The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 27, 1994
Filed:
Jun. 01, 1993
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Provided is a solid polymer electrolyte type fuel cell which is improved in cell output characteristics by preventing the flooding phenomenon at the interface between the oxygen electrode and the electrolyte membrane, accelerating the gas diffusion and effective utilization of the active surface of the catalyst. This solid polymer electrolyte type fuel cell comprises solid polymer electrolyte membrane 1 and gas diffusion electrodes 2 and 3 provided on both sides of the membrane, said gas diffusion electrodes comprising catalyst layers 6 and 8 and gas diffusion layers 7 and 9 being provided on the outer side of the respective catalyst layers and a hydrogen-containing gas and an oxygen-containing gas being fed to the respective electrodes. In this cell, the water-repellency of the hydrogen electrode 2 is higher than that of the oxygen electrode 3 and furthermore, a gradient of water-repellency is provided in the catalyst layer of each electrode so that the water-repellency in the portion facing to the electrolyte membrane is higher than that in the portion facing to the gas diffusion layer in each catalyst layer. The output density of the cell according to the present invention is as high as 2-3 times that of conventional cells.