Metal coated polymer electrolyte membrane having a reinforcement structure
View Patent ↗A metal-coated, wire-reinforced polymer electrolyte membrane that is permeable only to protons and hydrogen is disclosed. The metal-coated, wire-reinforced polymer electrolyte membrane has a surface microstructure that prevents cracking of the metal coating during hydration. The metal-coated, wire-reinforced polymer electrolyte membrane can be used in liquid-type fuel cells to prevent crossover of fuel, gas and impurities.
1. A metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane, said membrane comprising:
a wave-like surface microstructure having crests and troughs;
a plurality of reinforcement wires embedded in said membrane; and
a metal film deposited on top of said surface microstructure,
wherein said reinforcement wires have a Young's modulus that is greater than a Young's modulus of said membrane, and are positioned in parallel to the troughs of the wave-like surface structure, and wherein said metal film is permeable only to protons and hydrogen.
2. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is a sulfonated derivative of a polymer selected from a group consisting of polysulfone (PSU), polyimide (PI), polyphenylene oxide (PPO), polyphenylene sulfoxide (PPSO), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyparaphenylene (PPP), polyphenylquinoxaline (PPQ), polyarylketone (PK), polyetherketone (PEK), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyetherketone-ketone (PEKK), polyetheretherketoneketone (PEEKK) polyetherketoneetherketone-ketone (PEKEKK), polybenzazole (PBZ), polybenzimidazole (PBI) and polyaramid polymers.
3. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is a blended polymer.
4. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is a composite membrane comprising multiple layers of polymer electrolyte membranes, and wherein the multiple layers of polymer electrolyte membranes comprise blended polymer membranes, unblended polymer membranes, or a combination thereof.
5. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 4 , wherein the composite membrane is a perfluorosulfonic acid or a PBI membrane coated with sulfonated PEEK.
6. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the reinforcement wires have a Young's modulus that is at least 5-times greater than a Young's modulus of said membrane.
7. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 6 , wherein the reinforcement wires have a Young's modulus that is at least 100-times greater than a Young's modulus of said membrane.
8. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the metal film comprises a metal or an alloy selected from the group consisting of palladium (Pd), neodymium (Nd), vanadium (V), Iron (Fe), tantalum (Ta), and alloys thereof.
9. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the metal film is a composite film comprising multiple metal layers.
10. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 9 , wherein the metal film comprises a first metal layer covered by a second metal layer, wherein said first metal layer comprises a material selected from the group consisting of neodymium, vanadium, iron, tantalum, and an alloy thereof; and wherein said second metal layer comprises a material selected from the group consisting of palladium, platinum and an alloy thereof.
11. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the metal film has a thickness that is smaller than a depth of the trough of the wave-like surface microstructure.
12. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 11 , wherein the metal film has a thickness that is smaller than one third of the depth of the trough of the wavelike surface microstructure.
13. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , wherein the metal film is further coated with a catalyst.
14. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 13 , wherein the catalyst is one of Pt, Pt alloy, Pt black and Pd black.
15. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 1 , the membrane comprising a first side and a second side, wherein both the first and the second side of the membrane have the wave-like surface microstructure, and wherein both wave-like surface microstructures are coated with the metal film.
16. A metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane, the membrane comprising:
a wave-like surface microstructure having crests and troughs;
at least one reinforcement wire embedded in the membrane; and
a metal film established on the surface microstructure;
wherein the at least one reinforcement wire has a Young's modulus that is greater than a Young's modulus of the membrane, and is positioned substantially parallel to the troughs of the wave-like surface microstructure, and wherein the metal film is permeable substantially only to protons and hydrogen.
17. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 16 wherein there are a plurality of the at least one reinforcement wire.
18. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 16 wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is a sulfonated derivative of a polymer selected from a group consisting of polysulfone (PSU), polyimide (PI), polyphenylene oxide (PPO), polyphenylene sulfoxide (PPSO), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyparaphenylene (PPP), polyphenylquinoxaline (PPQ), polyarylketone (PK), polyetherketone (PEK), polyetheretherketone (PEEK), polyetherketone-ketone (PEKK), polyetheretherketoneketone (PEEKK) polyetherketoneetherketone-ketone (PEKEKK), polybenzazole (PBZ), polybenzimidazole (PBI) and polyaramid polymers.
19. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 16 wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is a blended polymer.
20. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 16 wherein the polymer electrolyte membrane is a composite membrane comprising multiple layers of polymer electrolyte membranes, and wherein the multiple layers of polymer electrolyte membranes comprise blended polymer membranes, unblended polymer membranes, or a combination thereof.
21. The metal-coated polymer electrolyte membrane of claim 16 wherein the at least one reinforcement wire has a Young's modulus that is at least five times greater than a Young's modulus of the membrane.