Claims
- 1. A fuel cell for operation with a direct feed organic fuel, said fuel cell comprising an anode compartment containing an anode, a cathode compartment containing a cathode and a membrane serving as a separator and electrolyte between said anode and cathode compartment, and said membrane comprising a polymer having cation exchange groups and having inorganic filler dispersed therein.
- 2. The fuel cell of claim 1 wherein said inorganic proton conductor is selected from the group consisting of particle hydrates and framework hydrates.
- 3. The fuel cell of claim 1 wherein said inorganic proton conductor is selected from the group consisting of titanium dioxide, tin and hydrogen mordenite, oxides and phosphates of zirconium, and mixtures thereof.
- 4. The fuel cell of claim 1 wherein said inorganic proton conductor has a conductivity of at least about 10.sup.-4 S/cm.
- 5. The fuel cell of claim 1 wherein said cation exchange groups of said polymer of said membrane are selected from the group consisting of sulfonate, carboxylate, phosphonate, imide, sulfonimide and sulfonamide.
- 6. The fuel cell of claim 1 wherein said polymer of said membrane comprises highly fluorinated polymer with sulfonate cation exchange groups.
- 7. The fuel cell of claim 6 wherein said polymer of said membrane comprises a highly fluorinated carbon backbone and said side chain is represented by the formula --(OCF.sub.2 CFR.sub.f).sub.a --OCF.sub.2 CFR'.sub.f SO.sub.3 X, wherein R.sub.f and R'.sub.f are independently selected from F, Cl or a perfluorinated alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, a=0, 1 or 2, and X is H, an alkali metal or NH.sub.4.
- 8. The fuel cell of claim 1 wherein at least one of said anode or said cathode are formed from a layer of electrically-conductive, catalytically active particles on the surface of said membrane.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This is a division of application Ser. No. 08/719,746, filed Sep. 25, 1996, now abandoned which was a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/407,146, filed Mar. 20, 1995, now abandoned and a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/412,791, filed Mar. 29, 1995, now abandoned and claims benefit of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 60/003,736, filed Sep. 14, 1995.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Kjaer et al., Solid State Electrolyte Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells, Solid State Ionics, 46, No. 1/2, 169-173, May 1, 1991. |
An Introduction to Zeolite Molecular Sieves, Alan Dyer, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, New York, 1988, Chapter 1, No available month. |
Related Publications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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412791 |
Mar 1995 |
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
719746 |
Sep 1996 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
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407146 |
Mar 1995 |
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