Panasonic Corporation

Atsushi Nogi

Yoichiro Tsuji

Takeou Okanishi

Aoi Muta

Haruhiko Shintani

Takashi Nakagawa

Yasuo Takebe

Miho Gemba

A fuel cell of the present invention includes a membrane-electrode assembly (), an anode separator (), and a cathode separator (). The membrane-electrode assembly () includes: a polymer electrolyte membrane (); a first anode catalyst layer (A) and an anode gas diffusion layer () sequentially stacked on one of main surfaces of the polymer electrolyte membrane (); a second anode catalyst layer (B) disposed between the polymer electrolyte membrane () and the first anode catalyst layer (A); and a cathode catalyst layer () and a cathode gas diffusion layer () sequentially stacked on the other main surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane (). The second anode catalyst layer (B) contains a catalyst which adsorbs a sulfur compound.

Fuel cell, membrane-electrode assembly, and membrane-catalyst layer assembly

A membrane-membrane reinforcing member assembly includes: a polymer electrolyte membrane () having a substantially quadrilateral shape; a membrane-like first membrane reinforcing member () disposed on a first main surface (F) of the polymer electrolyte membrane () to bend at a substantially right angle at a corner of the polymer electrolyte membrane () and extend along sides forming the corner; and a membrane-like second membrane reinforcing member () disposed on a second main surface (F) of the polymer electrolyte membrane () to bend at a substantially right angle at a corner of the polymer electrolyte membrane () and extend along sides forming the corner, and the first membrane reinforcing member () and the second membrane reinforcing member () are disposed to extend along four sides of the polymer electrolyte membrane () as a whole.

Membrane-membrane reinforcing member assembly, membrane-catalyst layer assembly, membrane-electrode assembly, and polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A membrane-membrane reinforcing member assembly includes: a polymer electrolyte membrane () having a substantially square shape; a pair of membrane-like first membrane reinforcing members () disposed on one main surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane () so as to extend along a pair of opposed sides, respectively, of four sides of said one main surface; and a pair of membrane-like second membrane reinforcing members () disposed on another main surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane () so as to extend along a pair of opposed sides, respectively, of four sides of said another main surface, wherein: portions of the polymer electrolyte membrane () at which portions the first membrane reinforcing members () and the second membrane reinforcing members () are disposed are concave; and the first membrane reinforcing members () and the second membrane reinforcing members () are disposed such that main surfaces thereof are exposed, and the first membrane reinforcing members () and the second membrane reinforcing members () surround a peripheral portion of the polymer electrolyte membrane () as a whole.

Membrane-membrane reinforcing membrane assembly, membrane-catalyst layer assembly, membrane-electrode assembly, and polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A membrane membrane-reinforcement-member assembly, membrane catalyst-layer assembly, membrane electrode assembly, and polymer electrolyte fuel cell are provided, which are so configured as to ensure sufficient durability and a cost reduction in unit cells and be suited for mass production. To this end, a membrane membrane-reinforcement-member assembly () of a membrane catalyst-layer assembly () provided in an MEA () of a cell () has a polymer electrolyte membrane (), a pair of first membrane reinforcement members () and a pair of second membrane reinforcement members () which members (), () are embedded in the polymer electrolyte membrane () such that their main surfaces are not exposed therefrom. The first and second membrane reinforcement members (), () are embedded in a parallelogrammatic fashion so as to overlap each other in the four corners of the polymer electrolyte membrane () when viewed in a thickness direction of the polymer electrolyte membrane.

Growing community of inventors

Aichi, Japan

Atsushi Nogi