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AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsAlan F. Jankowski, Jeffrey D. Morse, Randy Barksdale
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Described herein is a method to fabricate porous thin-film electrodes for fuel cells and fuel cell stacks. Furthermore, the method can be used for all fuel cell electrolyte materials which utilize a continuous electrolyte layer. An electrode layer is deposited on a porous host structure by flowing gas (for example, Argon) from the bottomside of the host structure while simultaneously depositing a conductive material onto the topside of the host structure. By controlling the gas flow rate through the pores, along with the process conditions and deposition rate of the thin-film electrode material, a film of a predetermined thickness can be formed. Once the porous electrode is formed, a continuous electrolyte thin-film is deposited, followed by a second porous electrode to complete the fuel cell structure.
An electrode comprising a conductive material having a plurality of pores, said electrode having a pore size distribution wherein at least 90% of the total pore volume is in pores of diameter from about 10% below the size of the mode pore diameter to about 10% above the size of the mode pore diameter.
The electrode of claim 10, wherein said pore sizes are in the range of about 0.1 μm to about 10 μm as measured by scanning electron microscopy
The electrode of claim 10, wherein said pores are tapered having a first pore opening and a second pore opening, wherein said first pore opening is up to about a factor of 10 smaller in size than said second pore opening, wherein said pore openings are measured by scanning electron microscopy.
A fuel cell comprising at least one electrode comprising a conductive material having a plurality of pores, said electrode having a pore size distribution wherein at least 90% of the total pore volume is in pores of diameter from about 10% below the size of the mode pore diameter to about 10% above the size of the mode pore diameter.
The fuel cell of claim 13, wherein said pores are tapered having a first pore opening and a second pore opening, wherein said first pore opening is up to about a factor of 10 smaller in size than said second pore opening, wherein said pore openings are measured by scanning electron microscopy.
The fuel cell of claim 13, wherein the pore sizes are in the range of about 0.1 μm to about 10 μm as measured by scanning electron microscopy
A fuel cell stack comprising at least one fuel cell having at least one electrode comprising a conductive material having a plurality of pores, said electrode having a pore size distribution wherein at least 90% of the total pore volume is in pores of diameter from about 10% below the size of the mode pore diameter to about 10% above the size of the mode pore diameter.
The fuel cell stack of claim 16, wherein said pores are tapered having a first pore opening and a second pore opening, wherein said first pore opening is up to about a factor of 10 smaller in size than said second pore opening, wherein said pore openings are measured by scanning electron microscopy.
The fuel cell stack of claim 16, wherein the pore sizes are in the range of about 0.1 μm to about 10 μm as measured by scanning electron microscopy
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.