Reinforced composite membrane for fuel cell and membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cell comprising the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10381672-B2
Application number	US-201314646470-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2013
Priority date	Dec 28, 2012
Publication date	Aug 13, 2019
Grant date	Aug 13, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed are a reinforced composite membrane for fuel cells including a porous support comprising three-dimensionally irregularly and discontinuously arranged nanofibers of a polymer and a first ionic conductor, and a second ionic conductor filling pores of the porous support, wherein the first ionic conductor is present as nanofibers in the porous support or is present in the nanofibers of the polymer to form the nanofibers together with the polymer, and a membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells including the same. As a result, impregnation uniformity and impregnation rate of the ionic conductors are improved and proton (hydrogen ion) conductivity is thus enhanced.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A composite membrane for fuel cells comprising:
a porous support comprising three-dimensionally irregularly and discontinuously arranged nanofibers, the three-dimensionally irregularly and discontinuously arranged nanofibers including two different types of nanofibers comprising a first nanofiber and a second nanofiber, wherein the first nanofiber is made from a polymer selected from the group consisting of nylon, polyimide, polybenzoxazole, polybenzimidazole, polyamideimide, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene, polypropylene, copolymers thereof and mixtures thereof, and the second nanofiber is made from a first ionic conducting material; and
a second ionic conducting material filled in pores of the porous support,
wherein the first ionic conducting material is selected from the group consisting of sulfonated polyaryleneethersulfone, sulfonated polyetheretherketone, sulfonated polysulfone, sulfonated butadiene styrene and a mixture thereof,
wherein the second ionic conducting material is selected from the group consisting of sulfonated polyimide, sulfonated polyarylethersulfone, sulfonated polyetheretherketone, sulfonated polybenzimidazole, sulfonated polysulfone, sulfonated polystyrene, sulfonated polyphosphazene and a mixture thereof, and
wherein the composite membrane is used as a polymer electrolyte membrane in a membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells.

2. The composite membrane for fuel cells according to claim 1 , wherein the first ionic conducting material is the same as the second ionic conducting material.

3. The composite membrane for fuel cells according to claim 1 , wherein the first ionic conducting material is comprised in an amount of 5 to 50% by weight, with respect to the total weight of the porous support.

4. The composite membrane for fuel cells according to claim 1 , wherein the porous support has a porosity of 50 to 90%.

5. The composite membrane for fuel cells according to claim 1 , wherein the second ionic conducting material is comprised in an amount of 50% by weight to 99% by weight, with respect to the total weight of the composite membrane.

6. A membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells comprising:
an anode and a cathode facing each other; and
a polymer electrolyte membrane disposed between the anode and the cathode,
wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is the composite membrane according to claim 1 .

7. A fuel cell comprising the membrane-electrode assembly according to claim 6 .

Assignees

• Kolon Inc

Inventors

• Lee Moo Seok
• Shin Yong Cheol
• Kim Na Young
• Lee Eun Su
• Lee Dong Hoon

Classifications

• Y02P70/56

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M8/1058

  characterised by a porous support having no ion-conducting properties · CPC title

• H01M8/106

  characterised by the chemical composition of the porous support · CPC title

• H01M8/1069

  characterised by the manufacturing processes · CPC title

• H01M8/1062

  characterised by the physical properties of the porous support, e.g. its porosity or thickness · CPC title