Membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells having improved durability and a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10714778-B2
Application number	US-201816131843-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2018
Priority date	Dec 27, 2017
Publication date	Jul 14, 2020
Grant date	Jul 14, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed are a membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells with improved durability and a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell including the same. The membrane-electrode assembly includes an antioxidant, Sm-doped cerium oxide in the electrolyte membrane, which has a controlled microstructure through high-temperature heat treatment, thereby providing both superior antioxidant activity and excellent long-term stability.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells comprising:
an electrolyte membrane; and
one or more electrodes associated with the electrolyte membrane;
wherein the electrolyte membrane comprises a perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based ionomer and an antioxidant, wherein the antioxidant comprises a samarium (Sm)-doped cerium oxide (SDC), and
wherein the electrolyte membrane comprises the antioxidant in an amount of 0.05% by weight to 20% by weight, based on the total weight of the perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based ionomer.

2. The membrane-electrode assembly of claim 1 , wherein a pair of the electrodes are disposed on both surfaces of the electrolyte membrane.

3. The membrane-electrode assembly of claim 1 , wherein the SDC is represented by the following Formula 1:
Sm x Ce 1-x O 2-δ   [Formula 1]

wherein x is 0<x≤0.5 and δ provides an oxygen vacancy value making the compound of Formula 1 electrically neutral.

4. The membrane-electrode assembly of claim 1 , wherein the SDC has been thermally treated at a temperature of about 100° C. to 1,000° C.

5. The membrane-electrode assembly of claim 4 , wherein the SDC has been thermally treated for about 10 minutes to 10 hours.

6. The membrane-electrode assembly of claim 1 , wherein the SDC has main diffraction peaks at 2Θ of 28±1.0°, 32±1.0°, 47±1.0° and 56±1.0° in an XRD spectrum.

7. The membrane-electrode assembly of claim 1 , wherein the SDC has a crystallite size of about 5.5 nm to 60 nm.

8. The membrane-electrode assembly for fuel cells according to claim 1 , wherein the SDC has a BET surface area of about 10 m 2 /g to 190 m 2 /g.

9. A polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell comprising a membrane-electrodes assembly of claim 1 .

10. A vehicle comprising a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell of claim 9 .

11. A method of preparing a membrane-electrodes assembly, comprising heat treating a samarium (Sm)-doped cerium oxide (SDC);
providing the heat treated SDC to at least one of an electrolyte membrane and a pair electrodes comprises; and
dispose the pair of electrodes on both surfaces of the electrolyte membrane,
wherein the electrolyte membrane comprises a perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based ionomer and the antioxidant,
wherein the electrolyte membrane comprises the antioxidant in an amount of 0.05% by weight to 20% by weight, based on the total weight of the perfluorinated sulfonic acid-based ionomer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the SDC is represented by the following Formula 1:
Sm x Ce 1-x O 2-δ   [Formula 1]

wherein x is 0<x≤0.5 and δ provides an oxygen vacancy value making the compound of Formula 1 electrically neutral.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the SDC has been thermally treated at a temperature of about 100° C. to 1,000° C.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the SDC has been thermally treated for about 10 minutes to 10 hours.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the SDC has main diffraction peaks at 2Θ of 28±1.0°, 32±1.0°, 47±1.0° and 56±1.0° in an XRD spectrum.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the SDC has a crystallite size of about 5.5 nm to 60 nm.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the SDC has a BET surface area of about 10 m 2 /g to 190 m 2 /g.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Park Inyu
• Ko Jae Jun
• Hong Bo Ki

Classifications

• H01M8/1004 Primary

  characterised by membrane-electrode assemblies [MEA] (H01M8/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/1051 Primary

  Non-ion-conducting additives, e.g. stabilisers, SiO2 or ZrO2 · CPC title

• H01M4/8663

  Selection of inactive substances as ingredients for catalytic active masses, e.g. binders, fillers · CPC title

• C09K15/02

  containing inorganic compounds · CPC title

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title