Coated fuel cell electrical contact element
OwnerGayatri Vyas, Hubert A. Gasteiger +1inventors
InventorsGayatri Vyas, Hubert A. Gasteiger, Youssef Mikhail
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel cell comprising an ion conducting membrane, a catalytic electrode on one face of the membrane, a catalytic electrode on the other face of the membrane, and an electrically conductive contact element having a first surface facing at least one of the electrodes for conducting electrical current from the electrode, where the contact element comprises an electrically conductive substrate and an electrically conductive coating comprising a doped metal oxide, desirably a doped tin oxide, and preferably a fluorine doped tin oxide.
Claims23
An electrochemical cell comprising an ion conducting membrane, a catalytic electrode on one face of the membrane, a catalytic electrode on the other face of the membrane, and an electrically conductive contact element facing at least one of said electrodes for conducting electrical current from said one electrode, the improvement comprising said electrically conductive contact element having an electrically conductive coating comprising fluorine doped tin oxide.
An electrically conductive fluid distribution element for an electrochemical cell comprising:
- an electrically conductive substrate having first and second major surfaces, a flow field at said first major surface for distributing fluid along said first major surface, the improvement comprising, an electrically conductive coating on said first major surface which comprises fluorine doped tin oxide.
A method for inhibiting degradation of an electrically conductive contact element in an electrochemical cell, said cell having a proton conductive material which degrades leading to formation of corrosive species in the cell, said method comprising, including in said cell, a layer comprising fluorine doped tin oxide between said proton conductive material and said electrically conductive contact element, to thereby inhibit corrosion of said electrically conductive contact element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.