Granted Patent B2

US 12,249,744 · App. 18/320,370 · Granted Mar 11, 2025

Inventors: Dash Fongalland (Reading, GB); Jonathan Sharman (Reading, GB)

Assignee: Johnson Matthey Hydrogen Technologies Limted

H01M8/1004H01M4/881H01M4/8828H01M4/9083

Abstract

Claims (33)

1. A catalysed ion-conducting membrane comprising an ion-conducting membrane, an electrocatalyst layer having two opposing faces, and a layer A, wherein:

the layer A and the ion-conducting membrane are adjacent to opposite faces of the electrocatalyst layer;

the layer A comprises an ion-conducting material I A and a carbon containing material C A ;

the electrocatalyst layer comprises an ion-conducting material I B and an electrocatalyst; and,

the layer A has a permeability, k 1 , of at least 15 nm 2 , and the electrocatalyst layer has a permeability, k 2 , of no more than 25 nm 2 .

2. The catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the layer A is hydrophobic.

3. The catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the weight ratio of ion-conducting material I A to carbon containing material C A in layer A is in the range of and including 2:1 to 1:2.

4. The catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the electrocatalyst is supported.

5. The catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 4 , wherein the electrocatalyst is supported on a carbon containing material C B .

6. The catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 , wherein the electrocatalyst layer is a cathode electrocatalyst layer.

7. A fuel cell comprising the catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 .

8. A membrane electrode assembly comprising the catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 .

9. A fuel cell comprising the membrane electrode assembly according to claim 8 .

10. A method of preparing the catalysed ion-conducting membrane according to claim 1 comprising:

i) applying an electrocatalyst layer ink comprising the ion-conducting material I B and the electrocatalyst onto the layer A, or onto a layer of a layer A ink that comprises the ion-conducting material I A and the carbon containing material C A ; or

ii) applying the layer A ink onto the electrocatalyst layer, or onto a layer electrocatalyst layer ink.

11. The method according to claim 10 comprising the steps of:

i) applying the electrocatalyst layer ink onto an ion-conducting membrane and then drying the ink to form the electrocatalyst layer; then ii) applying the layer A ink onto the electrocatalyst layer then drying the ink to form the layer A.

12. The method according to claim 10 comprising the steps of:

i) applying the layer A ink onto a substrate then drying the ink to form the layer A; then

ii) applying the electrocatalyst layer ink onto the layer A formed in step i) then drying the ink to form an electrocatalyst layer;

iii) combining the layers with an ion-conducting membrane such that the electrocatalyst layer is adjacent to the ion-conducting membrane.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the substrate is a decal transfer substrate and step iii) is carried out by transferring the combined layers onto an ion-conducting membrane by decal transfer from the transfer substrate.

14. A method of preparing the membrane electrode assembly according to claim 7 , the method comprising the steps of:

i) applying an electrocatalyst layer ink comprising the ion-conducting material I B and the electrocatalyst onto an ion-conducting membrane and then drying the ink to form an electrocatalyst layer then

ii) applying a layer A ink comprising the ion-conducting material I A and the carbon containing material C A onto the electrocatalyst layer then drying the ink to form a layer A.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising applying a gas diffusion substrate to the layer A.

16. A method of preparing a membrane electrode assembly according to claim 7 , the method comprising the steps of:

i) applying a layer A ink comprising an ion-conducting material I A and a carbon containing material C A onto a substrate then drying the ink to form a layer A; then

ii) applying an electrocatalyst layer ink comprising an ion-conducting material I B and an electrocatalyst onto the layer A formed in step i) then drying the ink to form an electrocatalyst layer; and,

iii) combining the layers with an ion-conducting membrane such that the electrocatalyst layer is adjacent to the ion-conducting membrane.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the substrate is a decal transfer substrate and step iii) is carried out by transferring the combined layers onto an ion-conducting membrane by decal transfer from the transfer substrate.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the substrate is a gas diffusion layer.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (25)