Abstract: An aqueous ionomer gel having a high viscosity, particularly a proton conducting ionomer, as well as to related products incorporating such gels. Such aqueous ionomer gels are suitable for suspending catalysts for formation of catalyst inks, which in turn are suitable for screen printing on a variety of surfaces. Representative surfaces are the electrode or membrane surfaces in an electrochemical fuel cell. Methods for making aqueous ionomer gels are also disclosed.

Abstract: Corrosion at the cathode catalyst may be a serious problem compromising fuel cell lifetimes. However in providing for increased corrosion resistance, an expected trade-off may occur regarding fuel cell performance. TKK (Tanaka Kikenzoku Kogyo) has solved this problem by providing both increased corrosion resistance with no concomitant loss in performance with their catalysts TEC50EA10 and TEC50BA10. An alternative to the TKK catalysts is to use an admixture of platinum black and supported catalyst and in particular, an admixture comprising 30-40% by weight platinum black and 60-70% by weight supported catalyst.

Abstract: An electrochemical fuel cell stack comprises a plurality of fuel cell assemblies, wherein, each fuel cell assembly comprises a cell compressed between a pair of flow field plates, a perimeter seal circumscribing the cell and interposed between the pair of flow field plates, and a first diode, having an aspect ratio greater than 10:1, positioned adjacent to, and outside of, the perimeter seal along a first edge of the cell and interposed between the pair of flow field plates.