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:
Jan. 29, 2013
Filed:
Sep. 02, 2010
Krishnakumar Jambunathan, Breinigsville, PA (US);
Kerry Renard Berger, Lehighton, PA (US);
Reinaldo Mario Machado, Allentown, PA (US);
Daniel James Ragsdale, Coopersburg, PA (US);
Krishnakumar Jambunathan, Breinigsville, PA (US);
Kerry Renard Berger, Lehighton, PA (US);
Reinaldo Mario Machado, Allentown, PA (US);
Daniel James Ragsdale, Coopersburg, PA (US);
Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Allentown, PA (US);
Abstract
The invention relates to the electrolysis of aqueous electrolyte solutions containing GeO; hydroxide and water with metal alloy electrodes, such as, copper or tin rich alloy electrodes with alloying elements such as Sn, Pb, Zn, Cu etc, to generate Germane (GeH). Cu-rich alloy electrodes have been demonstrated to increase the GeHcurrent efficiency by almost 20% compared to Cu metal electrodes. Germanium deposition has been found to be either absent or minimal by using Cu-rich alloy electrodes. Several different methods for maintaining the cell performance or restoring the cell performance after a reduction in current efficiency over time, have been identified. A titration-based method for the analysis of the electrolyte, to obtain the concentration of GeOand the concentration of hydroxide has also been disclosed.