Rubber crack mitigants in polyelectrolyte membranes
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsTimothy J. Fuller, Lijun Zou, Michael R. Schoeneweiss, James Mitchell
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Abstract
A membrane electrode assembly for a fuel cell includes an anode catalyst layer, a cathode catalyst layer, and an ion conducting membrane. The ion conducting membrane is interposed between the anode catalyst layer and the cathode catalyst layer. The ion conducting membrane includes an ion conducting polymer having sulfonic acid groups and rubber particulates. Characteristically, the rubber particulates have an average spatial dimension less than about 600 nanometers. A fuel cell incorporating the membrane electrode assembly is also provided.
Claims22
A membrane electrode assembly for a fuel cell, the membrane electrode assembly comprising:
- an anode catalyst layer;
- a cathode catalyst layer;
- and
- an ion conducting membrane interposed between the anode catalyst layer and the cathode catalyst layer, the ion conducting membrane including an ion conducting polymer having sulfonic acid groups and rubber particulates, the rubber particulates having an average spatial dimension less than about 600 nanometers wherein the rubber particulates include a component selected from the group consisting of polyoctenamer, polystyrene-polybutadiene, syndiotactic poly-1,2-butadiene, and combinations thereof.
A fuel cell comprising:
- a membrane electrode assembly including:
- an anode catalyst layer;
- a cathode catalyst layer;
- an ion conducting membrane interposed between the anode catalyst layer and the cathode catalyst layer, the ion conducting membrane including an ion conducting polymer having sulfonic acid groups and rubber particulates, the rubber particulates having an average spatial dimension less than about 600 nanometers wherein the rubber particulates include component selected from the group consisting of polyoctenamer, polystyrene-polybutadiene, syndiotactic poly-1,2-butadiene, and combinations thereof;
- an anode flow field plate disposed over the anode catalyst layer;
- a cathode flow field plate disposed over the catalyst layer;
- a first gas diffusion layer interposed between the anode flow field plate and the anode catalyst layer;
- and
- a second gas diffusion layer interposed between the cathode flow field plate and the catalyst layer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.