Method of fabricating a flat panel direct methanol fuel cell
AssigneesNan Ya Printed Circuit Board Corporation, Antig Technology Co., Ltd.
InventorsYung-Yi LIU, James SHANG, Shing-Fun Ho, Tsang-Ming CHANG, Feng-Yi DENG, Hsi-Ming SHU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flat panel direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) includes an integrated cathode electrode plate, a set of membrane electrode assemblies, an intermediate bonding layer, an integrated anode electrode plate, and a fuel container base. The integrated cathode/anode electrode plates are conducive to mass production, and are manufactured by using PCB compatible processes.
Claims14
A flat-panel direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), comprising:
- an integrated cathode electrode plate comprising a first substrate, a plurality of cathode electrode areas, a plurality of first conductive through holes, wherein each cathode electrode area is electroplated on a front side and back side of the first substrate and has a plurality of apertures therein, wherein each first conductive through hole is disposed outside a cathode electrode area and is electrically connected to the cathode electrode area with a conductive wire;
- a set of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) units comprising a plurality of proton exchange membranes corresponding to the plurality of cathode electrode areas;
- an intermediate bonding layer comprising at least one bonding sheet, wherein the intermediate bonding layer comprises a plurality of openings each for accommodating a proton exchange membrane, and a plurality of second conductive through holes that are aligned with the first conductive through holes;
- an integrated anode electrode plate comprising a second substrate, a plurality of anode electrode areas corresponding to the plurality of cathode electrode areas, a plurality of third conductive through holes corresponding to the first conductive through holes, and a plurality of conductive pads corresponding to the plurality of first conductive through holes;
- and
- a fuel container;
- wherein the plurality of the cathode electrode areas of the integrated cathode electrode plate and the plurality of the anode electrode areas of the integrated anode electrode plate are covered by a conductive protection layer.
A method for fabricating an integrated cathode electrode plate of a flat-panel direct methanol fuel cell, the method comprising:
- providing a copper clad laminate (CCL) substrate comprising a base layer, a first copper layer laminated on an upper surface of the base layer, and a second copper layer laminated on a lower surface of the base layer;
- drilling the pre-selected electrode areas within the CCL substrate to form a plurality of apertures through the first copper layer, the base layer, and the second copper layer;
- forming a third copper layer on the CCL substrate and interior sidewalls of the apertures;
- forming a patterned resist layer on the CCL substrate to expose the pre-selected electrode areas;
- using the patterned resist layer as a plating mask, performing an electroplating process to form a fourth copper layer on the exposed pre-selected electrode areas, and then electroplating a Sn/Pb layer on the fourth copper layer;
- stripping the patterned resist layer;
- performing an etching process to etch away the third copper layer that is not covered by the Sn/Pb layer and the first and second copper layers;
- removing the Sn/Pb layer to expose the fourth copper layer;
- coating a solder resist on areas outside the pre-selected electrode areas;
- and
- forming a conductive protection layer on the electroplated copper layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.