Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01B—CABLES; CONDUCTORS; INSULATORS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR CONDUCTIVE, INSULATING OR DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
  • H01B1/00—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors
  • H01B1/06—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors mainly consisting of other non-metallic substances
  • H01B1/12—Conductors or conductive bodies characterised by the conductive materials; Selection of materials as conductors mainly consisting of other non-metallic substances organic substances
  • H01B1/122—Ionic conductors
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01G—CAPACITORS; CAPACITORS, RECTIFIERS, DETECTORS, SWITCHING DEVICES, LIGHT-SENSITIVE OR TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE DEVICES OF THE ELECTROLYTIC TYPE
  • H01G11/00—Hybrid capacitors, i.e. capacitors having different positive and negative electrodes; Electric double-layer [EDL] capacitors; Processes for the manufacture thereof or of parts thereof
  • H01G11/22—Electrodes
  • H01G11/30—Electrodes characterised by their material
  • H01G11/48—Conductive polymers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/86—Inert electrodes with catalytic activity, e.g. for fuel cells
  • H01M4/8663—Selection of inactive substances as ingredients for catalytic active masses, e.g. binders, fillers
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/86—Inert electrodes with catalytic activity, e.g. for fuel cells
  • H01M4/90—Selection of catalytic material
  • H01M4/92—Metals of platinum group
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/86—Inert electrodes with catalytic activity, e.g. for fuel cells
  • H01M4/88—Processes of manufacture
  • H01M4/8803—Supports for the deposition of the catalytic active composition
  • H01M4/881—Electrolytic membranes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01M—PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSION OF CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY
  • H01M4/00—Electrodes
  • H01M4/86—Inert electrodes with catalytic activity, e.g. for fuel cells
  • H01M4/88—Processes of manufacture
  • H01M4/8825—Methods for deposition of the catalytic active composition
  • H01M4/8828—Coating with slurry or ink
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
  • Y02E60/13—Energy storage using capacitors
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
  • Y02E60/30—Hydrogen technology
  • Y02E60/50—Fuel cells

Definitions

• the present invention relates to non-aqueous compositions suitable for use with perfluorinated sulfonic acid and hydrocarbon-based ionomers, and methods of making said nonaqueous compositions.
• PFSAs Perfluorinated sulfonic acids
• electrodialysis and chloro-alkali applications are widely used in electrodialysis and chloro-alkali applications, as well as electrochemical devices such as sensors, capacitors, and fuel cells.
• PFSAs have been found to be insoluble in any single solvent, and thus are dispersive only in a mixed solvent system. Therefore, in applications such as fuel cell electrodes, water/alcohol mixtures have generally been used as PFSA dispersing agents.
• the current dispersion process requires a relatively high processing temperature (> 200°C), high pressure (> 500 psi) and long processing time (about 18 hours) in order to ensure sufficient dispersion.
• This category of polymers includes sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone), sulfonated poly(arylene ether ketone), sulfonated poly(arylene ether nitrile), sulfonated polyphenylene and sulfonated polyimide.
• Hydrocarbon-based ionomers have greater thermal/oxidative stability than PFSAs and lower water transport properties. The greater thermal stability enhances the fuel cell durability under more strenuous fuel cell operating conditions.
• the lower water transport properties of hydrocarbon-based ionomers may be advantageous under high temperature/low relative humidity fuel cell operating conditions, as the lower water transport properties can increase water back-diffusion to the membrane and increase membrane hydration, which in turn lowers the cell resistance.
• these copolymers are amorphous in nature which prevents forming a tough film after thermal treatment when water/alcohol mixtures are used.
• the poor mechanical stability results in poor electrode performance, which is inferior to electrodes comprising a PFSA ionomer.
• hydrocarbon-based sulfonated polymers are readily dissolved in aprotic solvents such as dimethylformamide (DMF), dimethylacetamide (DMAc), N- methylpyrrolidone (NMP) or dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO).
• hydrocarbon membranes formed with aprotic solvents are tough and ductile, solid electrodes formed from the polymer dispersion exhibited inferior performance as compared to a PFSA bonded electrode. It is believed that this inferior performance is due to the fact that electrodes made with aprotic solvents have a less porous structure, which in turn adversely impacts fuel cell performance, hi addition, undesirable catalyst poisoning by the residual aprotic solvent may also occur.
• the liquid dispersion process can be completed in an open, unpressurized vessel. Additionally, a polymer dispersion can be obtained at relatively low processing temperature (180-250 0 C). The low processing temperature prevents undesired side reactions such as isomerization, cross-linking, ether formation, and aldehyde formation. Additionally, dispersion in non-aqueous alcohol solutions produces a more robust film, whereas an aqueous dispersion typically results in a mechanically brittle film. For PFSA membranes, robust membranes can be obtained from water/alcohol dispersion by thermal treatment at 14O 0 C or higher, or by adding a high boiling point solvent.
• the present invention provides a means for maintaining a constant composition of the dispersing agent, hi aqueous dispersing agents, the ratio of water to alcohol varies during the process as a result of different evaporation rates of each component. This generates complex kinetics and makes it difficult to control polymer morphology.
• Using a polyol as a solvent facilitates optimization and control of the ionomer structure, and results in a uniform dispersion. This, in turn, results in better electrode performance, stability and durability, with both PFSA and hydrocarbon-based ionomers.
• a composition comprising from about 1% to about 5% of a perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer; and from about 95% to about 99% of a solvent, said solvent consisting essentially of a polyol; wherein said composition is substantially free of water and wherein said ionomer is uniformly dispersed in said solvent.
• a composition comprising from about 1% to about 5% of a hydrocarbon-based ionomer; and from about 95% to about 99% of a solvent, said solvent consisting essentially of a polyol; wherein said composition is substantially free of water and wherein said ionomer is uniformly dispersed in said solvent.
• a method of making a polymer dispersion suitable for use in a fuel cell comprising providing a composition comprising from about 1% to about 5% of an ionomer and from about 95% to about 99% of a solvent, said solvent consisting essentially of a polyol, wherein said composition is substantially free of water and wherein said ionomer is uniformly dispersed in said solvent; and, heating the composition to a temperature of from about 140°C to about 290 0 C at ambient pressure for a period of 3 hours or less.
• FIGURE 1 depicts H 2 /air fuel cell performance, as a function of cell potential in volts (y- axis) vs. current density in A/cm (x-axis), of fuel cells having membrane electrode assemblies (MEA)s prepared from a NafionTM dispersion in glycerol, water/isopropanol, NMP, and a commercially-available NafionTM dispersion.
• MEA membrane electrode assemblies
• FIGURES 2(a) and 2(b) depict H 2 /air fuel cell durability as a function of the number of potential cycles in the presence of hydrogen and nitrogen.
• the cathode was prepared from a dispersion using water/isopropanol as the solvent.
• the cathode was prepared from a dispersion using glycerol as the solvent.
• FIGURE 3 depicts H 2 /air fuel cell performance, as a function of cell potential in volts (y- axis) vs. current density in A/cm 2 (x-axis), of fuel cells having MEAs prepared from hydrocarbon-based ionomer dispersions in glycerol, where the ionomers have an EW of 483 and
• Membrane: NafionTM 212, anode/cathode loadings are 0.2 mg Pt/cm 2 of 20 wt% Pt/C catalyst; anode/cathode pressures 30/30 psi, T ce ip80°C, anode/cathode
• FIGURES 4(a) and 4(b) depict H 2 /air fuel cell performance, as a function of cell potential in volts (y-axis) vs. current density in A/cm 2 (x-axis), of fuel cells having MEAs having PFSA and hydrocarbon-based bonded cathode catalysts.
• Anode/cathode humidification (a) 105 0 C saturated water vapor/95°C saturated water vapor, (b) 105 0 C saturated water vapor/no humidification, where "bypass” means air provided without passing through a humidity bottle.
• the present invention describes compositions useful for formation of uniformly-dispersed electrodes, which in turn are useful as a component of membrane-electrode assemblies for, e.g., fuel cells, sensors and capacitors.
• the compositions also may be useful for repairing or recovering perfluorinated ion exchange membranes, and for film casting processes.
• all percentages are by weight of the total composition, unless specifically stated otherwise.
• All ratios are weight ratios, unless specifically stated otherwise. All ranges are inclusive and combinable. All numerical amounts are understood to be modified by the word "about” unless otherwise specifically indicated.
• EW Equivalent weight
• Polyol as used herein, means a compound having at least two -OH groups, and may include sugar alcohols, also known as polyhydric alcohols.
• Uniformly dispersed as used herein, means that after heating for a suitable time as specified herein, no residual solid polymer remains visible to the unaided eye.
• Substantially free from water as used herein, means that any water that is present is incidentally present (for example, due to environmental conditions) and comprises less than 1% of the composition.
• Consisting essentially of means that the solvent comprises at least 99% by weight of a polyol, and is free from additional solvents or additives that may negatively impact ionomer dispersion.
• compositions of the present invention may comprise from about 1 % to about 5% of a perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer.
• a perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer are commercially available, a typical example of which is sold by E.I. Dupont de Nemours & Co. under the trade name NafionTM.
• the PFSA is a salt, wherein the salt may comprise a cation selected from the group consisting of sodium, potassium, lithium, iron, cesium, magnesium, cesium, tetrabutyl ammonium, tetramethyl ammonium, tetrapropyl ammonium, tetraethyl ammonium, and combinations thereof.
• the membrane is a protonated PFSA membrane (i.e., "hydrogenated” or “acid form"), in which any counterions that are present are H + .
• the perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomer may have an equivalent weight of 1100 or less, alternatively may have an equivalent weight of from about 600 to about 1100, and alternatively from about 1000 to about 1100.
• compositions of the present invention may comprise from about 1% to about 5% of a hydrocarbon-based ionomer (i.e., is "hydrocarbon-based").
• the hydrocarbon-based ionomers of the present invention may comprise poly(arylene) materials such poly(arylene ether sulfone), poly(arylene ether ketone), polyimide, poly(phenylene), poly(phosphine oxide), poly(nitrile), derivatives of any of the foregoing, and combinations thereof.
• the hydrocarbon-based ionomer is a salt, wherein the salt may comprise a cation selected from the group consisting of sodium, potassium, lithium, iron, cesium, magnesium, cesium, tetrabutyl ammonium, tetramethyl ammonium, tetrapropyl ammonium, tetraethyl ammonium, and combinations thereof.
• the membrane is a protonated hydrocarbon-based ionomer (i.e., "hydrogenated” or "acid form"), in which any counterions that are present are H + .
• the hydrocarbon-based ionomer may have an equivalent weight of 1600 or less, alternatively from about 300 to about 1600, and alternatively from about 550 to about 1600.
• compositions of the present invention further comprise from about 95% to about 99% of a non-aqueous solvent, meaning that the solvent is substantially free of water.
• the solvent uniformly disperses the ionomer, and thus is suitable for producing high quality electrodes and membrane electrode assemblies.
• the solvent must have sufficient dispersing capability to uniformly disperse the ionomer at a temperature below the boiling point of the solvent.
• the solvent of the present invention consists essentially of one or more polyols. Low-boiling point alcohols, such as methanol, ethanol, propanol or butanol, are not suitable due to their relatively low boiling points.
• the solvent of the present invention consists essentially of a single polyol (i.e., is a "single- component solvent").
• a single-component solvent provides the advantage of being able to more easily optimize the resulting ionomer structure and to more easily recover the solvent.
• Suitable examples of polyols include glycerol, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, butanediols including 1 ,2-butanediol, 1,3-butanediol, 1 ,4-butanediol, butanetriols including 1,2,4- butanetriol, pentanediols including 1,5-pentanediol, hexanediols, hexanetriols, and combinations thereof, hi a preferred embodiment, the solvent is glycerol.
• the solvent may include ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1 ,2-butanediol, 1,3-butanediol, 1-4 butanediol, glycerol, 1 ,2,4-butanetriol, and combinations thereof.
• the solvent may include 1,5-pentanediol, propylene glycol, ethylene glycol, glycerol, and combinations thereof.
• the solvent may include ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, glycerol, and combinations thereof.
• compositions may comprise an inorganic base, useful for converting the ionomer to the corresponding salt from.
• the inorganic bases are sodium hydroxide and tetrabutyl ammonium hydroxide.
• the present invention further describes methods of making a polymer dispersion suitable for use, for example, in a fuel cell membrane or in a catalyst ink formulation.
• the method comprises providing a composition as described herein, and heating the composition to a desirable temperature.
• the temperature should be below the boiling point of the solvent or combination of solvents, and sufficient to uniformly disperse the ionomer.
• the temperature will vary and depend upon the type of ionomer and the type of solvent, but is from about 140°C to about 290°C, and alternatively is from about 140 0 C to about 210 0 C.
• the composition is heated to a suitable temperature at ambient pressure for a period of time suitable to result in a uniformly-dispersed polymer.
• the length of time will vary and depend upon the type of ionomer and the type of solvent, and is for a period of three hours or less, alternatively is about one hour or less, and alternatively is from about 0.3 hours to about three hours, and alternatively is about 1 hour.
• the method of the present invention does not require the steps of dispersing the ionomer in a solvent system and subsequently freeze-drying to remove any undesired solvent. Rather, the method of the present invention has the advantage of dispersing the ionomer directly into a nonaqueous solvent.
• the resulting dispersion may be used to form an electrode by means that would be well- known to one of skill in the art.
• the electrode may form part of a membrane electrode assembly for a fuel cell, may be used in sensors, capacitors, or other suitable applications.
• Examples 1 and 2 describe the preparation of PFSA dispersion in a non-aqueous dispersing agent.
• a glycerol dispersion (1-14) and water/iso-propanol dispersion (comparative example 1) were poured onto a clean glass and dried at 12O 0 C in a convection oven for 60 h.
• the resulting membrane prepared from glycerol was tough, whereas the membrane from water/isopropanol was brittle.
• Atomic force microscopy shows that membrane from glycerol exhibited less phase separation and a denser structure, whereas the membrane from water/isopropanol dispersion was highly phase-separated.
• Example 2 21.57 g of a dispersing medium, 0.54 g of perfluorinated sulfonic acid (EW-1000 - 1100) with the functional groups having been hydrolyzed to-SO 3 H form (solid content 2.5 wt.%), and the polymer itself being in the form of membrane having a thickness of about 50 micrometer, were placed in a 60 ml vial. The vial was heated in a convection oven at the temperatures shown in Table 2. Dispersions from 1,4 butanediol and 1,2,4 butanetriol had white bubbles on top of the clear dispersion. 1 H NMR indicated that those dispersion with bubbles contained ether compounds, likely due to a side reaction. Table 2 shows the dispersion state after the heat treatment.
• EW-1000 - 1100 perfluorinated sulfonic acid
• Example 3 and comparative example 2-4 show fuel cell performance of PFSA based electrodes.
• the electrodes are prepared from different polymer dispersions as described in Example 1. Polarization curves were obtained to evaluate the electrode performance.
• the catalyst dispersion for thin film electrodes is prepared by thoroughly mixing the catalyst (20 wt% Pt on carbon supplied by Alfa AISER, Ward Hill, MA) and the polymer dispersion. 2.5 wt% NafionTM dispersions were prepared from glycerol as described from Example 1 (1-14), respectively.
• Example 3 A procedure similar to Example 3 was used except that 1 g of 2.5 wt.% NafionTM dispersion in water/isopropanol (prepared from Comparative example 1) was mixed with 0.0625 g Pt/C in a small vial.
• Example 3 A procedure similar to Example 3 was used except that 1 g of 2.5 wt.% NafionTM dispersion in
• NMP prepared from Example 1 (1-19) was mixed with 0.0625 g Pt/C in a small vial.
• Example 3 A procedure similar to Example 3 was used except that 0.5 g of 5 wt.% commercial Nafion dispersion (Solution Technologies, INC, Mendenhall, PA) was mixed with 1 g of glycerol and 0.0625 g Pt/C in a small vial.
• Solution Technologies, INC, Mendenhall, PA commercial Nafion dispersion
• a Na + NafionTM membrane is provided by soaking a protonated membrane in a solution of IM NaOH, followed by rinsing and drying.
• the ink is applied to a Teflon transfer substrate by painting, and the substrate is baked in an oven at 14O 0 C. The painting procedure is repeated until the catalyst loading reaches 0.2 mg/cm 2 , and then further is dried for at least 5 hours.
• a catalyst ink prepared from comparative example 4 For the anode catalyst layer, a catalyst ink prepared from comparative example 4.
• catalyst inks prepared from Example 3, and comparative examples 2, 3 and 4 were used.
• the Na + form Nafion is hot pressed between two catalyst layers at 210 0 C, 10000 kPa for 6 minutes.
• the assembly is cooled, and then the release blank is peeled from the MEA, leaving the electrode adhered to the membrane.
• the dried assembly is lightly boiled in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 for 90 minutes and rinsed in boiling, deionized water for 90 minutes.
• the assembly is dried at 75 0 C under vacuum.
• FIGURE 1 graphically depicts the voltage vs. current density curves for fuel cells having MEAs prepared from glycerol, water/isopropanol, NMP, and commercial Nafion dispersion. It is apparent that the electrode prepared from a glycerol dispersion has equivalent performance to the electrode prepared from water/isopropanol dispersion. Electrodes prepared from NMP and commercial Nafion dispersion showed inferior performance to the electrode prepared from glycerol. This result indicated that fuel cell performance using glycerol dispersion is at least equivalent to that using water based dispersion.
• Example 4 shows the effect of PFSA dispersion on fuel cell durability of NafionTM bonded electrodes. The cathode electrode was prepared from example 3 and comparative example 2 and the cathode durability was compared.
• Polarization and cyclic voltamogram were obtained after 1,000, 3,000 and 10,000 potential cycles.
• a fuel cell cathode prepared from non-aqueous NafionTM dispersions show significantly less performance loss after potential cycles relative to the current state-of-the-art MEAs.
• Table 3 shows that this trend is evident in all three regions of the polarization curve (i.e. kinetic, ohmic, and mass transport), and provides an advantage regardless of the region in which the fuel cell will operate.
• FIGURE 2 illustrates the losses observed after 1000, 3000, and 10,000 cycles for the MEA prepared from Example 5 (cathode prepared from non-aqueous NafionTM dispersion) exhibited less performance degradation than the MEA prepared from comparative example 7 (cathode prepared from aqueous NafionTM dispersion) during potential cycling.
• Example 5 and comparative examples 5 and 6 explain the preparation of hydrocarbon-based sulfonic acid dispersion in non-aqueous, aqueous, and aprotic polar dispersing agents.
• Example 6 and comparative example 7 show fuel cell performance of hydrocarbon-based electrodes.
• the electrodes were prepared from different hydrocarbon-based ionomer dispersions as described as Example 5. Polarization curves were obtained to evaluate the electrode performance.
• Catalyst dispersions for thin film electrodes are prepared by thoroughly mixing the catalyst (20 wt% Pt on carbon supplied by Alfa AISER) and the polymer dispersion.
• Comparative example 7 A procedure similar to that of Example 6 was used except that 1 g of 2.5 wt.% Nafion 212 dispersion in water/isopropanol dispersion (prepared from Comparative example 5, (Table 4, No. 4-10)) was mixed with 0.0625 g Pt/C in a small vial.
• a Na + NafionTM membrane is provided by soaking a protonated membrane in a solution of 1 wt% NaOH, followed by rinsing and drying.
• the ink is applied to a Teflon transfer substrate by painting, and the substrate is baked in an oven at 140 0 C. The painting procedure is repeated until the catalyst loading reaches 0.14 mg/cm 2 , and then further dried for at least 5 hours.
• a catalyst ink prepared from comparative example 4 was used for the anode catalyst layer.
• catalyst inks prepared from Example 6 and comparative examples 7 were used. 1,5 pentanediol was painted onto the decal electrodes in order to increase surface adhesion with the NafionTM membrane, as described in U.S.
• Patent application 12/321,466, Kim et al. Hot press the Na + form NafionTM between anode and cathode catalyst layers at 15O 0 C, 10000 kPa for 6 minutes. Cool the assembly and then peel the release blank from the MEA, leaving the electrode adhered to the membrane. Lightly boil the dried assembly in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 for 90 minute and rinse in boiling deionized water for 90 minute. Dry the assembly at 75 0 C under vacuum.
• FIGURE 3 graphically depicts the voltage vs. current density curves for fuel cells having a hydrocarbon-based polymer bonded electrode prepared from glycerol, and water/isopropanol. It is apparent that the electrode prepared from glycerol dispersion has better performance than the electrode prepared from water/isopropanol dispersion. This result indicates that fuel cell performance using glycerol dispersion is superior to water based dispersion.
• Example 7 and comparative example 8 show the benefit of hydrocarbon-based ionomer over PFSA ionomer under high temperature and reduced relative humidity operating conditions.
• a hydrocarbon-based ionomer bonded electrode was prepared according to the procedure of Example 5.
• Example 7 and comparative example 8 exemplify one benefit of this invention, which describes making fuel cell electrodes using hydrocarbon-based ionomer.
• Catalyst dispersions for thin film electrodes are prepared by thoroughly mixing the catalyst (20 wt% Pt on carbon supplied by Alfa AISER) and the polymer dispersion.
• Example 6 A procedure similar to that of Example 6 was used except that 1 g of 2.5 wt.% Nafion 212 dispersion in water/isopropanol dispersion (prepared from comparative example 1) was mixed with 0.0625 g Pt/C in a small vial.
• FIGURE 4 shows the fuel cell performance of MEAs having PFSA and a hydrocarbon-bonded cathode catalyst at 95 0 C.
• the fuel cell performance of MEAs having a hydrocarbon bonded cathode catalyst was equivalent to that of an MEA having a PFSA- bonded cathode catalyst.
• the MEA having the hydrocarbon-bonded cathode catalyst showed superior performance to the MEA having a PFSA- bonded cathode catalyst. This is thought to be due to the low water-permeable hydrocarbon- bonded cathode catalyst back-diffusing water to the anode side, which increases membrane hydration and lowers resistance.
• the water diffusion in the MEA is dramatically changed, which helps to improve fuel cell performance.

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