Process for producing polybenzimidazole fabrics for use in fuel
AssigneeAventis Research & Technologies GmbH & Co. KG
InventorsFrank J. Onorato, Michael J. Sansone, Dai W. Kim, Stuart M. French, Faruq Marikar
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Abstract
A method for producing polybenzimidazole (PBI) fabrics for use as fuel cell or battery electrolytes by soaking a sulfonated or non-sulfonated PBI fabric in an acid solution, whereby the fibers of the fabric become swollen with the acid solution; and drying the fabric to remove residual water or methanol and concentrating the acid.
Claims24
A method for producing an electrolyte comprising the steps of:
- providing a fabric comprising polybenzimidazole fibers with voids between the fibers;
- soaking said fabric in an acid solution comprising an acid and a solvent, for a time sufficient for said fabric to imbibe said acid in an amount of about 40 to about 95% of the total weight of the imbibed fabric, thereby swelling the fibers and closing voids between the fibers, wherein the imbibed fabric has a thickness of 0.5 to 5 mils;
- and
- fabricating the acid-imbibed fabric into a membrane electrode assembly.
An electrolyte comprising a PBI fabric, said PBI fabric having an acid content of between about 40 to about 95% by weight and a thickness of about 0.5 to about 5 mil.
A fuel cell comprising a PBI fabric comprising an acid content of between about 40 to about 95% by weight and a thickness of about 0.5 to about 5 mil.
A method for producing an imbibed polybenzimidazole fabric useful as an electrolyte comprising the steps of providing a fabric comprising polybenzimidazole fibers with voids between the fibers;
- and soaking said fabric in an acid solution comprising an acid and a solvent, for a time sufficient for said fabric to imbibe said acid, thereby swelling the fibers and the closing voids between the fibers, wherein said polybenzimidazole fibers in said fabric are in the range of about 10 to about 500 denier.
A method for producing an imbibed polybenzimidazole fabric useful as an electrolyte comprising the steps of:
- providing a fabric comprising polybenzimidazole fibers and having voids between the fibers;
- and
- soaking said fabric in an acid solution comprising about 5% by weight to about 100% by weight acid and about 0% by weight to about 95% by weight solvent, for a time sufficient for said fabric to imbibe said acid, thereby swelling the fibers and closing the voids between the fibers
- drying the fabric to remove said solvent,
- wherein the imbibed polybenzimidazole fabric contains acid in an amount of about 40% to about 95% of the total weight of the imbibed fabric and has a thickness of about 0.5 to about 5 mils.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.