Patent ID: 8945410
Filing Date: 2015-02-03
Classification: H01M,Y02E,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method of manufacturing a fuel cell with enhanced mass transfer characteristics, the method comprising: providing a porous medium with a micrometer-scale surface roughness, wherein the porous medium includes a macroporous substrate containing carbon fibers and a microporous layer containing carbon particles; forming a micro-nano dual structure on the surface of the porous medium with the micrometer-scale surface roughness by forming nanometer-scale protrusions and/or nanometer-scale collapsed pores by plasma etching, wherein the plasma etching is carried out on both the surface of the macroporous substrate and the surface of the microporous layer to form the micro-nano dual structure in which the nanometer-scale protrusions and/or the nanometer-scale collapsed pores are formed within surfaces of the carbon particles and/or within surfaces of the carbon fibers; depositing a hydrophobic thin film on the surface of the micro-nano dual structure; and forming a fuel cell together with a membrane-electrode assembly and a separator using the porous medium including the micro-nano dual structure and the hydrophobic thin film as a gas diffusion layer.