Provided is a microbial fuel cell including a cathode and an anode, wherein the cathode includes a waterproof gas diffusion layer including a siloxane and a catalyst layer including a binder, wherein a surface of the gas diffusion layer opposite the catalyst layer contacts air, and the anode includes electrogenic bacteria. Also provided is a method for making a microbial fuel cell, including fabricating a cathode, wherein fabricating includes disposing a siloxane solution onto a surface of a substrate, wherein the siloxane solution includes a siloxane and a solvent, drying the siloxane solution to form a waterproof gas diffusion layer, and placing the gas diffusion layer on a catalyst layer including a binder, and facing an anode with the cathode whereby the gas diffusion layer faces away from the anode and contacts air.

A hydrophilic porous carbon electrode which has excellent hydrophilicity, which has high reaction activity when used for a battery, and with which excellent battery characteristics is able to be obtained is provided. A hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is a sheet-form hydrophilic porous carbon electrode in which a carbon fiber is bonded using a resin carbide and has a contact angles θ.sub.A of water on both surfaces in a thickness direction being 0 to 15° and a contact angle θ.sub.B of water in a middle portion in the thickness direction being 0 to 15°. The hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is obtained by forming the carbon fiber and a binder fiber into a sheet, impregnating the sheet into a thermosetting resin, subjecting it to heat press processing, and then subjecting it to carbonization at 400 to 3000° C. in an inert atmosphere. The hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is transported and is subjected to a heat treatment while an oxidizing gas flows at 400 to 800° C. in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is transported to be subjected to hydrophilization.

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.

Disclosed are a catalyst electrode for a fuel cell, a method for fabricating the catalyst electrode, and a fuel cell including the catalyst electrode. The presence of an ionomer-ionomer support composite in the catalyst electrode prevents the porous structure of the catalyst electrode from collapsing due to oxidation of a carbon support to avoid an increase in resistance to gas diffusion and can stably secure proton channels. The presence of carbon materials with high conductivity is effective in preventing the electrical conductivity of the electrode from deterioration resulting from the use of a metal oxide in the ionomer-ionomer support composite and is also effective in suppressing collapse of the porous structure of the electrode to prevent an increase in resistance to gas diffusion in the electrode. Based on these effects, the fuel cell exhibits excellent performance characteristics and prevents its performance from deteriorating during continuous operation.

The invention relates to a method for producing a catalyst-coated polymer membrane for an electrolyser and/or a fuel cell. In a first step, the method preferably comprises the provision of a glass-ceramic substrate. A mesoporous catalyst layer is then preferably synthesized on the glass-ceramic substrate. In a next step, a polymer membrane is preferably pressed onto the glass-ceramic substrate coated with the catalyst layer at a first temperature T.sub.1. This results in a sandwich structure. In a final process step, the sandwich structure is separated, the catalyst layer being separated from the glass-ceramic substrate and adhering to the polymer membrane.

In addition, the invention relates to a polymer membrane which has been produced by the process of the type mentioned at the outset, and to an electrolyser or a fuel cell having such a polymer membrane.

This disclosure relates to polymer electrolyte membranes, and in particular, to a composite membrane having at least two reinforcing layers comprising a microporous polymer structure and a surprisingly high resistance to piercing. This disclosure also relates to composite membrane-assemblies and electrochemical devices comprising the composite membranes of the disclosure, and to methods of manufacture of the composite membranes.

A high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell including a polymer of intrinsic microporosity that prevents phosphoric acid poisoning and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. It is possible to improve the electrochemical efficiency of high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells based on development of a polymer of intrinsic microporosity with thermal stability and cationic conductivity.

The present invention refers to new membrane-electrode assembly (MBA), methods of producing the same as well as fuel cell comprising said MBA.

The present invention relates to an electrode comprising organic functional metal oxides, a manufacturing method thereof, a membrane-electrode assembly including the same, and a fuel cell including the membrane-electrode assembly, and the electrode comprises a support, catalyst particles supported on the support, organic functional metal oxide nanoparticles supported on the support, and an ionomer positioned on the surface of the support. The electrode improves catalyst performance and durability in a high voltage range, can reduce the amount of a catalyst used and catalyst costs by enabling excellent current density and power density to be obtained even in a state that a relatively small amount of the catalyst is used through an increase in catalyst utilization and uniform dispersion of the catalyst, and improves performance in general and low humidification conditions.

A hydrophilic porous carbon electrode which has excellent hydrophilicity, which has high reaction activity when used for a battery, and with which excellent battery characteristics is able to be obtained is provided. A hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is a sheet-form hydrophilic porous carbon electrode in which a carbon fiber is bonded using a resin carbide and has a contact angles θ.sub.A of water on both surfaces in a thickness direction being 0 to 15° and a contact angle θ.sub.B of water in a middle portion in the thickness direction being 0 to 15°. The hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is obtained by forming the carbon fiber and a binder fiber into a sheet, impregnating the sheet into a thermosetting resin, subjecting it to heat press processing, and then subjecting it to carbonization at 400 to 3000° C. in an inert atmosphere. The hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is transported and is subjected to a heat treatment while an oxidizing gas flows at 400 to 800° C. in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which the hydrophilic porous carbon electrode is transported to be subjected to hydrophilization.