Electrolyte membrane for fuel cells and method of manufacturing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11424468-B2
Application number	US-202017065154-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2020
Priority date	Oct 30, 2019
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an electrolyte membrane for fuel cells having improved chemical durability and a method of manufacturing the same. Specifically, the method includes preparing a polymer film, depositing catalyst metal on one surface or opposite surfaces of the polymer film to obtain a reinforcement layer, and impregnating the reinforcement layer with an ionomer to obtain an electrolyte membrane.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing an electrolyte membrane for fuel cells, the method comprising:
preparing a polymer film;
depositing catalyst metal on one surface or opposite surfaces of the polymer film to produce a reinforcement layer; and
impregnating the reinforcement layer with an ionomer to obtain an electrolyte membrane.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising drying the electrolyte membrane.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer film comprises polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the catalyst metal comprises one selected from a group consisting of platinum (Pt), gold (Au), palladium (Pd), rhodium (Rh), iridium (Ir), ruthenium (Ru), and a combination thereof.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the catalyst metal has a particle form; and
a particle diameter of the catalyst metal is 1 nm to 50 nm.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the catalyst metal is deposited on the polymer film by sputtering or atomic layer deposition (ALD).

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer film is stretched to produce the reinforcement layer before and after the catalyst metal is deposited.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the polymer film is stretched to produce the reinforcement layer before or after the catalyst metal is deposited.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the reinforcement layer is a porous membrane comprising a surface and pores; and
the catalyst metal is deposited only on the surface of the reinforcement layer.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a loading amount of the catalyst metal deposited on the reinforcement layer is 0.001 mg/cm 2 to 0.1 mg/cm 2 .

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the reinforcement layer is 5 μm to 15 μm, and porosity of the reinforcement layer is 70% to 90%.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a maximum tensile strength of the reinforcement layer based on ASTM D882 is 5 MPa to 110 MPa.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the impregnating the reinforcement layer with an ionomer to obtain an electrolyte membrane comprises:
applying an ionomer to release paper;
providing the reinforcement layer on the ionomer to impregnate one surface of the reinforcement layer with the ionomer; and
impregnating the other surface of the reinforcement layer with the ionomer.

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Motors Corp

Inventors

• Kim Yong Min
• Kim Byoung Su
• Oh Seung Jeong
• Hong Woong Pyo
• Kim Min Kyung

Classifications

• H01M2008/1095

  Fuel cells with polymeric electrolytes · CPC title

• H01M4/881

  Electrolytic membranes · CPC title

• H01M8/1062

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

• H01M4/9041

  Metals or alloys (H01M4/92 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M8/1086

  After-treatment of the membrane other than by polymerisation · CPC title