Electrolyte components for use in fuel cells
AssigneeNuVant Systems, Inc.
InventorEugene S. Smotkin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronically insulating proton conductor (C) is adhered or deposited as a film on a dense phase proton permeable material (D) in a thicknees such that the composite C/D has a proton conductivity in a preferred intermediate temperature range of 175-550° C. The composite C/D is incorporated in a high temperature electrolyte membrane electrolyte assembly (MEA), which is incorporated into a fuel cell that can operate in this intermediate temperature range. The fuel cell in turn is incorporated into a fuel cell system having a fuel reformer in the flow field of a fuel mixture entering the fuel cell or in a mode where the fuel cell receives fuel from an external reformer.
Claims8
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the area-specific resistance for protons is in the range of 0.01-100Ω·cm2 at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C.,
- wherein the metal or metal in the metal hydride is selected from the group consisting of Pd, PdAg, PdCu, Ti, LaNi5, TiFe and CrV2, V/Ni/Ti, V/Ni and V/Ti.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the area-specific resistance for protons is in the range of 0.01-100 Ω·cm2 at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C.,
- wherein the electronically-insulating proton conductor coating is selected from the group consisting of:
- mesoporous zirconium phosphate pyrophosphate, Zr(P2O7)0.81;
- Ba3Ca1.18Nb1.82O8.73—H2O;
- Cs5H3(SO4)4.0.5H2O;
- a hydrate of SnCl2;
- silver iodide tetratungstate Ag26I18W4O16;
- KH2PO4;
- tetraammonium dihydrogen triselenate, (NH4)4H2(SeO4)3;
- CsDSO4;
- CsH2PO4;
- Sr[Zr0.9Y0.1]O3−δ;
- a silica-polyphosphate composite containing ammonium ions;
- La0.9Sr0.1Sc0.9Mg0.1O3;
- and
- BaCe0.9−xZrxM0.1O3−δ where M is Gd or Nd and x=0 to 0.4.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the area-specific resistance for protons is in the range of 0.01-100 Ω·cm2 at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C.,
- wherein the electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating consists of
- Ba3Ca1.18Nb1.82O8.73—H2O;
- CsH2PO4;
- Sr[Zr0.9Y0.1]O3−δ;
- polyphosphate composite containing 19.96 wt % NH4+, 29.3 wt % P, 1.51 wt % Si;
- La0.9Sr0.1Sc0.9Mg0.1O3;
- or
- BaCe0.9−xZrxM0.1O3−δwhere M is Gd or Nd and x =0 to 0.4.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the area-specific resistance for protons at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C. is about 0.150Ω·cm2.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the ASR for protons at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C. is in the range shown for Nafion® 117 in FIG. 10,
- wherein the metal or metal in the metal hydride is selected from the group consisting of Pd, PdAg, PdCu, Ti, LaNi5, TiFe and CrV2, V/Ni/Ti, V/Ni and V/Ti.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the ASR for protons at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C. is in the range shown for Nafion® 117 in FIG. 10,
- wherein the electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating is selected from the group consisting of:
- mesoporous zirconium phosphate pyrophosphate, Zr(P2O7)0.81;
- Ba3Ca1.18Nb1.82O8.73—H2O;
- Cs5H3(SO4)4.0.5H2O;
- a hydrate of SnCl2;
- silver iodide tetratungstate Ag26I18W4O16;
- KH2PO4;
- tetraammonium dihydrogen triselenate, (NH4)4H2(SeO4)3;
- CsDSO4;
- CsH2PO4;
- Sr[Zr0.9Y0.1]O3−δ;
- a silica-polyphosphate composite containing ammonium ions;
- La0.9Sr0.1Sc0.9Mg0.1O3;
- and
- BaCe0.9−xZrxM0.1O3−δwhere M is Gd or Nd and x=0 to 0.4.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the ASR for protons at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C. is in the range shown for Nafion® 117 in FIG. 10,
- wherein the electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating consists of
- Ba3Ca1.18Nb1.82O8.73—H2O;
- CsH2PO4;
- Sr[Zr0.9Y0.1]O3−δ;
- polyphosphate composite containing 19.96 wt % NH4+, 29.3 wt % P, 1.51 wt % Si;
- La0.9Sr0.1Sc0.9Mg0.1O3;
- or
- BaCe0.9−xZrxM0.1O3−δwhere M is Gd or Nd and x =0 to 0.4.
A proton-conducting membrane designed to serve as an electrolyte in a fuel cell, which membrane consists essentially of
- a single metal or metal hydride support, wherein
- one or both faces of said support is coated with an electronically-insulating proton-conducting coating, which coating consists of an inorganic material that contains no liquid phase, said coating having a thickness such that the area-specific resistance for protons at at least one temperature between 220° C. and 550° C. is about 0.150 Ω·cm2 as shown for Nafion® 117 in FIG. 10.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.