Method for manufacturing resin-framed membrane electrode assembly for fuel cell

A method for manufacturing a resin-framed membrane electrode assembly for a fuel cell, the method comprising:

• attaching a first catalyst layer of a first electrode on a first surface of a solid polymer electrolyte membrane;
• attaching a second catalyst layer of a second electrode on a second surface of the solid polymer electrolyte membrane, a membrane electrode assembly structure including the solid polymer electrolyte membrane and the first and second catalyst layers;
• providing a first resin frame component around an outer peripheral portion of a first gas diffusion layer of the first electrode to obtain a first framed diffusion layer;
• providing a second resin frame component around an outer peripheral portion of a second gas diffusion layer of the second electrode to obtain a second framed diffusion layer;
• holding the membrane electrode assembly structure between the first framed diffusion layer and the second framed diffusion layer while the membrane electrode assembly structure is housed in a recess provided in at least one of the first resin frame component and the second resin frame component;
• and
• joining the first resin frame component and the second resin frame component to each other to integrate the first framed diffusion layer and the second framed diffusion layer, the first and second resin frame components being located outside an outer peripheral portion of the membrane electrode assembly structure.