Patent ID: 8354201

Claim:
A fuel cell comprising: a first flow field plate defining at least one flow field channel; a cathode catalyst layer disposed over at least a portion of the first flow field plate; a polymeric ion conducting membrane disposed over the cathode catalyst layer, the polymeric ion conducting membrane comprising a blend of a first polymer having a cyclobutyl moiety; and a second polymer having a non-ionic polymer segment, the polymeric ion conducting membrane being spatially non-homogenous such that a weight ratio of the first polymer to the second polymer varies in a plane; an anode catalyst layer disposed over the polymeric ion conducting membrane; and a second flow field plate defining at least one flow field channel, the polymeric ion conducting membrane extending beyond the cathode catalyst layer and the anode catalyst layer such that the fuel cell has at least one peripheral region with the polymeric ion conducting membrane interposed between the first flow field plate and the second flow field plate without the cathode catalyst layer and the anode catalyst layer.