Fuel cell unit cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12074354-B2
Application number	US-202117208141-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2021
Priority date	May 14, 2020
Publication date	Aug 27, 2024
Grant date	Aug 27, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a fuel cell unit cell with high durability. The fuel cell unit cell of the disclosure with increased durability is a fuel cell unit cell having a membrane electrode assembly and a support frame bonded together by a hot-melt adhesive layer, wherein the membrane electrode assembly has an electrolyte membrane and a pair of electrode catalyst layers stacked on either side of the electrolyte membrane, and on at least one side of the membrane electrode assembly, the electrode catalyst layers are stacked inside the outer peripheral sides of the electrolyte membrane and the hot-melt adhesive layer bonds together the outer peripheral sides of the electrolyte membrane and the support frame, with the hot-melt adhesive layer comprising an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer with an ethylene-derived unit content of 90 to 99 mol %, or a polyamide in which the main chain has 9 to 15 methylene groups for each amide group, or a mixture of the two.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A fuel cell unit cell comprising a membrane electrode assembly and a support frame bonded together by a hot-melt adhesive layer, wherein:
the membrane electrode assembly comprises an electrolyte membrane, a first electrode catalyst layer stacked on a first side of the electrolyte membrane, and a second electrode catalyst layer stacked on a second side of the electrolyte membrane,
the first electrode catalyst layer is stacked inside an outer peripheral side of the electrolyte membrane, and the hot-melt adhesive layer bonds together the outer peripheral sides of the electrolyte membrane and the support frame,
the support frame is disposed in a region separate from the membrane electrode assembly and at the outer periphery of the membrane electrode assembly, and the membrane electrode assembly does not face toward the support frame in a stacking direction of the membrane electrode assembly, and
the hot-melt adhesive layer comprises an ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer with an ethylene-derived unit content of 90 to 99 mol %, or a polyamide in which the main chain has 8 to 15 methylene groups for each amide group, or a mixture of the two.

2. The fuel cell unit cell according to claim 1 , wherein the electrolyte membrane comprises a perfluorosulfonic acid polymer.

3. The fuel cell unit cell according to claim 2 , wherein the perfluorosulfonic acid polymer is a polymer with a repeating unit represented by the following (A) to (C), or a combination thereof:

In the formulas, m represents an integer of greater than 1.

4. The fuel cell unit cell according to claim 1 , wherein the polyamide is nylon.

5. The fuel cell unit cell according to claim 4 , wherein the polyamide is a polymer with a repeating unit represented by the following (P) and (Q), or a combination thereof:

6. The fuel cell unit cell according to claim 1 , wherein:
a first gas diffusion layer is stacked on the first electrode catalyst layer,
a second gas diffusion layer is stacked on the second electrode catalyst layer, and
the hot-melt adhesive layer bonds together:
the first gas diffusion layer,
the outer peripheral sides of the electrolyte membrane and the support frame.

7. The fuel cell unit cell according to claim 6 , wherein: a first separator is disposed on the first gas diffusion layer and a second separate is disposed on the second gas diffusion layer.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd
• Toyota Jidosba Kk

Inventors

• Nakazawa Satoshi

Classifications

• H01M8/0273

  with sealing or supporting means in the form of a frame · CPC title

• H01M8/04149

  by diffusion, e.g. making use of membranes · CPC title

• H01M8/1004 Primary

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

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• C09J177/02

  Polyamides derived from omega-amino carboxylic acids or from lactams thereof (C09J177/10 takes precedence) · CPC title