Manufacturing method of fuel cell controlling position of antioxidant
View Patent ↗Disclosed herein are a method of manufacturing a fuel cell, and a fuel cell manufactured according to the method. The method includes bonding a sub-gasket, provided with an air inlet and a hydrogen inlet, to a side surface of a three-layer membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) including an electrolyte membrane, a cathode located on one surface of the electrolyte membrane, and an anode located on the other surface of the electrolyte membrane; stacking a gas diffusion layer, which comprises an antioxidant precursor, on at least one of the cathode and the anode and preparing a five-layer MEA; and applying a current to the five-layer MEA and moving an antioxidant, which is derived from the antioxidant precursor, to the electrolyte membrane.
1. A method of manufacturing a fuel cell, comprising:
bonding a sub-gasket, provided with an air inlet and a hydrogen inlet, to a side surface of a three-layer membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) including an electrolyte membrane, a cathode located on one surface of the electrolyte membrane, and an anode located on the other surface of the electrolyte membrane;
stacking a gas diffusion layer on the cathode and the anode of the three-layer membrane-electrode assembly to obtain a five-layer MEA, wherein at least one of the gas diffusion layers comprises an antioxidant precursor;
and
applying a current to the five-layer MEA and moving an antioxidant, which is derived from the antioxidant precursor, to the electrolyte membrane.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the gas diffusion layer comprises a base material, and a microporous layer located on the base material;
the microporous layer is located on the three-layer membrane-electrode assembly; and
at least one of the microporous layers comprises the antioxidant precursor.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the microporous layer comprises the antioxidant precursor in a content ranging from 165 μg/cm 2 to 210 μg/cm 2 .
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein a thickness of the microporous layer ranges from 10 μm to 100 μm.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antioxidant precursor comprises an oxide of the antioxidant.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the antioxidant precursor comprises at least one of CeO 2 and MgO 2 .
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antioxidant is in an ionic state.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the antioxidant comprises one or more selected from the group consisting of Ce 3+ , Ce 4+ , Mg 2+ , and Mg 3+ .
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the current is applied to the gas diffusion layer with an intensity ranging from 50 A to 250 A.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the current is applied to the gas diffusion layer in a condition in which a temperature ranges from 30° C. to 90° C., humidity ranges from 30% to 100%, and a time for applying the current is three hours or greater.