Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Jsr Corporation

Hiroshi Shinkai

Shinya Watanabe

Katsuhiko Kohyama

Takaki Nakagawa

Kaoru Fukuda

Seiji Sugiura

Shuhei Goto

Hiroyuki Tanaka

Yoshinori Wariishi

Ryoichiro Takahashi

Narutoshi Sugita

Takashi Kato

Katsumi Hayashi

Yosuke Fujii

Nagayuki Kanaoka

Yukihito Tanaka

Yoshitaka Yamakawa

Kenta Urata

Makoto Higami

Noriaki Osao

Kenichi Tanaka

Masaki Tani

Igor Rozhanskii

Mihoko Kawaharada

Hideo Kato

Tadashi Nishiyama

Naoyuki Enjoji

Shigeru Inai

Yoichi Asano

Ichiro Tanaka

Masaaki Nanaumi

Chikara Iwasawa

Junji Kawai

Akihiro Noda

Yuichiro Hama

Kazuhiko Iwasaki

Toshihiro Ohtsuki

Hayato Kaji

Minako Onodera

Junichi Yano

Takeshi Matsubara

Tsugio Ohba

Takeshi Muro

Satoshi Komatsu

Takanobu Yamamoto

Ichirou Tanaka

Ichirou Baba

A hydrogen communication hole of a water electrolysis apparatus is formed to penetrate in a stacking direction through an anode separator, an electrolyte membrane, and a cathode separator. A communication hole body, which is disposed between an anode current collector and the hydrogen communication hole, includes an inside member facing toward the hydrogen communication hole, and an outside member facing toward the anode current collector. On the outside member, there are provided accommodating chambers in which seal members are accommodated, and an opposing surface that faces toward the inside member without the seal members being interposed therebetween. The accommodating chambers and the hydrogen communication hole communicate via through holes, which are formed in the inside member in a manner so that openings on one end thereof face toward the opposing surface, and openings on another end thereof face toward the hydrogen communication hole.

Water electrolysis apparatus

A membrane electrode assembly with protective film includes a MEA and protective films. The MEA includes a cathode, an anode, and a solid polymer electrolyte membrane interposed between the cathode and the anode. The protective films are joined on the outer end of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane. The membrane electrode assembly has a power generation area and an edge-vicinity area. Recesses for receiving the edge-vicinity area including outer ends of the cathode and the anode are formed in outer portions of a cathode-side separator and an anode-side separator which contact the MEA.

Fuel cell having a recess in the separator

A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly, a first separator, and a second separator. The membrane electrode assembly includes a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, a first electrode, a second electrode, and a resin frame member. The membrane electrode assembly includes a power generation section and a stepped section. The power generation section is located in an interior space of the resin frame member. The solid polymer electrolyte membrane is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode in the power generation section. The stepped section is located on an outer side of the first electrode. The solid polymer electrolyte membrane is provided between the second electrode and the resin frame member in the stepped section. A magnitude of an interference in the stepped section is set to be smaller than a magnitude of an interference in the power generation section.

Fuel cell

An assembling operation of a fuel cell is effectively simplified. With the simple and economical structure, the desired sealing function is achieved. The fuel cell () includes a membrane electrode assembly () and first and second metal separators () sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly (). Connection channels () are provided on the first metal separator (). The connection channels () connect the oxygen-containing gas supply passage () and the oxygen-containing gas discharge passage () to the oxygen-containing gas flow field (). The membrane electrode assembly () has first overlapping portions () overlapped on the connection channels () for sealing the connection channels (). The first overlapping portions () comprise, in effect, a gas diffusion layer.

Fuel cell with protruded gas diffusion layer

Provided is a varnish which contains a solvent and an electrode electrolyte for a solid polymer fuel cell electrolyte, which contains a polymer with a structure having a main chain including a polyphenylene, a side chain including a sulfonic acid group and a repeating structural unit as a side chain including a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic group.

Varnish for a solid polymer fuel cell

The present invention provides an electrode catalyst layer comprising catalyst particles, an ion exchange resin and a water repellent agent. The water repellent agent contains (A) a fluorine-containing copolymer having a structure unit derived from a polyfluoroalkyl-containing (meth)acrylate and/or (B) a fluorine-containing copolymer having a structural unit represented by derived from a fluorine-containing olefin monomer and a structure unit represented derived from a vinyl ether monomer. The electrode catalyst layer contains 0.1 to 20% by weight of the water repellant agent. The electrode catalyst layer exhibits excellent balance between water retention and drainage in an electrode, good power generation performance under any of low humidity and high humidity conditions, and also excellent durability in power generation.

Electrode catalyst layer

An assembling operation of a fuel cell is effectively simplified. With the simple and economical structure, the desired sealing function is achieved. The fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly and first and second metal separators sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly. Connection channels are provided on the first metal separator. The connection channels connect the oxygen-containing gas supply passage and the oxygen-containing gas discharge passage to the oxygen-containing gas flow field. The membrane electrode assembly has first overlapping portions overlapped on the connection channels for sealing the connection channels. The first overlapping portions comprise, in effect, a gas diffusion layer.

The present invention provides an electrode paste which comprises catalyst particles, a solvent and an varnish which comprises a solvent and an electrode electrolyte for a solid polymer fuel cell electrolyte, wherein the electrode electrolyte comprises a polymer with a structure having a main chain including a polyphenylene, a side chain including a sulfonic acid group and a repeating structural unit represented by formula (C) as a side chain including a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic group; wherein the structural variables are defined herein.

Polyphenylene-containing electrode paste

A solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell () is formed from an electrode structure () and first and second separators (). The electrode structure () has a solid polymer electrolyte membrane (), first and second electrode layers (), and first and second diffusion layers (). The first separator () forms a first gas passage (P) through which a fuel gas (H) flows, and the second separator () forms a second gas passage (P) through which an oxidizing gas (A) flows. A first jutting-out portion () of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane () and a second jutting-out portion () of the second diffusion layer () are joined together over the entire peripheries thereof via a cured adhesive layer (), and the second jutting-out portion () is in a state in which it is impregnated by cured adhesive. A seal () of the first separator () is in intimate contact with the surface of the first jutting-out portion (), and a seal () of the second separator () is in intimate contact with the surface of the second jutting-out portion (). It is therefore possible to eliminate the problem of leaked fuel gas and oxidizing gas reacting with each other around the electrode structure.

Solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell and electrode structure for the fuel cell

A cell assembly () includes a first unit cell () and a second unit cell (). The first unit cell () and the second unit cell () are juxtaposed such that electrode surfaces of the first unit cell () and electrode surfaces of the second unit cell () are aligned in parallel with each other. An oxygen-containing gas flow passage () includes a first oxygen-containing gas passage () in the first unit cell (), an oxygen-containing gas connection passage () in a connection passage member (), and a second oxygen-containing gas passage () in the second unit cell (). The first oxygen-containing gas passage (), the oxygen-containing gas connection passage (), and the second oxygen-containing gas passage () are connected serially from the first unit cell () to the second unit cell ().

Solid polymer cell assembly

A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly and first and second metal separators. The first metal separator has first outer protrusions provided outside an oxygen-containing gas flow field. The second metal separator has second outer protrusions provided outside a fuel gas flow field. The first and second protrusions sandwich outer edges of electrode catalyst layers.

A membrane-electrode structure having an electrode catalyst layer adhered to a diffusion electrode, wherein the structure is manufactured by applying a catalyst paste onto a sheet substrate, and then dried to form a plurality of electrode catalyst layers. The electrode catalyst layers are thermally transferred onto each side of a polymer electrolyte membrane to form a laminated body. A first slurry is applied on a carbon substrate layer, and dried to form a water-repellent layer, and then, a second slurry is applied on the water-repellent layer, and dried to form a hydrophilic layer to form a diffusion electrode. The diffusion electrode is then laminated on the electrode catalyst layer through the hydrophilic layer, and then pressed under heating to integrate the laminated body and the diffusion electrode.

Method for producing membrane-electrode structure and polymer electrolyte fuel cell

An electrode for a solid polymer fuel cell includes a gas diffusion layer, an electrode catalyst layer disposed between a solid polymer membrane of the fuel cell and the gas diffusion layer, and a water-holding layer disposed between the gas diffusion layer and the electrode catalyst layer. Under high-relative humidity conditions of reaction gases, flooding can be prevented because the electrode catalyst layer is made porous, while under low-relative humidity conditions of reaction gases, sufficient water contents can be stably provided thanks to the water-holding layer so that proton conductivity of the solid polymer membrane can be maintained appropriately. Consequently, high-performance and high-durability electrode and membrane electrode assembly for a solid polymer fuel cell can be provided such that the performance and the durability thereof are not affected by change in relative humidity in reactant gases supplied to the solid polymer fuel cell.

Electrode for solid polymer fuel cell

A fuel gas inlet is provided at an outer circumferential edge portion of a second separator. First fuel gas flow passage grooves for supplying a fuel gas to an anode electrode are formed on a side of a surface of the second separator. First fuel gas connecting flow passages, which make communication between the fuel gas inlet and the first fuel gas flow passage grooves, include flow passage grooves which are provided on a side of a surface, and through-holes which penetrate through the second separator to make communication with the first fuel gas flow passage grooves. Accordingly, excellent sealing performance is ensured with a simple structure, and it is possible to realize a thin-walled fuel cell.

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell has a catalytic layer comprising a material and a polymer electrolyte, and the catalytic layer contains a fibrous material such as carbon whiskers or hydrophilic fibers. The polymer electrolyte fuel cell in the present invention having a catalytic layer comprising a catalytic material, an ion conducting material, an electron conducting material, and a void forming agent, and voids having diameters of from 60 to 1000 nm in the catalytic layer has a void volume of from 0.15 to 0.25 cm/g.

Electrode for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

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Wako, Japan

Hiroshi Shinkai