One embodiment includes a method of forming a hydrophilic particle containing electrode including providing a catalyst; providing hydrophilic particles suspended in a liquid to form a liquid suspension; contacting said catalyst with said liquid suspension; and, drying said liquid suspension contacting said catalyst to leave said hydrophilic particles attached to said catalyst.

A fuel cell, a reinforced membrane electrode assembly and a method of fabricating a reinforced membrane electrode assembly. The method comprises depositing an electrode ink onto a first substrate to form a first electrode layer, applying a first porous reinforcement layer on a surface of the first electrode layer to form a first catalyst coated substrate, depositing a first ionomer solution onto the first catalyst coated substrate to form a first ionomer layer, and applying a membrane porous reinforcement layer on a surface of the first ionomer layer to form a reinforced membrane layer.

Disclosed are a catalyst layer for a fuel cell, including a carbon carrier having pores, a catalyst metal carried on the carbon carrier, and an ionomer covering the carbon carrier, wherein the crystal length of the carbon carrier is not less than 6 nm, and the coverage of the catalyst metal by the ionomer is 55% to 65%, and a method for the production of a catalyst layer for a fuel cell, including heat-treating a carbon carrier having pores, heat-treating the heat-treated carbon carrier under an oxygen atmosphere to activate the carbon carrier, allowing the activated carbon carrier to carry a catalyst metal, mixing the carbon carrier carrying the catalyst metal and an ionomer to cover the carbon carrier with the ionomer, and forming the catalyst layer for a fuel cell using the carbon carrier covered with the ionomer.

The present invention relates to a cathode for a metal-air battery, a method for manufacturing the same, and a metal-air battery including the same. The cathode comprises a needle-shaped core including two or more species of metals selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, manganese, zinc, iron, copper, and chrome, or a cobalt oxide; and a flake-shaped shell including an oxide containing two or more species of metals selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, manganese, zinc, iron, copper, and chrome or a cobalt oxide. As such, the core-shell structure may lead to a reduction in the charge voltage of the metal-air battery as well as the taking of the good capacity characteristics of the transition metal oxide. Further, according to the present invention, the cathode for a metal-air battery may be produced without adding carbon or binder.

A method for forming an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst (200, 900) may include providing a carbon (210, 910) supported platinum nanoparticle (220, 920) substrate (Pt/C) (110) and applying a tungsten nitride (WN) film (940) onto the surface of the Pt/C substrate (210, 220, 910, 920) using atomic layer deposition (ALD) (120). The Pt/C substrate (210, 220, 910, 920) with the WN film (940) may then be oxidized at a low temperature (130) and annealed at a high temperature in order to reduce WN to metallic tungsten (W) (140). The metallic W forms a blocking layer (230, 930) over coarse Pt nanoparticles (220, 920) and improves the activity and the durability of the Pt/C catalyst (900, 200) when used in fuel cells or related applications.

A method is proposed by means of which a composite layer is producible in as simple and controlled a manner as possible, and by means of which composite layers with different predetermined properties can be produced with as little expenditure as possible, and thus economically. The method includes: providing a nanofiber material, comminuting the nanofiber material while forming nanorods, providing a liquid medium, which comprises an ionomer component and a dispersant, dispersing the nanorods in the liquid medium while forming a nanorod ionomer dispersion, and applying the nanorod ionomer dispersion to a surface region of a substrate while forming a composite layer. An electrochemical unit including the composite layer is provided. The composite layer is useful in a fuel cell (hydrogen fuel cell or direct alcohol fuel cell), in a redox flow cell, in an electrolytic cell, or in an ion exchanger, and useful for anion or proton conduction.

Ways of making electrodes and electrodes produced thereby are provided. Dry blending of a powder mixture including a catalyst, an ionomer, and a polyether forms a blended mixture, which can be comminuted to obtain a desired particle size. A slurry of the blended mixture is formed with an aqueous medium and the slurry is coated onto a substrate to form a coated substrate. The coating can be transferred to another substrate or material for use as an electrode and/or the substrate of the coated substrate can form part of a structure, such as a membrane electrode assembly for use in a fuel cell.

One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method of producing a gas diffusion layer including a water repellent material dispersion preparation process in which a water repellent material, a viscosity adjusting agent and a solvent are mixed to obtain a water repellent material dispersion; an impregnation process in which a substrate is impregnated with the water repellent material dispersion; and a firing process in which the substrate impregnated with the water repellent material dispersion is fired, wherein the viscosity of the water repellent material dispersion in the water repellent material dispersion preparation process is 0.04 Pa.Math.s@100 s.sup.−1 or more.

Various embodiments provide glass bottle-based silicon electrode materials. A battery electrode includes silicon made from magnesiothermic reduction of silicon oxide derived from glass bottles and a conformal carbon coating thereon. A method of making the electrode material includes crushing glass bottles to produce crushed glass containing silicon oxide particles, mixing the silicon oxide particles with a heat scavenger to produce a mixture, magnesiothermically reducing the mixture to produce silicon, and applying a carbon coat to the silicon to produce an electrode material.

A method for the production of an electrode for a fuel cell is provided that comprises providing a multitude of catalyst particles carried on at least one electrically conductive particle carrier, and depositing one or more atomic or molecular layers of an ionomer from the gas phase on the catalyst particles and/or the at least one particle carrier, thereby forming a proton-conducting ionomer coating. Furthermore, an electrode for a fuel cell is also provided.