Fuel cell MEA with combined metal gas diffusion layer and microporous layer
AssigneeUniversity of Cape Town
InventorsShiro Tanaka, Nabeel Hussain
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Abstract
The invention describes a membrane electrode assembly for use as a transport layer in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, the assembly comprising a porous metal gas diffusion layer (GDL) (20) and a catalyst layer (40) with a microporous layer (MPL) (30) interposed between them, the MPL (30) being constructed to fill the pores of the GDL (20) and coat the surface thereof.
Claims8
A membrane electrode assembly comprising a bipolar plate comprising a series of ribs and channels, a porous metal gas diffusion layer (GDL) having a tortuosity of less than 1.5, and a catalyst layer, with a microporous layer (MPL) interposed between the GDL and the catalyst layer, wherein the porous metal gas diffusion layer comprises a repeating pattern of holes and bridges, the widths of the individual holes and bridges being defined by the following equations (1)-3):
- WH≥2×WB (1)
- 2×(WH+WB)=LC+LR (2)
- LC≥LR (3)
- and wherein WH represents the width of the holes and WB represents the width of the bridges of the metal GDL and LC represents the width of the channels and LR represents the width of the ribs of the bipolar plate of the electrode respectively.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.