Polymer-electrolyte membrane, electrochemical fuel cell, and related method
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsLakshmi Krishnan, Gary William Yeager, Grigorii Lev Soloveichik
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Abstract
A polymer-electrolyte membrane is presented. The polymer-electrolyte membrane comprises an acid-functional polymer, and an additive incorporated in at least a portion of the membrane. The additive comprises a fluorinated cycloaliphatic additive, a hydrophobic cycloaliphatic additive, or combinations thereof, wherein the additive has a boiling point greater than about 120° C. An electrochemical fuel cell including the polymer-electrolyte membrane, and a related method, are also presented.
Claims21
A polymer-electrolyte membrane, comprising:
- an acid-functional polymer;
- and
- an additive incorporated in at least a portion of the membrane;
- wherein the additive comprises a fluorinated cycloaliphatic additive, a hydrophobic cycloaliphatic additive, or combinations thereof, and wherein the additive has a boiling point greater than about 120° C.
A polymer-electrolyte membrane, comprising:
- an acid-functional polymer;
- and
- a fluorinated cycloaliphatic additive incorporated in at least a portion of the membrane, wherein the fluorinated cycloaliphatic additive has a boiling point greater than about 120° C.
An electrochemical fuel cell, comprising:
- a first electrode;
- a second electrode;
- and
- a polymer-electrolyte membrane disposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, wherein the polymer-electrolyte membrane comprises:
- an acid-functional polymer;
- and
- an additive incorporated in at least a portion of the membrane;
- wherein the additive comprises a fluorinated cycloaliphatic additive, a hydrophobic cycloaliphatic additive, or combinations thereof, and wherein the additive has a boiling point greater than about 120° C.
A method of making an electrochemical fuel cell, comprising:
- (i) incorporating an additive into at least a portion of the polymer-electrolyte membrane to form an additive-modified polymer-electrolyte membrane,
- wherein the additive comprises a fluorinated cycloaliphatic additive, a hydrophobic cycloaliphatic additive, or combinations thereof, and wherein the additive has a boiling point greater than about 120° C.;
- and
- (ii) assembling a first electrode, the additive-modified polymer-electrolyte membrane, and a second electrode into the electrochemical fuel cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.