Patent ID: 8309275

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a membrane electrode assembly using an ion conducting membrane, comprising the steps of: providing an ion-conducting membrane in a pre-swollen state being impregnated with a ionomer; drying the pre-swollen ion-conducting membrane at elevated temperatures in order to remove residual solvent and to transform the ionomer into the form of an insoluble solid; after the drying step, re-swelling the ion-conducting membrane by immersing the ion-conducting membrane in a non-boiling solvent; coating of the ion conducting membrane on both sides with an electrode layer to form a sandwich; and hot-pressing the sandwich to form an ion conducting bond between the ion-conducting membrane and the electrode layers; wherein the ion conducting membrane is impregnated with an ionically conducting polymeric phase; wherein a duration of the re-swelling step is 4-5 hours.