Membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10270115-B2
Application number	US-201415108719-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2014
Priority date	Jan 16, 2014
Publication date	Apr 23, 2019
Grant date	Apr 23, 2019

Abstract

A membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell including, by weight with respect to the total weight of the membrane:
from 50 to 95% of polymer A; and from 5 to 50% by weight of polymer B;

A being a cation exchange fluorinated polymer; and

B being a hydrocarbon aromatic polymer different from polymer A, and comprising at least one aromatic ring on its polymer chain.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell comprising, by weight with respect to the total weight of the membrane, a mixture of:
from 50 to 95% of polymer A; and
from 5 to 50% by weight of polymer B;
polymer A being a perfluorinated cation exchange polymer, comprising —SO 3 31 X + ; X being a hydrogen atom; and
polymer B being a hydrocarbon aromatic polymer different from polymer A, and comprising at least one aromatic ring on its polymer chain, polymer B being functionalized with sulfonic acid groups —SO 3 H, wherein polymer A is a sulfonic perfluorinated polymer of formula:

with x =from 100 to 1,000; y =from 3.5 to 7.5, and z =from 0 to 3.

2. The membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein polymer A has a molecular weight in the range from 10,000 to 10,000,000 g/mol and wherein polymer B has a molecular weight in the range from 1,000 to 200,000 g/mol.

3. The membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein polymer B is selected from the group consisting of polyarylenes; ether polyarylenes; fluorinated ether polyarylenes; polysulf ones; polybenzimidazoles; poly(ether ketones), poly(ether ketone ketones), poly(ether ether ketones); poly(ether sulf ones); poly(ether imides); polycarbonates; poly-2,6-dimethyl phenylene oxide; polyamide-imide; and polypyromellitimide.

4. The membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell of claim 1 , wherein the membrane comprises from 70 to 95% by weight of polymer A and from 5 to 30% by weight of polymer B.

5. A method of preparing the membrane claim 1 , comprising the steps of:
preparing a solution of polymers A and B in at least one solvent;
shaping the membrane from the solution of polymers A and B;
evaporating the at least one solvent;
drying the membrane.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the solvent is selected from the group consisting of N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone; N,N-dimethylacetamide; dimethylformamide; dimethylsulfoxide; and water/alcohol mixtures.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the shaping of the membrane is performed according to a technique selected from the group consisting of casting-evaporation; coating; sputter deposition; flexography deposition; spin coating; and silk-screening deposition.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein prior to the drying step, the membrane is immersed in an acid solution, and then washed in water.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the acid solution has a pH lower than 2, and wherein the immersion time is in the range from 15 minutes to 48 hours.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the acid solution is a hydrochloric acid solution having a concentration in the range from 0.5 to 12 mol/L.

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique
• Univ De Cergy Pontoise

Inventors

• Guimet Adrien
• Morin Arnaud
• Chikh Linda
• Fichet Odile

Classifications

• H01M8/1039

  halogenated, e.g. sulfonated polyvinylidene fluorides · CPC title

• H01M8/1081

  starting from solutions, dispersions or slurries exclusively of polymers · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M8/1044 Primary

  Mixtures of polymers, of which at least one is ionically conductive · CPC title

• H01M2300/0082

  Organic polymers · CPC title