Electrolyte membrane for solid polymer-type fuel cell, method for producing same, and solid polymer-type fuel cell

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9368822-B2
Application number	US-201214240784-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2012
Priority date	Oct 7, 2011
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an electrolyte membrane that suppresses swelling and shrinkage caused by water retained in the electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell, improves the durability of the electrolyte membrane, and obtains excellent power generation characteristics with a low resistance. The electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell includes, as a reinforcing membrane, a nonwoven fabric composed of an electrolyte material and PVDF bicomponent fibers 2 a , thereby improving the durability of the electrolyte membrane. Furthermore, the bicomponent fiber 2 a has pores 23 that can effectively retain generated water, thereby improving battery performance under the condition of a low humidity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell, the electrolyte membrane comprising a reinforcing membrane of a nonwoven fabric composed of bicomponent fibers and a first electrolyte material filling voids of the reinforcing membrane,
wherein the bicomponent fibers have a cross section structure that is a sea-island structure including fibers and a second electrolyte material filling voids of the fibers, the bicomponent fibers containing pores in the sea of the second electrolyte material,
the second electrolyte material is a perfluorocarbon polymer having a sulfonic group, and
the fibers are composed of one of a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer, a polyvinylfluoride polymer, a copolymer composed of multiple monomer units constituting a polymer selected from a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer and a polyvinylfluoride polymer, and a mixture of these polymers.

2. The electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein the bicomponent fibers have an average fiber diameter of 0.01 μm to 1 μm.

3. The electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrolyte material is a perfluorocarbon polymer.

4. The electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrolyte material may have an identical composition to the perfluorocarbon polymer constituting the reinforcing membrane or a different composition therefrom.

5. The electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell according to claim 1 , wherein an outermost layer of at least one surface of the electrolyte membrane may have the exposed reinforcing membrane or may be covered with the perfluorocarbon polymer.

6. A solid polymer-type fuel cell comprising at least one stacked single cell including the electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell according to claim 1 and a pair of separators disposed with the electrolyte membrane sandwiched between the separators.

7. A method for producing an electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell, the method comprising the steps of:
spinning, by electrospinning, a mixed solution of a second electrolyte material, a polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (hereinafter, will be called PVDF), a polyvinylfluoride polymer (hereinafter, will be called PVF), a copolymer composed of multiple monomer units constituting a polymer selected from PVDF and PVF, a mixture of these polymers, and a solvent;
fabricating bicomponent fibers in a sea-island structure including fibers and the second electrolyte material filling voids of the fibers, the bicomponent fibers containing pores in the sea of the second electrolyte material;
forming a reinforcing membrane of a nonwoven fabric by extending the bicomponent fibers into a wavy shape; and
filling voids in the reinforcing membrane with a first electrolyte material.

8. The method for producing an electrolyte membrane for a solid polymer-type fuel cell according to claim 7 , wherein the first electrolyte material and the second electrolyte material are perfluorocarbon polymers having sulfonic groups.

Assignees

• Kikuzumi Shinya
• Mori Masahiro
• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kikuzumi Shinya
• Mori Masahiro

Classifications

• Y02E60/521

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M2/162

  Electricity · mapped topic

• Y02P70/56

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H01M2/1686

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01M2300/0088

  Composites · CPC title