Patent ID: 8795918

Claim:
A single fuel cell comprising: a membrane electrode assembly; gas diffusion layers; and separators, the gas diffusion layers including a cathode gas diffusion layer and an anode gas diffusion layer, the separators including a cathode separator and an anode separator each of which has ribs and a groove of a gas flow channel on one of the surfaces, a pair of electrode catalyst layers being provided on both surfaces of a polymer electrolyte membrane in the membrane electrode assembly, the gas diffusion layers being disposed opposite the pair of electrode catalyst layers of the membrane electrode assembly, the membrane electrode assembly and the gas diffusion layers being interposed between the separators, a total area on a surface of the cathode gas diffusion layer being smaller than an effective area of the gas flow channel including the ribs of the cathode separator and/or a total area on a surface of the anode gas diffusion layer being smaller than an effective area of the gas flow channel including the ribs of the anode separator, and the effective area of the gas flow channel including the ribs being defined as an inner area specified by tracing and connecting outermost edge parts of the groove.