. The silicon-absorbing portion preferentially absorbs silicon, the silicon-absorbing portion is a liquid metal at the operating temperature, and the solid oxide membrane is permeable to oxygen.