A washing device includes executors for executing a normal washing step and a reverse washing step before executing a plate opening step and a cake peeling step. The normal washing step is a step for supplying a washing water to a filter chamber, allowing the washing water to pass through a cake, and then discharging the washing water from filtrate discharge outlets. The reverse washing step is a step for supplying a washing water from the filtrate discharge outlet(s) to the filter chamber, allowing the washing water to pass through the cake, and then discharging the washing water from the filtrate discharge outlet(s) which are different from the filtrate discharge outlet(s) from which the washing water is supplied. The thickness of the electrode catalyst precursor-containing cake at the time of the injection step is adjusted to that of a range that has been previously and experimentally determined.

A method for producing a membrane electrode comprises a thermal transfer printing step, a thermal combining step, a carbon paper attaching step and a hot-pressing step. The invention realizes the continuous automatic production of the membrane electrode and improves the production efficiency and the quality of the membrane electrode.

A method for forming a melamine-modified electrode that includes providing a metal based electrode and patterning a surface of the metal-based electrode by contacting the electrode with a melamine solution to form a patterned metal-based electrode. The patterned metal-based electrode includes metal sites blocked with melamine molecules and metal sites which are not blocked such that the metal-based electrode selectively adsorbs O.sub.2 instead of at least one of sulfate, phosphate, or sulphonate. A range of 20% to 40% of the metal sites are blocked with melamine molecules.

A metal-air battery includes: a cathode formed of a co-continuous body having a three dimensional network structure formed by an integrated plurality of nanostructures having branches; a foil- or plate-like anode formed of a metal; a separator that absorbs a liquid, which is to be an electrolytic solution; and a foil- or plate-like current collector formed of a metal. The metal-air battery is formed with a wound structure in which the current collector, the cathode, the separator, the anode, and the separator are superimposed and wound in this order.

A nanowire catalyst for a fuel cell has a porous structure in which first and second pores having predetermined pore sizes are uniformly dispersed inside and on the surface thereof at a predetermined volume ratio. This enables the efficient exposure of active sites and efficient mass transfer, thereby improving fuel cell performance.

Hybrid catalyst suitable for use in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell and method of preparing same. In one embodiment, the hybrid catalyst is iron-free and includes an Mn—N—C support and platinum-containing nanoparticles that are dispersed on the Mn—N—C support. The Mn—N—C support preferably comprises atomically dispersed and nitrogen coordinated MnN.sub.4 moieties and has a particle size of about 30 to 200 nm. The platinum-containing nanoparticles preferably have a particle size ranging from about 2 to 8 nm and are made of platinum or a platinum-cobalt intermetallic alloy, such as a cubic L1.sub.2 Pt.sub.3Co alloy or a tetragonal L1.sub.0 PtCo alloy. The hybrid catalyst may be made by combining a quantity of a hexachloroplatinic acid solution with a quantity of an Mn—N—C support, sonicating the mixture in an ice bath, freeze-drying the sonicated product, calcinating the freeze-dried product under a forming gas, and heating the calcinated product.

Disclose is a method of manufacturing catalyst ink for a fuel cell, and particularly the method includes removing eluted transition metal from a noble-metal/transition-metal alloy catalyst.

A manufacturing method for a catalyst layer for a fuel cell includes: preparing a nozzle group to output ultrasonically-vibrated air, the nozzle group being formed of an aggregate of unit nozzles each controlled in at least one of the temperature of the ultrasonically-vibrated air to be output from the unit nozzle, an internal pressure in the unit nozzle, and the position of the unit nozzle in an output direction in which the ultrasonically-vibrated air is to be output; coating a sheet-like base material with catalyst ink containing a solvent, an ionomer, and a catalyst supporting material on which a catalyst is supported; and drying the catalyst ink by blowing the ultrasonically-vibrated air from the nozzle group on the catalyst ink applied to the base material. The drying includes controlling at least one of the temperature, the internal pressure, and the position for each of the unit nozzles independently.

Disclosed is a membrane-electrode assembly having increased active area, improved fluid management capability, and decreased gas transfer resistance due to electrodes having patterned structures on both sides. Also disclosed are a method for manufacturing same, and a fuel cell comprising same. A membrane-electrode assembly according to the present invention comprises: a first electrode; a second electrode; and a polymer electrolyte membrane between the first and second electrodes, wherein the first electrode has a first surface facing the polymer electrolyte membrane and a second surface opposite the first surface, the first surface having a first patterned structure, and the second surface having a second patterned structure.

The present invention relates to a membrane electrode unit comprising a polymer membrane doped with a mineral acid as well as two electrodes, characterized in that the polymer membrane comprises at least one polymer with at least one nitrogen atom and at least one electrode comprises a catalyst which is formed from at least one precious metal and at least one metal less precious according to the electrochemical series.