An innovative fuel cell system with membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) includes a polymer electrolyte membrane, a gas diffusion layer (GDL) made of porous metal foam, and a catalyst layer. A fuel cell has a metal foam layer that improves efficiency and lifetime of the conventional gas diffusion layer, which consists of both gas diffusion barrier (GDB) and microporous layer (MPL). This metal foam GDL enables consistent maintenance of the suitable structure and even distribution of pores during the operation. Due to the combination of mechanical and physical properties of metallic foam, the fuel cell is not deformed by external physical strain. Among many other processing methods of open-cell metal foams, ice-templating provides a cheap, easy processing route suitable for mass production. Furthermore, it provides well-aligned and long channel pores, which improve gas and water flow during the operation of the fuel cell.

The present invention provides a micro-porous layer which provides a fuel battery having high productivity, high power generation performance, and high durability. The present invention provides a micro-porous layer including fibrous carbohydrate having a fiber diameter of 5 nm-10 μm and an aspect ratio of 10 or more. The carbohydrate has an oxygen/carbon element ratio of 0.02 or more.

The present invention relates to an electrochemical fuel cell device having stacked cells and a membrane-electrode assembly (20). The membrane-electrode assembly (20) comprises, amongst others, a first gas diffusion layer (21) arranged on one side of a membrane (23) and a second gas diffusion layer (22) arranged on the opposite side of the membrane (23) for distributing fluids across each side of the membrane (23). The first gas diffusion layer (21) is formed to extend across and beyond planar dimensions of the membrane (23) (an active area of the stack) into at least one transition region adjacently arranged to the planar dimensions of the membrane (23) for covering an interfacing surface in the fuel cell stack within the transition region, and the second gas diffusion layer (22) is formed to extend across the planar dimensions of the membrane (23) without extending beyond, or is formed to extend across and beyond the planar dimensions of the membrane (23) into another one of the at least one region adjacently arranged to the planar dimensions of the membrane (23) which is a transition region of the fuel cell stack for accommodating fluid flow to and from the fuel cell for covering an interfacing surface of the fuel cell stack.

Methods of making alkaline exchange catalytic electrodes for electrochemical devices are provided, as well as fuel cells, electrolyzers and dual reversible devices with provided electrodes and/or membrane-electrode assemblies. Methods comprise preparing a catalyst dispersion by mixing catalyst nanoparticles and polymer precursor dispersion in a solvent. The polymer precursor(s) comprise multiple types of monomer units with multiple types of functional groups that include non-cationic functional group(s) and anion-conductive functional group(s). Consecutively, the catalyst dispersion is deposited on a functional substrate and the solvent is evaporated to form a catalyst layer, and then the non-cationic functional group(s) and/or the anion-conductive group(s) are crosslinked to stabilize the catalyst layer. Membrane-electrode assemblies may be formed by the provided methods, and used in various types of electrochemical devices.

A precursor fiber sheet includes short carbon fibers having an average length of 3 to 10 mm, natural pulp having an ash content of 0.15 mass % or less, and a heat-carbonizable resin, and a porous carbon sheet is obtained by carbonizing the precursor fiber sheet. This enhances gas diffusibility and water removal properties of the porous carbon sheet and has high mechanical strength and few appearance defects even when the bulk density of the porous carbon sheet is lowered.

The present disclosure relates to a gas diffusion layer structure for a unit cell of a fuel cell, the gas diffusion layer structure includes a gas diffusion layer disposed between a catalyst layer and a separator of the unit cell of the fuel cell, in which the gas diffusion layer includes a microporous layer positioned adjacent to the catalyst layer, and a base layer positioned between the microporous layer and the separator, in which the base layer includes: a microporous layer adjacent region disposed adjacent to the microporous layer, and a gas channel adjacent region disposed adjacent to the separator, and in which the gas diffusion layer is pressed so that a solid volume fraction of the gas channel adjacent region and the microporous layer adjacent region increases to a target solid volume fraction.

Embodiments of the invention include fuel cells incorporating sheets and/or powders of silica fibers and methods for producing such devices. The silica fibers may be formed via electrospinning of a sol gel produced with a silicon alkoxide reagent, such as tetraethyl ortho silicate, alcohol solvent, and an acid catalyst.

A solid polymer electrolyte membrane having a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface, where the solid polymer electrolyte membrane has a failure force greater than about 115 grams and comprises a composite membrane consisting essentially of (a) at least one expanded PTFE membrane having a porous microstructure of polymeric fibrils, and (b) at least one ion exchange material impregnated throughout the porous microstructure of the expanded PTFE membrane so as to render an interior volume of the expanded PTFE membrane substantially occlusive; (c) at least one substantially occlusive, electronically insulating first composite layer interposed between the expanded PTFE membrane and the first surface, the first composite layer comprising a plurality of first carbon particles supporting a catalyst comprising platinum and an ion exchange material, wherein a plurality of the first carbon particles has a particle size less than about 75 nm, or less than about 50 nm, or less than about 25 nm.

The present disclosure provides a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with high-efficiency water and heat management for a direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC), and a fabrication method therefor, and belongs to the technical field of fuel cells. In the MEA for a DEFC in the present disclosure, a cathode catalyst layer is designed to be convex and ordered and an anode catalyst layer is designed to be concave and ordered, which is conducive to the timely discharge of the generated heat. The MEA for a DEFC can be fabricated by gradually fabricating each layer of the MEA on an inner surface and an outer surface of a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) or by step-by-step dip coating on an anode support tube. The present disclosure can effectively improve the working capacity of the cell.

An active layer for a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) including at least two perfluorosulfonate ionomers.