Patent ID: 8735021

Claim:
A membrane/electrode assembly for fuel cell applications, the membrane/electrode assembly comprising: a cathode catalyst layer; an anode catalyst layer; and an ion conducting membrane positioned between the cathode catalyst layer and the anode catalyst layer, the ion conducting membrane comprising ion conducting polymer that comprises a perfluorocyclobutyl moiety; and a porphyrin-containing compound having formula 1: wherein: R 1 , R 2 , R 3 , R 4 are each independently hydrogen, substituted or unsubstituted alkyl, aryl, substituted or unsubstituted phenyl, or phenylmethoxy; R 5 , R 6 , R 7 , R 8 , R 9 , R 10 , R 11 , R 12 are each independently hydrogen, alkyl, or aryl, the ion conducting polymer that comprises a perfluorocyclobutyl moiety including polymer segments 3 and 4: E 1 (SO 2 X) d —P 1 -Q 1 -P 2 3 E 2 -P 3 -Q 2 -P 4 4 connected by a linking group L 1 to form polymer units 5 and 6: Z 1 is —SO 2 X, —PO 3 H 2 , or —COX; E 1 is an aromatic-containing moiety; E 2 is an unsulfonated aromatic-containing and/or aliphatic-containing moiety; L 1 is a linking group; X is an —OH, a halogen, an ester, or d is a number of Z 1 functional groups attached to E 1 ; P 1 , P 2 , P 3 , P 4 are each independently absent, —O—, —S—,—SO——SO 2 —, —CO—, —NH—, NR 13 —, —R 14 —, and R 13 is C 1-25 alkyl, C 1-25 aryl or C 1-25 arylene; R 14 is C 1-25 alkylene, C 1-25 perfluoroalkylene, or C 1-25 arylene; R 15 is trifluoromethyl, C 1-25 alkyl, C 1-25 perfluoroalkylene, C 1-25 aryl, or another E 1 group; Q 1 , Q 2 are each independently a fluorinated cyclobutyl moiety; i is a number representing repetition of polymer segment 3; and, j is a number representing repetition of a polymer segment 4.