Asahi Glass Company, Limited

Panasonic Corporation

Agc Inc.

Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Takashi Ohmori

Shunichi Samejima

Shinsuke Morikawa

Shin Tatematsu

Keiichi Ohnishi

Hidekazu Okamoto

Toshihiro Tanuma

Masaru Yoshitake

Atsushi Watakabe

Shinji Kinoshita

Takeshi Eriguchi

Yasuhiro Kunisa

Hiroshi Shimoda

Koichi Yanase

Toru Kawasaki

Ryutaro Takei

Satoru Hommura

Seigo Kotera

Hiroyuki Watabe

Toshiya Matsubara

Hirokazu Wakabayashi

Chunxin Ji

Hubert Gasteiger

Hideki Nakagawa

Katsutoshi Misuda

Shinji Terazono

Susan Yan

Bhaskar Sompalli

Kohta Yamada

Atsuo Okawara

Masahiro Kaseda

Masako Harasawa

A catalyst layer including: a catalyst-supported carbon including a catalyst including platinum supported on a carbon carrier; and an ionomer, in which the catalyst-supported carbon has a mesopore having a pore diameter of from 2 nm to less than 10 nm in a pore distribution obtained by a nitrogen adsorption method, at least a part of the ionomer exists in the mesopore having a pore diameter of from 2 nm to less than 10 nm, a content of the ionomer with respect to 100 parts by mass of the carbon carrier is 100 parts by mass or more, and an occupancy rate of the ionomer in a total volume of the mesopore having a pore diameter of from 2 nm to less than 10 nm is 50% by volume or less.

Catalyst layer, membrane electrode assembly for solid polymer fuel cell, and solid polymer fuel cell

To provide methods for producing a liquid composition, a coating liquid for a catalyst layer and a membrane electrode assembly, capable of making cracking less likely to occur at the time of forming a solid polymer electrolyte membrane or a catalyst layer. A copolymer having a structural unit represented by &#x2014;[CF&#x2014;CF{(OCFCFX)O(CF)SOH}]&#x2014; (wherein X: F or CF, m: 1 to 3, p: 0 or 1, and n: an integer of 1 to 12) and a structural unit derived from tetrafluoroethylene, is dispersed in a medium containing water and a hydrocarbon-type alcohol (but not including a fluorinated solvent) to prepare a dispersion wherein the concentration of the copolymer is from 13 to 26 mass %, and the dispersion and a fluorinated solvent are mixed so that the sum of the concentration of the copolymer and the concentration of the fluorinated solvent becomes to be from 17 to 35 mass %, to prepare a liquid composition.

Methods for producing liquid composition, coating liquid for catalyst layer and membrane electrode assembly

To provide a polymer electrolyte fuel cell having a high cell voltage. A polymer electrolyte fuel cellcomprising

Polymer electrolyte fuel cell

To provide a method for producing a liquid composition or a coating liquid for forming a catalyst layer, which can make cracking less likely to occur at the time of forming a solid polymer electrolyte membrane or a catalyst layer; and a method for producing a membrane electrode assembly, which can make cracking less likely to occur at the time of forming the catalyst layer or the solid polymer electrolyte membrane. This liquid composition is prepared by dispersing in a medium containing water and a hydrocarbon-type alcohol a polymer (x) having a structural unit having a ring structure and a structural unit having an ion exchange group, or a polymer (y) having either one or both of a structural unit having two ion-exchange groups in a pendant group and a structural unit having one ion exchange group in a short-chain pendant group, to prepare a dispersion in which the concentration of the polymer (x) or the polymer (y) is from 10 to 26 mass %, and mixing the dispersion and a fluorinated solvent so that the sum of the concentration of the polymer (x) or the polymer (y) and the concentration of the fluorinated solvent becomes to be from 12 to 35 mass %.

Method for producing liquid composition, method for producing coating liquid for forming catalyst layer, and method for producing membrane electrode assembly

A process is provided whereby a membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells whereby a high output voltage is obtainable within a wide range of current densities. A process for producing a membrane/electrode assemblycomprising a first electrodehaving a first catalyst layerand a first gas diffusion layer, a second electrodehaving a second catalyst layerand a second gas diffusion layer, and an electrolyte membrane, wherein the first gas diffusion layer, a first intermediate having the first catalyst layerformed on the surface of the electrolyte membraneby coating followed by annealing, and a second intermediate having the second catalyst layerformed on the surface of the second gas diffusion layerby coating, are bonded, so that the first catalyst layeris located between the first gas diffusion layerand the electrolyte membrane, and the second catalyst layeris located between the second gas diffusion layerand the electrolyte membrane

Process for producing membrane/ electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

A membrane electrode assembly less susceptible to flooding or shortcircuiting caused by piercing of carbon fibers of a gas diffusion layer to a polymer electrolyte membrane is provided, containing a cathode having a catalyst layer and a gas diffusion layer, an anode having a catalyst layer and a gas diffusion layer, and a polymer electrolyte membrane interposed between the catalyst layer of the cathode and the catalyst layer of the anode, wherein each of the cathode and the anode further has a protective layer containing carbon fibers having an average fiber diameter of from 1 to 30 &#x3bc;m and a fluorinated ion exchange resin, between the catalyst layer and the gas diffusion layer, and the mass ratio (F/C) of the fluorinated ion exchange resin (F) to the carbon fibers (C) contained in the protective layer is from 0.05 to 0.30.

Membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

To provide a membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells, capable of achieving high power generation performance under low or no humidity operation conditions, and a process for producing a cathode for polymer electrolyte fuel cells. A membrane/electrode assembly, comprising:

Membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cell and process for producing cathode for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

A solid polymer electrolyte material made of a copolymer comprising a repeating unit based on a fluoromonomer A which gives a polymer having an alicyclic structure in its main chain by radical polymerization, and a repeating unit based on a fluoromonomer B of the following formula (1):CF&#x2550;CF(R)SOX&#x2003;&#x2003;(1)wherein j is 0 or 1, X is a fluorine atom, a chlorine atom or OM {wherein M is a hydrogen atom, an alkali metal atom or a group of NRRRR(wherein each of R, R, Rand Rwhich may be the same or different, is a hydrogen atom or a monovalent organic group)}, and Ris a Cpolyfluoroalkylene group having a straight chain or branched structure which may contain ether oxygen atoms.

Solid polymer electrolyte material, liquid composition, solid polymer fuel cell and fluoropolymer

A process comprising: providing a substrate with a catalyst layer thereon; depositing a first ionomer overcoat layer over the catalyst layer, the first ionomer overcoat layer comprising an ionomer and a first solvent; drying the first ionomer overcoat layer to provide a first electrode ionomer overcoat layer; depositing a second ionomer overcoat layer over the first electrode ionomer overcoat layer, and wherein the second ionomer overcoat layer comprises an ionomer and a second solvent.

Method of making fuel cell components including a catalyst layer and a plurality of ionomer overcoat layers

In the production of a membrane/electrode assembly, a first catalyst layer(a second catalyst layer) is formed by a process comprising steps (a) and (b). (a) A step of applying a coating fluid comprising a catalyst and an ion-exchange resin, on a substrate to form a coating fluid layer. (b) A step of disposing a reinforcing layer() on the coating fluid layer formed in the step (a) and then, drying the coating fluid layer to form a first catalyst layer(a second catalyst layer) The process provides a catalyst layer whereby defects such as cracks are scarcely formed in the catalyst layer, and the bond strength is high at the interface between the catalyst layer and a reinforcing layer and at the interface between the catalyst layer and a polymer electrolyte membrane.

Process for forming catalyst layer, and process for producing membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Provided are a process for producing a membrane/electrode assembly for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell and a process for producing a polymer electrolyte fuel cell, capable of achieving a high output voltage in a wide current density range. At least one of an anode and a cathode in a membrane/electrode assembly for a polymer electrolyte fuel cell is formed through a catalyst layer forming step of applying a first coating fluid containing a catalyst and an ion exchange resin, onto a substrate to form a catalyst layer; a gas diffusion layer forming step of applying a second coating fluid containing carbon fibers and an ion exchange resin, onto the catalyst layer to form a gas diffusion layer to serve as an outermost layer of the membrane/electrode assembly for the polymer electrolyte fuel cell; and a peeling step of peeling the substrate off from the catalyst layer. The membrane/electrode assembly for the polymer electrolyte fuel cell is disposed between two separators each having a gas channel formed on a surface thereof so that surfaces of the outermost layers are adjacent to the respective separators, whereby the gas diffusion layer is adjacent to the separator.

Process for producing membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cell and process for producing polymer electrolyte fuel cell

To provide a membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells capable of obtaining a high output voltage even in a high current density region, by providing electrodes having good gas diffusion properties, conductivity, water repellency and durability. A membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells, comprising; an anode and a cathode each having a catalyst layer containing a catalyst and having a gas diffusion layer; and a polymer electrolyte membrane disposed between the catalyst layer of the anode and the catalyst layer of the cathode, characterized in that at least one of the above anode and cathode, has a carbon layer containing a fluorinated ion exchange resin and carbon nanofibers having a fiber diameter of from 1 to 1,000 nm and a fiber length of at most 1,000 &#x3bc;m, disposed between the catalyst layer and the gas diffusion layer.

Process for producing membrane/electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Growing community of inventors

Chiyoda-ku, Japan

Toshihiro Tanuma