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US-20260128460-A1 - CATALYST-COATED MEMBRANE FOR GAS REACTION AND MANUFACTURING METHOD THEREOF

US20260128460A1US 20260128460 A1US20260128460 A1US 20260128460A1US-20260128460-A1

Abstract

The present invention involves a method for manufacturing a catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) for a gas reaction and the manufactured CCM. The method comprises steps of providing a first substrate having a first surface; forming a first catalyst on the first surface of the first substrate layer; providing a second substrate with a friction coefficient on the first catalyst layer, the friction coefficient ranging from 2 to 15; and laminating the first catalyst layer onto the second substrate with a membrane pressure to form the catalyst-coated membrane, wherein the membrane pressure ranges greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 380 Kgf/cm 2 .

Inventors

  • Kuang-Che LEE
  • Chia-Hung Li
  • CHUN-HSIEN TSAI

Assignees

  • TAIWAN CARBON NANO TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20241107

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method for manufacturing a catalyst-coated membrane for a gas reaction, comprising: providing a first substrate having a first surface; forming a first catalyst layer on the first surface of the first substrate; providing a second substrate with a friction coefficient ranging from 2 to 15 on the first catalyst layer; and laminating the first catalyst layer onto the second substrate with a membrane pressure to form the catalyst-coated membrane, wherein the membrane pressure ranges greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 380 Kgf/cm 2 .
  2. 2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first substrate is one of a high molecular membrane and an electrolyte membrane.
  3. 3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising: heating the first substrate to a coating temperature.
  4. 4 . The method as claimed in claim 3 , further comprising: forming the first catalyst layer at the coating temperature.
  5. 5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the friction coefficient is a static friction coefficient ranging from 5 to 15, and the membrane pressure ranges greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 50 Kgf/cm 2 .
  6. 6 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the friction coefficient is a static friction coefficient ranging from 10 to 15, and the membrane pressure ranges greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 10 Kgf/cm 2 .
  7. 7 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second substrate comprises a polymer.
  8. 8 . The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the polymer comprises at least one of a silicone, a rubber and a silicone rubber.
  9. 9 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the laminating step is performed in a vacuum environment.
  10. 10 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first substrate has a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the method further comprises: heating the first substrate to a coating temperature; and forming a second catalyst layer on the second surface of the first substrate at the coating temperature.
  11. 11 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein at least one of the first catalyst layer and the second catalyst layer is formed by a roll-to-roll (R2R) coating method, a brush coating method, an ultrasonic coating method, a scrape coating method, a transfer printing method, or a screen printing method.
  12. 12 . The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein at least one of the first catalyst layer and the second catalyst layer is formed by a direct coating method.
  13. 13 . A method for manufacturing a catalyst-coated membrane for a gas reaction, comprising: providing a sandwich structure including a first substrate, a second substrate and a first catalyst layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate, wherein the second substrate has a friction coefficient ranging from 2 to 15; and laminating the sandwich structure together with a pressure ranging greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 380 Kgf/cm 2 .
  14. 14 . The method as claimed in claim 13 , wherein providing the sandwich structure comprises: providing the first substrate having a first surface, a second surface opposite to the first surface, a first protective film for protecting the first surface, and a second protective film for protecting the second surface; removing the first protective film; coating the first catalyst layer on the first surface of the first substrate; and covering the first catalyst layer with the second substrate to form the sandwich structure.
  15. 15 . The method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the sandwich structure further comprises a second catalyst layer so that the first substrate is sandwiched between the first catalyst layer and the second catalyst layer, and the method further comprises: removing the second protective film; and coating the second catalyst layer on the second surface of the first substrate to form the sandwich structure.
  16. 16 . The method as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the first substrate is one of a high molecular membrane and an electrolyte membrane, the second substrate has a friction coefficient ranging from 5 to 15, the pressure ranges greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 50 Kgf/cm 2 , the sandwich structure is laminated together in a vacuum environment, and the method further comprises: heating the first substrate to a coating temperature; and coating the first catalyst layer on the first surface of the first substrate at the coating temperature.
  17. 17 . The method as claimed in claim 15 , wherein the second substrate has a friction coefficient ranging from 10 to 15, the pressure ranges greater than 0 Kgf/cm 2 and less than or equal to 10 Kgf/cm 2 , the sandwich structure is laminated together in a vacuum environment, and the method further comprises: heating the first substrate to a coating temperature; and coating the second catalyst layer on the second surface of the first substrate at the coating temperature.
  18. 18 . A catalyst-coated membrane for a gas reaction, comprising: a first substrate; a second substrate having a friction coefficient ranging from 2 to 15 and including a polymer; and a catalyst layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate.
  19. 19 . The catalyst-coated membrane as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the friction coefficient is a static friction coefficient ranging from 5 to 15, and the first substrate is one of a high molecular membrane and an electrolyte membrane.
  20. 20 . The catalyst-coated membrane as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the friction coefficient is a static friction coefficient ranging from 10-15, and the polymer comprises at least one of a silicone, a rubber and a silicone rubber.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a catalyst-coated membrane for a gas reaction and a manufacturing method thereof, and in particular to a catalyst-coated membrane including a high friction coefficient substrate and a manufacturing method thereof. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) can promote the occurrence of electrochemical reactions and are currently widely used in technical fields such as electrolysis of water to produce hydrogen or oxygen, carbon dioxide reduction, gas sensors, and fuel cells. At present, the manufacturing methods of CCMs mainly include direct coating methods and transfer printing methods. The transfer printing methods comprise first applying catalyst slurry to a surface of a transfer medium, heating it to remove the solvent to form a catalyst layer, and then transferring the catalyst layer to a proton exchange membrane through a hot pressing process. The transfer printing methods may have the following shortcomings: the process is complex and the manufacturing cost is high; during the hot pressing process for transferring the catalyst layer, the contact between the catalyst layer and the proton exchange membrane is difficult to control, and the membrane may be easily damaged if the contact edge between the membrane and the transfer medium is unevenly pressed; during the transfer process, due to incomplete transfer, parts of the catalyst may remain on the transfer medium, resulting in a decrease in catalyst utilization; and the transfer medium is easily damaged after repeatedly being used in the hot pressing process, which precludes the transfer medium from being reused and thus increases manufacturing costs. The direct coating methods use a large amount of solvent to prepare a catalyst slurry, and then the catalyst slurry is directly coated on the proton exchange membrane. In this way, the catalyst layer and the proton exchange membrane can be in close contact, thereby achieving better performance of CCMs. Compared with the transfer printing methods, the direct coating methods have a simple process, and because the catalyst layer and the proton exchange membrane can be in close contact, the CCMs produced thereby can achieve better performances. However, the proton exchange membrane on which the catalyst slurry is coated is an extremely thin flexible membrane (for example, the thickness of Nafion 212 and that of Nafion 211 are only about 50 microns and 25 microns respectively), and thus it is difficult to fix and flatten the proton exchange membrane when applying catalyst slurry thereon. For the existing technologies, the membrane is usually laid flatly on a flat substrate, and then the catalyst is manually brushed onto the membrane. This method is very inefficient. For other more efficient direct coating methods (such as the roll-to-roll (R2R) coating method), in order to firmly fix the proton exchange membrane, the proton exchange membrane is usually fixed by suction (for example, through the multiple suction holes on a stage, the proton exchange membrane is firmly attached to the surface of the stage under negative pressure (or vacuum)) to perform the coating process. In order to prevent the proton exchange membrane from moving by force applied during the direct coating procedure, a suction with a sufficient negative pressure (or vacuum) must be supplied. However, such negative pressure suction can easily cause wrinkles or deformation of extremely thin membranes. In addition, the proton exchange membrane is easily deformed when exposed to moisture and alcohol solvents. In severe cases, the catalyst layer around the deformed area will peel off, which reduces the utilization and performance of the catalyst. Because the catalyst slurry usually contains solvents such as water and ethanol, the membrane may easily become uneven during the direct coating process, and thus it is difficult to obtain an uniform CCM. In order to overcome this problem, the catalyst layers on the first and second sides can be prepared by the direct coating process and the transfer printing process respectively, or a solvent removal process can be added to the manufacturing process. However, these methods will make the manufacturing process more complex and reduce production efficiency. Based on the above, the problems of surface unevenness and membrane deformation of CCM have become a major obstacle to the CCM manufacturing methods. Therefore, in this field, there is a need of a CCM and its manufacturing method without the problems of surface unevenness and membrane deformation. Therefore, in view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the applicants of the present application developed the present invention “catalyst-coated membrane for a gas reaction and its manufacturing method” to overcome the disadvantages of conventional technologies. The descriptions of the present invention are as follows: SUMMARY OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS The purpose of the present inventio