ELECTRODE USED IN ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTION AND FUEL CELL USING THE SAME

摘要

An electrode includes a porous catalyst layer having a thickness of about 0.1 mm and a porous diffusion layer having a thickness of about 1.6 mm. The catalyst layer includes a large number of agglomerate portions and a large number of gap portions which are alternately and almost parallelly arranged in a stripe-like manner. The agglomerate portion has a porous body having a porosity of 50% or more and consisting of fine carbon powder particles on which an alloy catalyst containing platinum as a main component is dispersed and carried, and an aqueous phosphoric acid solution serving as an electrolyte held in the pores of the porous body. The gap portion is formed of a large number of water-repellent PTFE fibers having a porosity of 20% or more to connect the agglomerate portions, thereby providing an electrode of a fuel cell having a higher output density than a conventional case with the same amount of catalyst.