摘要:
To prevent the flooding phenomenon at the cathode in a unit cell where the temperature is relatively low or the supply of air is small, a fuel cell stack includes at least three flat unit cells stacked with separators interposed therebetween, the unit cells comprising an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte membrane sandwiched therebetween, and having an oxidant channel formed on the surface of the separator adjacent to the cathode, and the anode and the cathode comprising a catalyst layer attached to the electrolyte membrane and a diffusion layer, wherein the cross-sectional area of the inlet side of the oxidant channel, the area of the cathode catalyst layer, the thickness of the electrolyte membrane or the amount of a water repellent contained in the combination of the cathode and the oxidant channel is the largest in at least one of the unit cells at the ends of the stack.
摘要:
A method for activating a direct oxidation fuel cell including an anode, a cathode, and a proton-conductive electrolyte membrane interposed between the anode and the cathode is provided. The anode and the cathode each have a catalyst layer on a face in contact with the proton-conductive electrolyte membrane. This method activates the fuel cell by passing a current through the fuel cell from an external power source, with the positive electrode and the negative electrode of the external power source connected to the anode and the cathode of the fuel cell, respectively, while supplying an organic fuel and an inert gas to the anode and the cathode, respectively.
摘要:
To prevent the flooding phenomenon at the cathode in a unit cell where the temperature is relatively low or the supply of air is small, a fuel cell stack includes at least three flat unit cells stacked with separators interposed therebetween, the unit cells comprising an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte membrane sandwiched therebetween, and having an oxidant channel formed on the surface of the separator adjacent to the cathode, and the anode and the cathode comprising a catalyst layer attached to the electrolyte membrane and a diffusion layer, wherein the cross-sectional area of the inlet side of the oxidant channel, the area of the cathode catalyst layer, the thickness of the electrolyte membrane or the amount of a water repellent contained in the combination of the cathode and the oxidant channel is the largest in at least one of the unit cells at the ends of the stack.
摘要:
A fuel cell system includes: a fuel cell including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte interposed between the anode and the cathode; and a purifying apparatus including a catalyst layer that purifies an effluent discharged from the anode. The purifying apparatus has a porous sheet including the catalyst layer and two flow paths disposed on both sides thereof. One of the flow paths has an inlet into which the effluent discharged from the anode is introduced, and the other flow path has an inlet into which air is introduced and an outlet. The effluent discharged from the anode is passed through the porous sheet for purification and then discharged from the outlet.
摘要:
A fuel cell system includes: a dilute tank that stores an aqueous solution of liquid fuel and supplies the solution to the anode of a fuel cell; a fuel tank connected to the dilute tank via a first controlling section; a water tank connected to the dilute tank via a second controlling section; and controlling means including a current detector which measures the amount of the fuel consumed by the fuel cell from the amount of power generation. The controlling means controls the first controlling section based on the measured amount of fuel consumption and further includes correcting means for measuring a component of a gas discharged from the cathode, calculating the amount of the fuel which has crossed over from the anode to the cathode based on the measured component, and correcting the measured amount of fuel consumption based on the calculated amount of fuel crossover.
摘要:
In order to prevent the crossover of an organic fuel such as methanol in a fuel cell and to exhibit excellent electricity generation characteristics without impairing the utilization efficiency of the fuel, at least either of (1) a discontinuous catalyst layer being formed on a surface of an anode catalyst layer and having a higher density (existence probability) of platinum type catalyst than the anode catalyst layer and (2) an electrolyte polymer layer is formed at the interface between the anode catalyst layer and a polymer electrolyte membrane.
摘要:
A direct-type fuel cell having excellent power generating characteristics even under operating conditions utilizing a high concentration fuel at low air flow rates. The anode includes an anode-side diffusion layer that faces the fuel flow channel and an anode-side catalyst layer in contact with the electrolyte membrane. The cathode includes a cathode-side diffusion layer that faces the air flow channel and a cathode-side catalyst layer in contact with the electrolyte membrane. A surface area of the anode-side diffusion layer facing the fuel flow channel or both a surface area of the anode-side diffusion layer facing the fuel flow channel and a surface area of the cathode-side diffusion layer facing the air flow channel have a critical surface tension of penetrating wettability of 22 to 40 mN/m.
摘要:
The fuel cell system of the present invention includes: (A) a fuel cell stack including at least one unit fuel cell including a cathode, an anode, and a polymer electrolyte membrane interposed therebetween; (B) a detecting device for detecting lack of humidification in the fuel cell stack; (C) a water supplying device for supplying moisture to the fuel cell stack when lack of humidification is detected by the detecting device; (D) a heating device for heating the supplied moisture; and (E) a cooling device for cooling the supplied moisture. In the fuel cell system of the present invention, the fuel cell stack is humidified by repeating heating and cooling of the supplied moisture by the heating device and the cooling device, respectively.
摘要:
A direct oxidation fuel cell including at least one cell, the cell being a stacked body including: a membrane electrode assembly including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane disposed between the anode and the cathode; an anode-side separator having a fuel flow channel for supplying a liquid fuel to the anode; and a cathode-side separator having an oxidant flow channel for supplying an oxidant to the cathode, in which the anode-side separator includes a first region including an upstream half of the fuel flow channel and a second region including a downstream half of the fuel flow channel, the anode includes an anode catalyst layer in contact with the electrolyte membrane and an anode diffusion layer in contact with the anode-side separator, the anode catalyst layer includes an anode catalyst and a polymer electrolyte, the anode catalyst layer includes an upstream-side region facing the first region and a downstream-side region facing the second region, and the content of the polymer electrolyte in the anode catalyst layer is higher at the upstream-side region than at the downstream-side region.
摘要:
A direct oxidation fuel cell including at least one cell, the cell being a stacked body including: a membrane electrode assembly including an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte membrane disposed between the anode and the cathode; an anode-side separator having a fuel flow channel for supplying a liquid fuel to the anode; and a cathode-side separator having an oxidant flow channel for supplying an oxidant to the cathode, in which the anode-side separator includes a first region including an upstream half of the fuel flow channel and a second region including a downstream half of the fuel flow channel, the anode includes an anode catalyst layer in contact with the electrolyte membrane and an anode diffusion layer in contact with the anode-side separator, the anode catalyst layer includes an anode catalyst and a polymer electrolyte, the anode catalyst layer includes an upstream-side region facing the first region and a downstream-side region facing the second region, and the content of the polymer electrolyte in the anode catalyst layer is higher at the upstream-side region than at the downstream-side region.