Abstract: The invention relates to an electrochemical cell which has an electrode, a membrane disposed in contact with one side of the electrode and a current bus disposed on the other side of the electrode. A current distributor which is disposed between the electrode and the current bus distributes current to the electrode by electronic conduction. The current distributor is made of a non-porous layer of a conductive polymer composite material. The current distributor thus provides a barrier between the current bus and the reactant and the product of the cell. This is especially important in aggressive environments, such as hydrogen chloride. Thus, the cell of the present invention is particularly useful in converting anhydrous hydrogen halide directly to essentially dry halogen gas, such as anhydrous hydrogen chloride to chlorine gas, or in converting aqueous hydrogen chloride to wet chlorine gas.

Abstract: The invention relates to an electrochemical cell which has an electrode, which may be either an anode or a cathode, and a membrane disposed in contact with one side of the electrode. An anode current bus is disposed on the other side of the anode, and a cathode current bus is disposed on the other side of the cathode. An anode current distributor collects current from the anode current bus and distributes it to the anode by electronic conduction, and a cathode current distributor collects current from the cathode and distributes it to the cathode bus by electronic conduction. The anode or the cathode current distributor is made of a metal which is treated by either nitriding, boriding or carbiding the metal in order to make the metal oxide growth resistant. In particular, the current distributor comprises tantalum that has been nitrided to form Ta.sub.2 N. The current distributor thus provides a barrier between the current bus and the electrode, and the anolyte, catholyte and products of the cell.