Toyo Boseki Kabushiki Kaisha

Yoshimitsu Sakaguchi

Kota Kitamura

Masahiro Yamashita

Satoshi Takase

Tooru Kitagawa

Shiro Hamamoto

Shigenori Nagahara

Kousuke Sasai

Junko Nakao

Hiroki Yamaguchi

Hideki Sugihara

Naoki Mizuno

Shoichi Gyobu

Kazuyuki Yabuki

Fusaki Fujibayashi

Hideaki Ishihara

Hiroaki Taguchi

Mitsuhiro Sakuda

Tetsuo Kodama

Yukihiro Nomura

Hidekazu Yoshida

Naohiko Takimoto

Yusuke Shimizu

Hiroshi Tachimori

Syunji Kurahara

Atsushi Kaji

Miyako Noshiro

Kouta Kitamura

Hisashi Ubara

Koichi Matsuda

Ken Takasugi

There are provided a novel proton-conducting polymer membrane that shows good workability in a fuel cell assembling process and good proton conductivity and durability even under high-temperature, non-humidified conditions, a method for production thereof, and a fuel cell therewith. The proton-conducting polymer membrane includes: a polymer membrane containing a polybenzimidazole compound having a sulfonic acid group and/or a phosphonic acid group; and vinylphosphonic acid contained in the polymer membrane. The fuel cell uses the proton-conducting polymer membrane. The polybenzimidazole compound preferably includes a sulfonic and/or phosphonic acid group-containing component represented by Structural Formula (1): wherein n represents an integer of 1 to 4, Rrepresents a tetravalent aromatic linking unit capable of forming an imidazole ring, Rrepresents a bivalent aromatic linking unit, and Z represents a sulfonic acid group and/or a phosphonic acid group.

Proton conducting polymer membrane, method for production thereof and fuel cell therewith

The present invention relates to a sulfonic acid group-containing polymer excellent in ion conductivity and durability, a method for producing the same, a resin composition containing the sulfonic acid group-containing polymer, a polymer electrolyte membrane, a polymer electrolyte membrane/electrode assembly, and a fuel cell. The sulfonic acid group-containing polymer of the present invention, in a first embodiment, includes a constituent represented by the following chemical formula 1: wherein X represents hydrogen or a monovalent cation species; Y represents a sulfone group or a ketone group; and n represents an arbitrary integer not less than 2.

Sulfonic acid group-containing polymer, method for producing the same, resin composition containing such sulfonic acid group-containing polymer, polymer electrolyte membrane, polymer electrolyte membrane/electrode assembly, and fuel cell

The invention provides a method for producing a polymer electrolyte membrane including (A) a membrane formation step of forming a membrane-form product of an ionic group-containing polymer electrolyte on a support, (B) an acid treatment step of exchanging the ionic group into an acid type by bringing the membrane into contact with an inorganic acid-containing acidic liquid, (C) an acid removal step of removing a free acid in the acid-treated membrane, and (D) a drying step of drying the acid-removed membrane, wherein the steps (B) to (D) are carried out without separating the membrane from the support.

Method for producing a polymer electrolyte membrane

A proton exchange membrane is obtained which can give an excellent power generation characteristic when the membrane is applied to, in particular, a fuel cell wherein high-concentration methanol is used as a fuel. In the aromatic hydrocarbon based proton exchange membrane of the invention, the ion exchange capacity is set into the range of 0.6 to 1.3 meq/g. Moreover, the area swelling rate for a 30% by mass methanol aqueous solution at 40&#xb0; C. is set into the range of 2 to 30%. Preferably, a sulfonic acid group is bonded to an aromatic ring of the aromatic hydrocarbon based polymer contained in the aromatic hydrocarbon based proton exchange film. Preferably, the aromatic hydrocarbon based polymer is a polyarylene ether based polymer.

Aromatic hydrocarbon based proton exchange membrane and direct methanol fuel cell using same

A proton-conducting polymer composition which contains an aromatic hydrocarbon type of proton-conducting polymer in an amount of 1 to 30 mass %, wherein a component of said proton-conducting polymer having a molecular weight in the range of 2,000 to 230,000 in terms of polyethylene glycol accounts for 10 mass % or more of the total amount of said proton-conducting polymer; a method for preparing the proton-conducting polymer composition, a catalyst ink comprising the proton-conducting polymer composition and a fuel cell including the catalyst ink. The above proton-conducting polymer composition can well exploit the performance capability of a catalyst of a fuel cell, especially when it is allowed to be present with the electrode of a fuel cell.

Proton-conducting polymer composition and method for preparation thereof, catalyst ink containing said proton-conducting polymer composition and fuel cell including said catalyst ink

A polyarylene ether-based compound according to the present invention includes polymer components represented in general formula (1) and general formula (2): wherein Ar indicates a divalent aromatic group, Y indicates a sulfone group or a ketone group, X indicates H or a monovalent cation species, and Ar' indicates a divalent aromatic group.

Polyarylene ether compound containing sulfonic acid group, composition containing same, and method for manufacturing those

A composite ion exchange membrane having a high swelling resistance and being superior in mechanical strength and ion conductivity can be provided by means of an composite ion exchange membrane including an ion exchange resin composition and a support membrane having a continuous pore penetrating the support membrane, wherein the support membrane is one which accepts the ion exchange resin composition within the pore, and wherein the ion exchange resin composition is one which contains an ion exchange resin containing, as a main component, an aromatic polyether and/or its derivative, the aromatic polyether being obtained by mixing a compound having a specific structure, an aromatic dihalogenated compound and a bisphenol compound with a carbonate and/or a bicarbonate of an alkali metal and polymerizing the mixture in an organic solvent.

Composite ion-exchange membrane

The present invention provides a composite ion exchange membrane which has high mechanical strength and is suitable for use as a solid polymer electrolyte membrane excellent in ionic conductivity and a method for its production. The invention is achieved by a composite ion exchange membrane including a composite layer comprising a support membrane with continuous voids formed of polybenzazole polymer, the support membrane being impregnated with ion exchange resin, and surface layers formed of ion exchange resin free of support membranes, the surface layers being formed on both surfaces of the composite layer so as to sandwich the composite layer therebetween.

Composite ion exchange membrane and electrolyte membrane electrode assembly

An object of the present invention is to obtain a novel polymeric material capable of forming a solid polymer electrolyte excellent not only in processability, solvent resistance and durability/stability but also in ion conductivity by introducing sulfonic acid group or phosphonic acid group into a polybenzazole compound having excellent properties in view of heat resistance, solvent resistance, mechanical characteristics and the like. Means attaining the object of the present invention is a polybenzazole compound including an aromatic dicarboxylic acid bond unit having sulfonic acid group and/or phosphonic acid group and satisfying either a condition that inherent viscosity measured in concentrated sulfuric acid is in the range of 0.25 to 10 dl/g or a condition that inherent viscosity measured in a methanesulfonic acid solution is in the range of 0.1 to 50 dl/g. The object of the present invention can be attained also by a resin composition containing the aforementioned polybenzazole compound, a resin molding, a solid polymer electrolyte membrane, a solid polymer electrolyte membrane/electrode assembly and a method of preparing the solid polymer electrolyte membrane/electrode assembly.

Polybenzazole compound having sulfonic acid group and/or phosphonic acid group, resin composition containing the same, resin molding, solid polymer electrolyte membrane, solid polymer electrolyte membrane/electrode assembly and method of preparing assembly

An oxygen-absorbing material including a transition metal compound and one or more thermoplastic resins, when used for a molded product such as container, exhibits excellent gas-barrier and oxygen-absorbing properties. The material absorbs oxygen from contents and blocks oxygen from entering so that the contents can be maintained in an oxygen-free state for a long period of time. An excellent oxygen-absorbing property is achieved by an amino group content of 20 mmol/kg or lower in at least one thermoplastic resin and by lowering the crystallinity of the thermoplastic resin.

Oxygen-absorbing material

Polybenzazole fibers wherein the mean square roughness of the fiber surface is 20 nm or less, or polybenzazole fibers wherein the X-ray meridian diffraction half-height width factor is 0.3&deg;/GPa or less, and their utilization such as shock-resistant members and heat-resistant felt, etc.

Polybenzazole fibers and their utilization

Polyester fibers having high tenacity and high modulus can be produced practically and economically by melt-spinning a copolyester at a take-up speed of 3,000 meters/min. or more. The copolyester comprises at least 60 mol % of ethylene terephthalate units, has a persistence length of 15 angstroms or more and does not show a liquid crystalline nature in the molten state.

Growing community of inventors

Otsu, Japan

Yoshimitsu Sakaguchi