An electrode structure of a flow battery, a flow battery stack, and a sealing structure of the flow battery stack, wherein the density of the vertical tow in the electrode fiber is larger than the density of the parallel tow. In the electrode fiber per unit volume, the quantity ratio of the vertical tow to the parallel tow is at least 6:4. The electrode structure is composed of an odd number of layers of the electrode fibers, and the porosity of other layers is larger than the porosity of the center layer. The electrode structure is mainly composed of the vertical tows perpendicular to the surface of the electrode, so that, firstly, the contact area between the outer surface of the electrode and the adjacent component can be increased and the contact resistance can be reduced, secondly, the electrode is endowed with good mechanical properties, compared with the original structure, the contact resistance of such structure is reduced by 30%-50%; and the layers of the electrode have different thickness depending on the porosity, after compression, the layers with optimized thickness have a consistent porosity, this compressed uniform structure avoids uneven mass transfer phenomena when the electrolyte flows through the electrode, and reduces the concentration polarization of the battery and thereby improving the battery energy output under the given power.

The fuel cell has an anode, a cathode, and a solid electrolyte layer. The cathode contains a main component containing a perovskite oxide of the general formula ABO.sub.3 and includes at least Sr at the A site. The solid electrolyte layer is disposed between the anode and the cathode. The cathode has a surface region and an inner region. The surface region is within 5 m from a surface opposite the solid electrolyte layer. The inner region is formed on a solid electrolyte layer side of the surface region. The surface region and the inner region respectively include a main phase containing the perovskite oxide and a secondary phase containing strontium sulfate. An occupied surface area ratio of the secondary phase in a cross section of the surface region is greater than an occupied surface area ratio of the secondary phase in a cross section of the inner region.

The present invention comprises a plurality of fuel cells connected to each other in series, and a reformer configured to reform raw fuel, wherein reformed fuel by the reformer is supplied to a first stage of the plurality of fuel cells, and the fuel cell on the first stage is provided with a methane reaction suppressing function which suppresses reaction of methane included in the reformed fuel to a larger extent than at least one fuel cell on a second and later stages. Suppressing temperature drop due to endothermic reaction in the fuel cell on the first stage can improve the efficiency of electric power generation of the fuel cell system having the plurality of fuel cells arranged in series.

A solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell comprises a membrane electrode assembly comprising a polymer electrolyte disposed between an anode electrode and a cathode electrode, the anode and cathode electrodes each comprising a catalyst, a central region and a peripheral region, wherein the peripheral region of the cathode electrode comprises a cathode edge barrier layer; a fluid impermeable seal in contact with at least a portion of the anode and cathode peripheral regions and the cathode edge barrier layer; an anode flow field plate adjacent the anode electrode; and a cathode flow field plate adjacent the cathode electrode, wherein the cathode flow field separator plate comprises a cathode peripheral flow channel and at least one cathode central flow channel; wherein at least a portion of the cathode edge barrier layer traverses at least a portion of the cathode peripheral flow channel.

An assembly of electrochemical cells for an electrochemical reactor, including a first electrochemical cell, including a first membrane/electrode assembly including a first anode and a first cathode on either side of a proton exchange membrane; first and second flow guides positioned on either side of the first assembly; a second electrochemical cell, including a second membrane/electrode assembly including a second anode and a second cathode on either side of a proton exchange membrane; third and fourth flow guides on either side of the second membrane/electrode assembly; the first and third flow guides have one and the same geometry; the first anode and the second anode have different distributions of surface densities of electrocatalytic material on respective faces of the first and second proton exchange membranes.

The present disclosure relates to liquid solutions which include particulates that can function as an electrode, thereby forming an electrode solution, useful in the fabrication of liquid flow electrochemical cells and liquid flow batteries. The electrode solutions of the present disclosure may include an electrolyte comprising a liquid medium and at least one redox active specie, wherein the electrolyte has a density, De; and a core-shell particulate (202, 204) having a core, a shell and a density Dp, wherein at least a portion of the shell of the core-shell particulate includes an electrically conductive first metal and wherein 0.8DeDp1.2De; and wherein a first redox active specie of the at least one redox active specie and the electrically conductive first metal are different elements. The present disclosure also provides electrochemical cells and liquid flow batteries comprising an electrode solution according to the present disclosure.

The electrochemical cell includes an anode, a cathode active layer, and a solid electrolyte layer disposed between the anode and the cathode active layer. The cathode active layer includes a first region which is disposed facing the solid electrolyte layer, and a second region which is disposed on the first region. An average particle diameter of first constituent particles which constitute the first region is smaller than an average particle diameter of second constituent particles which constitute the second region.

A lithium air battery includes: a composite cathode including a porous material and a first electrolyte; an anode including lithium metal, and an oxygen blocking layer disposed between the composite cathode and the anode, wherein a weight ratio of the porous material and the first electrolyte in the composite cathode is less than about 1:3. Also a method of manufacturing the lithium air battery.

A rechargeable horizontally configured tri-electrode single flow zinc-air battery with a floating cathode, which is theoretically capable of providing unlimited cycle life is provided. The tri-electrode configuration consists of one anode and two cathodes, one for charging and one for discharging. The charge cathode may comprise a water permeable alkaline resisting metal/mesh foam, which avoids carbon corrosion. The floating discharge cathode comprises an air permeable and water permeable catalytic oxygen reduction electrode, which eliminates or reduces the blockage of air tunnels. The anode comprises an inert, conductive electrode allowing for zinc deposition during battery charging and zinc dissolving during battery discharging. The flowing electrolyte removes zinc ions from the anode preventing or minimizing the formation of zinc oxides during discharging and cleans the anode after each full discharge. The horizontal configuration further eliminates or reduces electrolyte leakage.

A method is provided for determining a spatial distribution (Wc.sub.x,y.sup.f) of a parameter of interest (Wc) representative of a catalytic activity of an active layer of at least one electrode among two electrodes of an electrochemical cell, including steps of providing the cell, within which the parameter of interest (Wc) has an initial spatial distribution (Wc.sub.x,y.sup.i) of one or more values of catalytic load; defining a spatial distribution (T.sub.x,y.sup.c) of a set-point temperature (T.sup.c) within the cell in operation; measuring a spatial distribution (D.sub.x,y.sup.r) of a first thermal quantity (D.sup.r) within the cell in operation; estimating a spatial distribution (Wc.sub.x,y.sup.e) of a second thermal quantity (Q.sup.e) within the cell in operation, depending on the spatial distribution (T.sub.x,y.sup.c) and on the measured spatial distribution (D.sub.x,y.sup.r); and determining the spatial distribution (Wc.sub.x,y.sup.f) of the parameter of interest (Wc) depending on the estimated spatial distribution (Q.sub.x,y.sup.e) of the second thermal quantity (Q.sup.e).