Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Audi Ag

Makoto Adachi

Keiichi Kaneko

Naoki Takehiro

Noriyuki Kitao

Hiroko Kimura

Takumi Taniguchi

Yu Ashitaka

Kenji Sato

Masaaki Matsusue

Masayuki Ito

Hideo Nagaosa

Hiroshi Harada

Yusuke Watanabe

Tatsuya Arai

Katsuhiko Kinoshita

Tsutomu Ochi

Tsugio Fujisawa

Rie Takami

Naohiro Mitani

Makoto Ichikawa

Kazuo Shobu

Tomoyuki Soda

Mayumi Yamada

Shogo Ohmori

A fuel cell is provided with: a membrane electrode assembly (MEA); and a cathode-side separator assembled to the MEA, the cathode-side separator including first passages on a first surface of the cathode-side separator on a side closer to the MEA, and second passages on a second surface of the cathode-side separator on an opposite side, the first and second passages allowing oxidant gas to flow through the first and second passages, respectively. The first passages include first recessed portions on the first surface so as to extend from one end of the cathode-side separator to the other end, the second passages include second recessed portions on the second surface so as to extend from the one end to the other end and to be arranged alternately with the first recessed portions, and a penetration hole on a bottom face of the second recessed portion penetrating through the cathode-side separator.

Fuel cell and fuel cell separator

A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly having electrodes disposed on both surfaces of an electrolyte membrane, a gas diffusion layer stacked on one surface of the membrane electrode assembly, a resin frame assembled onto the one surface of the membrane electrode assembly so as to surround the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer apart from the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer, and a resin sheet disposed between the gas diffusion layer and the resin frame, and the membrane electrode assembly so as to fill a space between the inner periphery of the resin frame and the outer periphery of the gas diffusion layer.

Fuel cell and manufacturing method of the same

A fuel cell includes: a membrane electrode assembly of a flat plate shape including an electrolyte membrane and an electrode catalyst layer, the membrane electrode assembly having a first side intersecting a flow pathway of a reactive gas on a surface of the fuel cell and a second side differing from the first side; a frame member of a flat plate shape including an opening part for arrangement of the membrane electrode assembly, the opening part having a first frame side corresponding to the first side and a second frame side corresponding to the second side; and an adhesive member for bonding between an outer periphery of the membrane electrode assembly and an inner periphery of the frame member. The thickness of the adhesive member in an area from an inner peripheral edge at the second frame side toward a center of the frame member may be greater than the thickness of the adhesive member in an area from an inner peripheral edge at the first frame side toward the center of the frame member.

Fuel cell and method of manufacturing fuel cell

Provided is a manufacturing method of a fuel-cell single cell including a membrane-electrode assembly, an anode gas diffusion layer, a cathode gas diffusion layer, and a frame-shaped resin frame to which a peripheral edge portion of the membrane-electrode assembly is fixed. The method includes an adhesive application step of applying an adhesive by screen printing to a predetermined area of the resin frame while fixing the resin frame by suction, and a stacking step and a UV irradiation step of bonding together the resin frame to which the adhesive has been applied and the membrane-electrode assembly by the adhesive.

Manufacturing method of fuel-cell single cell

Bonding dies for producing a fuel cell that can suppress floating of a portion of a resin frame bonded to a membrane electrode assembly include first and second dies facing and contacting respective first and second separators. The first die includes a central receiving portion and an outer periphery receiving portion. The second die includes an inner die that pressurizes a central region of the second separator, and an outer die formed to surround the inner die to thermally compress a peripheral region of the second separator. The inner die extends from a portion corresponding to the central region along an open edge in the resin frame, up to a region closer to an outer periphery side of the electrode assembly than a portion of the resin frame bonded to the membrane electrode assembly, so as to pressurize the resin frame via the other separator.

Bonding dies for fuel cell

The disclosure provides a manufacturing method for a fuel cell. The method includes a heating adhesion step in which a separator and a resin frame are adhered to each other. The heating adhesion step includes a plurality of heating steps in which a laminate is heated, and a conveyance step in which the laminate is conveyed between the heating steps. In the conveyance step, a support portion having a projecting portion projecting towards the laminate is used, and the laminate is supported only by the projecting portion and conveyed.

Manufacturing method for fuel cell including a heat adhesion step

A fuel cell includes a power-generation channel provided on a surface of a cathode-side separator which faces a MEA and a cooling channel provided on a surface of the cathode-side separator opposite to the MEA. Air flows through the power-generation channel and the cooling channel. The cooling channel is separated from the power-generation channel by a side wall. The cross-sectional area of the power-generation channel on the air outlet side is smaller than that of the power-generation channel at a position upstream of the air outlet side, and the cross-sectional area of the cooling channel on the air outlet side is larger than that of the cooling channel at a position upstream of the air outlet side. A through-hole is provided in a side wall that separates the power-generation channel from the cooling channel.

Fuel cell

The present invention is to provide a catalyst for fuel cells, which is able to inhibit gas diffusion resistance and shows high IV characteristics far more than conventional fuel cell catalysts, and a method for producing the catalyst. Disclosed is a catalyst for fuel cells, comprising fine catalyst particles, each of which comprises a palladium-containing particle and an outermost layer containing platinum and covering the palladium-containing particle, and a carrier on which the fine catalyst particles are supported, wherein the catalyst for fuel cells satisfies 0.9&#xd7;S1&#x2264;S2 in which S1 is a BET specific surface area of a material for the carrier, and S2 is a BET specific surface area of the carrier in the catalyst for fuel cells.

Catalyst for fuel cells and method for producing the same

The present invention is to provide a method for producing core-shell catalyst particles with high catalytic activity per unit mass of platinum. Disclosed is a method for producing core-shell catalyst particles including a core containing palladium and a shell containing platinum and covering the shell, wherein the method includes: a step of depositing copper on the surface of the palladium-containing particles by applying a potential that is nobler than the oxidation-reduction potential of copper to the palladium-containing particles in a copper ion-containing electrolyte, and a step of forming the shell by, after the copper deposition step and inside the reaction system kept at &#x2212;3&#xb0; C. or more and 10&#xb0; C. or less, substituting the copper deposited on the surface of the palladium-containing particles with platinum by bringing the copper into contact with a platinum ion-containing solution in which platinum ions and a reaction inhibitor that inhibits a substitution reaction between the copper and the platinum, are contained.

Method for producing core-shell catalyst particles

Disclosed is a method for producing a fine catalyst particle comprising a palladium-containing particle and a platinum outermost layer covering the palladium-containing particle, wherein a first composite body containing palladium and platinum is formed by mixing the palladium-containing particle with a first solution in which a platinum compound is dissolved, and then covering at least part of a surface of the palladium-containing particle with platinum; wherein a second composite body containing palladium, platinum and copper is formed by mixing the first composite body with a second solution in which a copper compound is dissolved, and then covering at least part of a surface of the first composite body with copper using copper underpotential deposition; and wherein the copper in the second composite body is substituted with platinum derived from a third solution in which a platinum compound is dissolved.

Method for producing fine catalyst particle and fuel cell comprising fine catalyst particle produced by the production method

The present invention is to provide fine catalyst particles with better catalytic performance than ever before and a carbon-supported catalyst with better catalytic performance than ever before. Disclosed is a method for producing fine catalyst particles, comprising: a potential applying step of applying a potential to the fine palladium-containing particles in a first dispersion, until a peak indicating a Pd{111} surface in a reduction wave of a cyclic voltammogram becomes larger than a peak indicating a Pd{110} or Pd{100} surface in the reduction wave of the cyclic voltammogram; a copper covering step of covering at least part of the fine palladium-containing particle with copper by preparing a second dispersion by mixing the first dispersion and a copper-containing solution after the potential applying step, and applying a potential that is nobler than the oxidation-reduction potential of copper to the fine palladium-containing particles in the second dispersion; and a platinum covering step of covering at least part of the fine palladium-containing particle with platinum by mixing the second dispersion and a platinum-containing solution after the copper covering step.

Method for producing fine catalyst particles and method for producing carbon-supported catalyst

The present invention is to provide fine catalyst particles to which sulfate ions are less likely to be adsorbed, and a carbon-supported catalyst to which sulfate ions are less likely to be adsorbed. Disclosed is a method for producing fine catalyst particles comprising a fine palladium-containing particle and a platinum-containing outermost layer covering at least part of the fine palladium-containing particle, wherein the method comprises: a copper covering step of covering at least part of the fine palladium-containing particle with copper by preparing a second dispersion by mixing a first dispersion comprising fine palladium-containing particles being dispersed in an acid solution with a copper-containing solution, and applying a potential that is nobler than the oxidation reduction potential of copper to the fine palladium-containing particles in the second dispersion, and a platinum covering step of covering at least part of the fine palladium-containing particle with platinum by substituting the copper covering at least part of the fine palladium-containing particle with platinum by mixing the second dispersion and a platinum-containing solution after the copper covering step, with applying a constant potential that is in a range between a potential that is nobler than the oxidation reduction potential of copper and a potential that is less than the oxidation reduction potential of platinum, to the fine palladium-containing particles.

An object of the present invention is to provide a production method which can increase the activity of a catalyst particle comprising a core particle and an outermost layer, the core particle comprising at least one of palladium and a palladium alloy, and the outermost layer comprising at least one of platinum and a platinum alloy and covering the core particle. The method is for producing a catalyst for fuel cells, in which a catalyst particle is supported by an electroconductive carrier, the method comprising the steps of: preparing a supported catalyst in which a catalyst particle comprising a core particle and an outermost layer is supported by an electroconductive carrier, the core particle comprising at least one of palladium and a palladium alloy, and the outermost layer comprising at least one of platinum and a platinum alloy and covering the core particle; acid treatment to bring the supported catalyst into contact with an acid solution which dissolves palladium more preferentially than platinum; and firing the supported catalyst at 80&#xb0; C. or more and less than 200&#xb0; C. in a reducing gas atmosphere after the acid treatment step.

Growing community of inventors

Numazu, Japan

Makoto Adachi