Claims
- 1. An active material for a fuel cell anode, said active material comprising:
a hydrogen storage alloy; and a water reactive chemical hydride intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage alloy.
- 2. The active material of claim 1, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is selected from the group consisting of hydrides or borohydrides of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and alloys thereof.
- 3. The active material of claim 2, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is sodium borohydride.
- 4. The active material of claim 2, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is potassium hydride.
- 5. The active material of claim 2, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is sodium hydride.
- 6. The active material of claim 1, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is lithium aluminum hydride.
- 7. The active material of claim 1, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is calcium nickel hydride.
- 8. The active material of claim 1, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy is selected from the group consisting of rare-earth/Misch metal alloys, zirconium alloys, titanium alloys, and mixtures or alloys thereof.
- 9. The active material of claim 8, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy has the following composition:
- 10. The active material of claim 8, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy has the following composition, in atomic percent: 10.5% La, 4.3% Ce, 0.5 Pr, 1.4% Nd, 60.0% Ni, 12.7% Co, 5.9% Mn and 4.7% Al.
- 11. A fuel cell anode comprising:
a hydrogen storage alloy; and a water reactive chemical hydride intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage alloy.
- 12. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is selected from the group consisting of hydrides or borohydrides of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and alloys thereof.
- 13. The fuel cell anode of claim 12, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is sodium borohydride.
- 14. The fuel cell anode of claim 12, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is potassium hydride.
- 15. The fuel cell anode of claim 12, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is sodium hydride.
- 16. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is lithium aluminum hydride.
- 17. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is calcium nickel hydride.
- 18. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy is selected from the group consisting of rare-earth/Misch metal alloys, zirconium alloys, titanium alloys, and mixtures or alloys thereof.
- 19. The fuel cell anode of claim 18, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy has the following composition:
- 20. The fuel cell anode of claim 18, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy has the following composition, in atomic percent: 10.5% La, 4.3% Ce, 0.5 Pr, 1.4% Nd, 60.0% Ni, 12.7% Co, 5.9% Mn and 4.7% Al.
- 21. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, further including a hydrophobic component.
- 22. The fuel cell anode of claim 21, wherein said hydrophobic component is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
- 23. The fuel cell anode of claim 22, wherein said PTFE is intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage alloy and said water reactive chemical hydride.
- 24. The fuel cell anode of claim 22, wherein said PTFE is a layer within said anode.
- 25. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, further including a substrate component which provides only for electrical conductivity and comprises an electrically conductive powder intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage material and said water reactive chemical hydride.
- 26. The fuel cell anode of claim 25, wherein said electrically conductive powder comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of copper, a copper alloy, nickel, a nickel alloy, and carbon.
- 27. The fuel cell anode of claim 11, further including a substrate component which provides for both electrical conductivity and mechanical support and comprises an electrically conductive mesh, grid, foam, matte, foil, plate, or expanded metal.
- 28. The fuel cell anode of claim 27, wherein said substrate component comprises an electrically conductive mesh, grid, foam, or expanded metal.
- 29. The fuel cell anode of claim 28, wherein said mesh, grid, foam, or expanded metal is formed from nickel or nickel alloy.
- 30. The fuel cell anode of claim 28, wherein said mesh, grid, foam, or expanded metal is formed from copper, copper plated nickel or a copper-nickel alloy.
- 31. A fuel cell including an anode, said anode comprising:
a hydrogen storage alloy; and a water reactive chemical hydride intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage alloy.
- 32. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is selected from the group consisting of hydrides or borohydrides of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and alloys thereof.
- 33. The fuel cell of claim 32, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is sodium borohydride.
- 34. The fuel cell of claim 32, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is potassium hydride.
- 35. The fuel cell of claim 32, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is sodium hydride.
- 36. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is lithium aluminum hydride.
- 37. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said water reactive chemical hydride is calcium nickel hydride.
- 38. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy is selected from the group consisting of rare-earth/Misch metal alloys, zirconium alloys, titanium alloys, and mixtures or alloys thereof.
- 39. The fuel cell of claim 38, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy has the following composition:
- 40. The fuel cell of claim 38, wherein said hydrogen storage alloy has the following composition, in atomic percent: 10.5% La, 4.3% Ce, 0.5 Pr, 1.4% Nd, 60.0% Ni, 12.7% Co, 5.9%Mn and 4.7% Al.
- 41. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said anode further includes a hydrophobic component.
- 42. The fuel cell of claim 41, wherein said hydrophobic component is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE).
- 43. The fuel cell of claim 42, wherein said PTFE is intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage alloy and said water reactive chemical hydride.
- 44. The fuel cell of claim 42, wherein said PTFE is a layer within said anode.
- 45. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said anode further includes a substrate component which provides only for electrical conductivity and comprises an electrically conductive powder intimately mixed with said hydrogen storage material and said water reactive chemical hydride.
- 46. The fuel cell of claim 45, wherein said electrically conductive powder comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of copper, a copper alloy, nickel, a nickel alloy, and carbon.
- 47. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein said anode further includes a substrate component which provides for both electrical conductivity and mechanical support and comprises an electrically conductive mesh, grid, foam, matte, foil, plate, or expanded metal.
- 48. The fuel cell of claim 47, wherein said substrate component comprises an electrically conductive a mesh, grid, foam, or expanded metal.
- 49. The fuel cell of claim 48, wherein said mesh, grid, foam, or expanded metal is formed from nickel or nickel alloy.
- 50. The fuel cell of claim 48, wherein said mesh, grid, foam, or expanded metal is formed from copper, copper plated nickel or a copper-nickel alloy.
- 51. The fuel cell of claim 31, wherein fuel cell further includes a cathode which comprises:
a) a hydrophobic component for preventing water from passing through said cathode; b) a substrate component providing for mechanical support and/or current collection; and c) a cathode active material.
- 52. The fuel cell of claim 51, wherein said cathode active material is resistant to poisoning.
- 53. The fuel cell of claim 52, wherein said cathode active material comprises a host matrix including at least one transition metal element which is structurally modified by the incorporation of at least one modifier element to enhance its catalytic properties.
- 54. The fuel cell of claim 53, wherein said cathode active material comprises a host matrix which includes one or more transition elements from the group consisting of Mn, Co and Ni and at lease one modifier element selected from the group consisting of La, Al, K, Cs, Na, Li, C, and O which structurally modifies the local chemical environments of said host matrix.
- 55. The fuel cell cathode of claim 51, wherein said cathode active material comprises a redox couple which provides said cathode with oxygen storage capacity.
- 56. The fuel cell cathode of claim 55, wherein said redox couple is nickel hydroxide/nickel oxyhydroxide.
- 57. The fuel cell cathode of claim 55, wherein said redox couple comprises a metal/metal oxide couple of an element selected from the group consisting of copper, silver, zinc and cadmium.
- 58. The fuel cell cathode of claim 31, wherein said fuel cell further includes a pressure servomechanism for detecting and equalizing pressure differentials between gases and liquids within said fuel cell.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/524,116, filed Mar. 13, 2000, which is assigned to the same assignee as the current application.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09524116 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
09999393 |
Oct 2001 |
US |