Electrode material, membrane-electrode assembly and polymer electrolyte fuel cell made therefrom, and method of making the electrode material

摘要

An electrode material, particularly a gas diffusion layer, for a fuel cell is provided which prevents electrode exfoliation during the manufacturing process by optimizing a water repellent material incorporated in the gas diffusion layer. The resulting electrode made from the gas diffusion layer has a high discharge performance at a low cost. This gas diffusion layer contacts a catalyst layer to form an electrode of the fuel cell layer, and the catalyst layer in turn contacts a polymer electrolyte membrane of the fuel cell. The gas diffusion layer contains a fibrillatable, water repellent material, and is subjected to heat treatment below the melting point of the water repellent material to fibrillate the material.