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US 11,688,873 B2Granted
Fuel cells incorporating silica fibers
AssigneeAmerican Nano, LLC
InventorsMitch Dellinger, Surya Raj Banks
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention include fuel cells incorporating sheets and/or powders of silica fibers and methods for producing such devices. The silica fibers may be formed via electrospinning of a sol gel produced with a silicon alkoxide reagent, such as tetraethyl ortho silicate, alcohol solvent, and an acid catalyst.
Claims17
A method of fabricating a fuel cell, the method comprising:
- providing an electrolyte layer;
- providing a first catalyst layer being configured to receive a hydrogen-containing fuel, oxidize hydrogen from the fuel, and supply protons to the electrolyte layer;
- providing a second catalyst layer being configured to receive protons from the electrolyte layer, receive oxygen, and reduce the oxygen to form water to thereby enable the production of electrical current by the fuel cell;
- disposing the first catalyst layer on an anode side of the electrolyte layer;
- and
- disposing the second catalyst layer on a cathode side of the electrolyte layer,
- wherein (i) the first catalyst layer comprises a first sheet of silica fibers, the first catalyst layer being provided at least in part by (a) producing a first sol-gel from an initial sol containing 75% to 90% tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) by weight, 8% to 25% ethanol by weight, an acid catalyst, and the balance water, and (b) electrospinning the first sol-gel, and/or (ii) the second catalyst layer comprises a second sheet of silica fibers, the second catalyst layer being provided at least in part by (a) producing a second sol-gel from an initial sol containing 75% to 90% TEOS by weight, 8% to 25% ethanol by weight, an acid catalyst, and the balance water, and (b) electrospinning the second sol-gel.
4 more elements
A method of fabricating a fuel cell, the method comprising:
- providing an electrolyte layer, the electrolyte layer being free of silica fibers;
- providing a first catalyst layer being configured to receive a hydrogen-containing fuel, oxidize hydrogen from the fuel, and supply protons to the electrolyte layer;
- providing a second catalyst layer being configured to receive protons from the electrolyte layer, receive oxygen, and reduce the oxygen to form water to thereby enable the production of electrical current by the fuel cell;
- disposing the first catalyst layer on and in direct contact with an anode side of the electrolyte layer;
- and
- disposing the second catalyst layer on and in direct contact with a cathode side of the electrolyte layer,
- wherein (i) the first catalyst layer comprises a first sheet of silica fibers, the first catalyst layer being provided at least in part by electrospinning a first sol-gel, and/or (ii) the second catalyst layer comprises a second sheet of silica fibers, the second catalyst layer being provided at least in part by electrospinning a second sol-gel.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.