Fuel cell metal separator and noble metal coating method therefor
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorsMasao UTSUNOMIYA, Teruyuki OHTANI, Toshiki KAWAMURA
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Abstract
A first metal separator and an electrolyte electrode assembly are stacked in a fuel cell. The first metal separator comprises a convex portion that abuts against the electrolyte electrode assembly, and a concave portion forming an oxygen-containing gas flow channel between the electrolyte electrode assembly and the concave portion. A gold coating layer is formed on the convex portion. The gold coating layer includes a main gold coating portion and a reticulate gold coating portion that extends around the main gold coating portion.
Claims11
A fuel cell metal separator of a fuel cell, the fuel cell being formed by stacking the fuel cell metal separator and an electrolyte electrode assembly, the electrolyte electrode assembly comprising a pair of electrodes provided on both sides of an electrolyte, wherein:
- convex portions that abut against the electrolyte electrode assembly and concave portions that form reactant gas flow channels between the electrolyte electrode assembly and the concave portions, are provided in the metal separator by forming a metal plate in a wave-like shape;
- noble metal coating layers are formed on the convex portions;
- and
- the noble metal coating layers include main noble metal coating portions, and reticulate noble metal coating portions that extend around the main noble metal coating portions.
A noble metal coating method for a fuel cell metal separator of a fuel cell, the fuel cell being formed by stacking the fuel cell metal separator and an electrolyte electrode assembly, the electrolyte electrode assembly comprising a pair of electrodes provided on both sides of an electrolyte, wherein:
- convex portions that abut against the electrolyte electrode assembly and concave portions that form reactant gas flow channels between the electrolyte electrode assembly and the concave portions are provided in the metal separator by forming a metal plate in a wave-like shape,
- the noble metal coating method comprising the steps of:
- performing a surface roughening treatment on the convex portions;
- and
- ejecting noble metal particles from an inkjet device to form noble metal coating layers on the convex portions, which have been subjected to the surface roughening treatment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.