Nitto-denko Corporation

Japan Atomic Energy Agency

Soji Nishiyama

Yozo Nagai

Toshimitsu Tachibana

Masaru Yoshida

Masaharu Asano

Tetsuya Yamaki

Hiroyuki Higuchi

Kiichiro Matsushita

Jinhua Chen

Yasunari Maekawa

Ryoichi Matsushima

Yousuke Morita

Yutaka Kishii

An object is to provide an electrolyte membrane that maintains excellent cell characteristics for a long time under high temperature and low water retention, as this is the most important point in fuel cells. A process for producing a polymer electrolyte membrane for fuel cells is provided, which process comprises in sequence: forming graft molecular chains by graft-polymerization of a vinyl silane coupling agent on a polymer film substrate that has phenyl groups capable of holding sulfonic acid groups; introducing sulfonic acid groups into phenyl groups contained in the graft molecular chains; and hydrolyzing and condensing alkoxy groups contained in the graft molecular chains so that a silane crosslinked structure is introduced between the graft molecular chains. A polymer electrolyte membrane produced by the process is also provided.

Silane crosslinked structure-introduced fuel-cell polymer electrolyte membrane and fuel-cell electrode assembly having the same

Polymer ion-exchange membranes having outstanding electrical conductivity, water retention and oxidation resistance are produced by the steps of uniformly mixing an organic high-molecular weight resin with functional inorganics having the abilities to promote graft polymerization of polymerizable monomers, adsorb water and conduct protons, irradiating the resulting functional inorganics/polymer membrane to initiate graft polymerization or graft copolymerization of polymerizable monomers having functional groups, and then introducing sulfonic acid groups into the graft chains.

Process or producing hybrid ion-exchange membranes comprising functional inorganics and graft polymer and electrolyte membranes for use in fuel cells comprising the hybrid ion-exchange membranes

A crosslinked nano-inorganic particle/polymer electrolyte membrane composed of a polymer film substrate, graft molecular chains bound to the backbone skeleton of the polymer film substrate and comprising a vinyl monomer graft-polymerized, sulfonic groups bound to the graft molecular chains, and an inorganic material as nano-scale particles uniformly dispersed within a crosslinked structure ascribed to the backbone skeleton of the polymer film substrate and the graft molecular chains, wherein the backbone skeleton of the polymer film substrate, the graft molecular chains, and the nano-inorganic particles mutually construct a crosslinked structure.

Crosslinked nano-inorganic particle/polymer electrolyte membrane for membrane electrode assembly

By performing photograft polymerization of functional monomers such that grafted chains will be introduced from the surface of a polymer base film into its interior without deteriorating its inherent characteristics and also by creating a multiplex crosslinked structure between the grafted chains and the base film under such conditions as to cause preferential radiation-induced crosslinking reaction, there is produced a polymer electrolyte membrane having high enough oxidation resistance and proton conductivity to be suitable for use in fuel cells.

Process for producing polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells, polymer electrolyte membranes for fuel cells produced by the process, and fuel cell membrane-electrode assemblies using the membranes

A method for producing a polymer electrolyte membrane for electrolyte fuel cells includes: irradiating gamma rays onto a polymer substrate to obtain a crosslinked polytetrafluoroetylene substrate, grafting a styrenic monomer and bis(vinylphenyl)ethane as monomers to the crosslinked polymer substrate, and introducing sulfonic acid groups into graft side chains formed by grafting. Fluoro polymer substrates such as polytetrafluoroethylene and ethylene tetrafluoroethylene copolymer may be used.

Methods for producing a polymer electrolyte membrane having improved oxidation resistance

The objective of the invention is to solve the problems of conventional polymer electrolyte membranes, including small ion-exchange capacity and low oxidation and methanol resistance. A polymer film substrate is irradiated with &#x3b3;-rays, electron beams or other radiations to perform multi-graft polymerization with functional monomers and then the polymer film substrate containing the grafted molecular chains or the graft molecular chains into which sulfonic acid groups have been introduced is crosslinked by irradiation to produce a polymer electrolyte membrane that has outstanding oxidation resistance, dimensional stability, electrical conductivity and methanol resistance and which can be controlled in ion-exchange capacity over a wide range.

Highly durable polymer electrolytic membrane for a fuel cell having a cross-linked structure

Process for producing hybrid ion-exchange membranes comprising functional inorganics and graft polymer and electrolyte membranes for use in fuel cells comprising the hybrid ion-exchange membranes

A polymer electrolyte membrane for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, that overcomes disadvantages of the conventional polymer ion-exchange membranes including fluorine-based polymer electrolyte membranes and can maintain cell characteristics even in use over a long period of time (e.g., several thousand hours). The polymer electrolyte membrane comprises a fluorine polymer substrate having grafted thereon monomers having sulfone groups as a cation-exchange group, wherein a main chain of the graft chain comprises a hydrocarbon or a partially fluorinated hydrocarbon, and sulfone groups or substituents having sulfone groups are bonded as a side chain, and wherein in element compositional ratio by ESCA, at least one surface of the polymer electrolyte membrane has O/S value of 5.0 or higher, and a surface element proportion of S is 0.4-5.0%.

Polymer electrolyte membrane having excellent durability

A separator for battery which exhibits a low electrical resistivity at normal time, good SD characteristics and a high mechanical strength is disclosed. A high molecular weight polypropylene having a weight average molecular weight of 500,000 or more and a polyethylene having a melting point of from 100.degree. to 140.degree. C. are extruded through a T-die film-forming machine to prepare a laminate film comprising a laminate of the high molecular polypropylene layer and the polyethylene layer. The laminate film is stretched at a temperature as low as from -20.degree. C. to 80.degree. C. by 10% to 100% based on the length of the original film, stretched at a temperature as high as 80.degree. C. to 130.degree. C. by 60% to 300% based on the length of the unstretched film, and then shrunk at the same temperature by 5% to 30% based on the length of the stretched film to render the film porous. Thus, a porous laminate film having a Gurley value of from 200 to 1,500 is prepared as a separator for battery.

Separator for battery

A porous film of a laminate structure, comprising a porous inner layer comprising polyethylene as the essential component, and having formed on both surfaces thereof a porous outer layer comprising polypropylene and having a Vickers hardness of 10 or more. The porous film is suitable as a separator for a lithium battery, and when the porous film is superposed with a positive electrode and a negative electrode, the film is difficult to be scratched and perforated at the assembly of cells. A production method of the porous film is also provided.

Porous film and method of producing the same

A porous film, a process for producing the same, a battery separator comprising the porous film, and a battery having incorporated therein the separator are disclosed. The porous film comprises a polyethylene and a polypropylene as the essential components, wherein the polyethylene content in the total weight of polyethylene and polypropylene is from 2 to 40% by weight and the polyethylene content is changed in the direction of the thickness of the film, and is produced by forming a laminate film comprising at least one polypropylene layer and at least one layer of a mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene as the essential components, the polyethylene content in the film being from 2 to 40% by weight, uniaxially stretching the laminate film at a low-temperature range of from -20.degree. C. to 80.degree. C. and then stretching the film at a high-temperature range of from 90.degree. C. to 150.degree. C.

Growing community of inventors

Ibaraki, Japan

Soji Nishiyama