Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Jx Nippon Oil Energy Corporation

Takahiro Isono

Ikuo Yonezu

Yuko Nowatari

Atsushi Fukui

Shin Fujitani

Koji Nishio

Yasuo Miyake

Hiroshi Watanabe

Mamoru Kimoto

Hiroshi Nakamura

Akira Hamada

Fumiharu Niina

Nobuyuki Higashiyama

Takashi Yasuo

Yoshinori Matsuura

Mitsuzo Nogami

Mitsunori Tokuda

Takaaki Matsubayashi

Kunihiro Nakato

Akio Furukawa

Yumiko Nakamura

Yukinori Akiyama

Yuu Takanashi

Shigeru Sakamoto

Minoru Kaneko

Takatoshi Higuchi

Katsura Kawata

Shunsuke Taniguchi

It is an object of the present invention to provide a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery improved in output after storage in a charged state. An embodiment of the present invention provides a nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery including an electrode assembly having a structure in which a positive plate and a negative plate are stacked with a separator therebetween. The positive plate contains tungsten and a phosphate compound. The negative plate contains a graphitic carbon material as a negative electrode active material and a noncrystalline carbon material stuck on the surface thereof. The negative plate contains tungsten or a tungsten compound on the surface of the noncrystalline carbon material.

Nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery

A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery positive electrode capable of suppressing a decomposition reaction of an electrolyte solution in an overcharged state is provided. A non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery positive electrode according to this embodiment includes a positive electrode active material layer which includes a positive electrode active material () containing a lithium transition metal oxide, a tungsten compound (), a phosphoric acid compound () not in contact with the positive electrode active material (), and an electrically conductive agent () in contact with the tungsten compound () and the phosphoric acid compound ().

Non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery positive electrode and non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery

A fuel cell module includes a cell unit including an electrolyte membrane, a cathode disposed on one face of the electrolyte membrane, and an anode disposed on the other face of the electrolyte membrane, and a water reservoir which stores water produced at the cathode. The water reservoir includes an opening formed in a region other than the cathode of the cell unit, and a projection projecting from the opening to an anode side. The water covering a cathode surface of a fuel cell is reduced.

Fuel cell module with a water reservoir including a water storing portion expanding from a cell unit to an anode side

Provided is a fuel cell having improved ion conductivity in the catalyst layer. The catalyst layer includes a catalytic metal, a carbon particle, and an ion exchanger. The catalytic metal is carried on the carbon particle. The ion exchanger includes a first functional group capable of being adsorbed or bound to the catalytic metal, and a second functional group providing the ion conductivity. The ion exchanger is adsorbed or bound to the catalytic metal via the first functional group. The bond between the catalytic metal and the ion exchanger includes a covalent bond, a coordinate bond or an ion bond.

Catalyst layer for fuel cells and fuel cell using the same

A membrane electrode assembly includes an electrolyte membrane, anode catalyst layers, and cathode catalyst layers provided counter to the anode catalyst layers, respectively. An insulating layer is provided on the electrolyte membrane between adjacent anode catalyst layers. An insulating layer is provided on the electrolyte membrane between adjacent cathode catalyst layers. The resistivity of the insulating layer is preferably identical to or higher than that of the electrolyte membrane.

Membrane electrode assembly and fuel cell

Electro membrane assemblies are formed respectively in openings provided in a substrate. Each membrane electrode assembly is provided with an electrolyte membrane, an anode catalyst layer, and a cathode catalyst layer. A protective layer is provided on the substrate disposed between the adjacent anode catalyst layers. The other protective layer is provided on the substrate disposed between the adjacent cathode catalyst layers. The protective layer and the other protective layer preferably contain a resin whose number of C&#x2014;F bonds is greater than that of the substrate.

Composite membrane, fuel cell, and method for fabricating the composite membranes

The invention provides a polymer electrolyte fuel cell device comprising at least one fuel cell having an anode, a cathode and a polymer electrolyte membrane provided between the anode and cathode, a combustion unit , a fuel gas pipe for introducing therethrough the unreacted portion of a fuel gas discharged from the fuel cell into the combustion unit , and an oxidizer gas supply manifold for supplying oxidizer gas discharged from the combustion unit to the cathode. By partly consuming the oxygen contained in an oxidizer gas supplied from outside, the combustion unit burns the unreacted fuel gas and burns the impurities contained in the oxidizer gas. This feature prevents the polymer electrolyte membrane from drying, affords a high cell voltage without impairment and enables the device to achieve a higher overall efficiency than in the prior art.

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell device

The object of the present invention is to provide fuel cell including a cell that is formed by sandwiching solid polymer membrane between an anode and a cathode that generates electricity with stability and high performance by evenly moistening the solid polymer membrane. For this purpose, in a gas diffusion layer , which is positioned adjacent to a cathode catalyst layer , the content of fluororesin in an area on the side of the entrance for the oxidizer is set to be higher than in another area on the side of the exit so that the water repellency in the entrance side area is higher than in the exit side area. As a result, a water permeation suppressing part A, where the water permeability is relatively low, is formed in the area on the entrance side, while a water permeable part B, where the water permeability is relatively high, is formed in the area on the exit side.

Fuel cell having water permeability adjustment capability

The hydrogen-absorbing alloy electrode for alkaline storage batteries according to the invention comprises a hydrogen absorbing alloy powder prepared by grinding a strip of hydrogen absorbing alloy produced by solidifying a molten alloy by a roll method and satisfying the following relations:

Hydrogen-absorbing alloy electrode for alkaline storage batteries

A hydrogen-absorbing alloy electrode utilizes as an electrode material a hydrogen-absorbing alloy having selectively oriented crystals, which is expressed in terms of a specific maximum value obtained from analysis of powder X-ray diffractometry. This electrode, in which the hydrogen-absorbing alloy used is hardly pulverized upon repeated charge-discharge cycles and oxidation thereof is suppressed, gives metal hydride alkaline secondary batteries having excellent cycle characteristics. A method for evaluating hydogen-absorbing alloys for electrode comprises, utilizing the fact that there exists a clear relationship between specific parameters obtained by analyzing data based on the hydrogen-absorbing alloy to be evaluated and the characteristics of the electrode obtained therefrom, preparing and using analytical curves with the specific parameters. This method can evaluate rapidly and precisely various characteristics of hydrogen-absorbing alloys for electrode, without actually fabricating test cells therefrom.

Hydrogen-absorbing alloy electrode and method for evaluating

Three types of novel hydrogen-absorbing alloy electrodes A, B and C usable for metal hydride secondary batteries are provided. All three types are represented by the general formula AB.sub.x wherein A represents Ti or elements that principally comprise Ti and generate heat upon absorption of hydrogen, B represents Mo and Ni or elements that principally comprise Mo and Ni and absorb heat upon absorption of hydrogen and 0.5.ltoreq.X.ltoreq.2, and are readily producible and difficult to undergo cycle deterioration and need only short activation treatment time. (A) uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy obtained by quenching and solidifying an alloy melt under an atmosphere of a reducing gas containing hydrogen at a cooling rate of at least 1.times.10.sup.3 .degree. C./sec and having on the surface thereof a hydride layer; (B) uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy having a composite phase structure comprising a main phase and a subphase, the average areal ratio of said subphase to said main phase in any cross-section of said alloy being 5 to 20%; and (C) uses a hydrogen-absorbing alloy having a composite structure comprising a main phase and subphase, said main phase comprising crystallites having a major axis length (a) of 0.8 to 6 .mu.m and a ratio of the major axis length (a) to minor axis ratio (b), a/b, of not more than 3.

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Hyogo, Japan

Takahiro Isono