Disclosed are devices capable of heterogeneous electrochemical catalysis. Also disclosed are methods of using the devices in various electrochemical reactions.

A fuel cell includes a MEA that includes a cathode, an anode, and a solid electrolyte layer disposed between the cathode and the anode, the solid electrolyte layer containing an ion-conducting solid oxide; at least one first porous metal body arranged to oppose at least one of the cathode and the anode; and an interconnector arranged to oppose the first porous metal body and having a gas supply port and a gas discharge port formed therein. The first porous metal body includes a porous metal body S that opposes the gas supply port and has a three-dimensional mesh-like skeleton, and a porous metal body H that has a three-dimensional mesh-like skeleton and is other than the porous metal body S. A porosity Ps of the porous metal body S and a porosity Ph of the porous metal body H satisfy a relationship: Ps<Ph.

A fuel cell includes a MEA that includes a cathode, an anode, and a solid electrolyte layer disposed between the cathode and the anode, the solid electrolyte layer containing an ion-conducting solid oxide; at least one first porous metal body arranged to oppose at least one of the cathode and the anode; and an interconnector arranged to oppose the first porous metal body and having a gas supply port and a gas discharge port formed therein. The first porous metal body includes a porous metal body S that opposes the gas supply port and has a three-dimensional mesh-like skeleton, and a porous metal body H that has a three-dimensional mesh-like skeleton and is other than the porous metal body S. A porosity Ps of the porous metal body S and a porosity Ph of the porous metal body H satisfy a relationship: Ps<Ph.

A system for fuel cell membrane edge protection includes a fuel cell including a fuel-cell membrane-subgasket assembly. The assembly includes an anode gas diffusion electrode and a cathode gas diffusion electrode configured for facilitating an electrochemical reaction. The reaction creates water as a by-product. The assembly further includes a proton exchange membrane disposed between the electrodes and a subgasket. The subgasket includes an interior aperture portion defined by a perimeter and is connected to the anode gas diffusion electrode and the membrane about the perimeter such that an area of overlap between the subgasket, the electrode, and the membrane exists around the perimeter. The assembly further includes a carbon paper layer spanning the interior aperture portion. The layer includes patterned wettability and is configured to move the water away from the area of overlap into a center portion of the layer.

A system for fuel cell membrane edge protection includes a fuel cell including a fuel-cell membrane-subgasket assembly. The assembly includes an anode gas diffusion electrode and a cathode gas diffusion electrode configured for facilitating an electrochemical reaction. The reaction creates water as a by-product. The assembly further includes a proton exchange membrane disposed between the electrodes and a subgasket. The subgasket includes an interior aperture portion defined by a perimeter and is connected to the anode gas diffusion electrode and the membrane about the perimeter such that an area of overlap between the subgasket, the electrode, and the membrane exists around the perimeter. The assembly further includes a carbon paper layer spanning the interior aperture portion. The layer includes patterned wettability and is configured to move the water away from the area of overlap into a center portion of the layer.

A fuel cell includes a gas diffusion layer (GM) situated between a catalyst layer of the fuel cell and a flow field plate of the fuel cell. The GM has a first region and a second region along a thickness direction of the fuel cell. The first region is adjacent to the catalyst layer and has a first thermal conductivity. The second region is adjacent to the flow field plate and has a second thermal conductivity lower than the first thermal conductivity.

A metal-bonded graphene foam product, comprising: (A) a sheet or roll of solid graphene foam, having a sheet plane and a sheet thickness direction, composed of multiple pores (cells) and pore walls, wherein said pore walls contain a pristine graphene material having less than 0.01% by weight of non-carbon elements or a non-pristine graphene material having 0.01% to 20% by weight of non-carbon elements, wherein said non-pristine graphene is selected from graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene chloride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, hydrogenated graphene, nitrogenated graphene, boron-doped graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof; and (B) a metal that fills in the is bonded to graphene sheets, wherein the metal-bonded graphene foam product has a thickness-direction thermal conductivity from 10 W/mK to 800 W/mK or a thickness-direction electrical conductivity from 40 S/cm to 3,200 S/cm.

Disclosed is a hydrocarbon-based cross-linked membrane used for the proton exchange membrane of a fuel cell, containing a cross-linked composite mediated by the sulfonate groups of SPPSU and SPOSS. The cross-linked composite may be a cross-linked composite of SPPSU as represented by formula (I) (where a, b, c, and d are each independently an integer of 0-4, and the total of a, b, c, and d is a rational number greater than 1 in terms of the average per repeating unit) and SPOSS as represented by formula (II) (where: each R is independently a hydrogen, a hydroxyl group, a straight or branched C1-20 alkyl or alkoxyl group optionally containing a substituent, or any of the above-mentioned structures; each e is independently an integer of 0-2 for R; x is an integer of 1-20; and the total number of sulfonate groups is a rational number greater than 2 in terms of the average per molecule).

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The present invention relates to an ion exchange membrane, a method for manufacturing the same, and an energy storage device including the same, and the ion exchange membrane includes a porous support including a plurality of pores and an ion conductor filling the pores of the porous support, in which the porous support includes micropores having a size of 31 to 1000 m. The ion exchange membrane may achieve high energy efficiency in the case of being applied to an energy storage device such as a vanadium redox inflow battery due to high charge/discharge cycle durability, high ion-conductivity, and excellent chemical and thermal stability.

In a method of producing a membrane electrode assembly, a solid polymer electrolyte membrane and gas diffusion layers are stacked together in a stacking direction in a manner that electrode catalyst layers are interposed between at least parts of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane and the gas diffusion layers to form a stack body. A load is applied to the stack body in the stacking direction, and the temperature of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane is increased by high frequency dielectric heating. In this manner, the gas diffusion layers, the electrode catalyst layers, and the solid polymer electrolyte membrane are joined integrally to obtain the membrane electrode assembly.