Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions

A membrane electrode assembly includes: an anode; a cathode; and an electrolyte membrane provided between the anode and cathode. The anode includes: a porous and conductive anode conductive transport layer; and an anode catalyst layer provided between the anode conductive transport layer and the electrolyte membrane. The anode catalyst layer includes first sheet layers and first gap layers, each first sheet layer and each first gap layer being alternately stacked. The cathode includes a porous and conductive cathode conductive transport layer, and a cathode catalyst layer provided between the cathode conductive transport layer and the electrolyte membrane. The cathode catalyst layer includes second sheet layers and second gap layers, each second sheet layer and each second gap layer being alternately stacked. A porosity of the cathode conductive transport layer is higher than a porosity of the anode conductive transport layer.

A membrane electrode assembly includes an anode having an anode catalyst layer, a cathode having a cathode catalyst layer, and an electrolyte membrane provided between the anode and the cathode. An ion exchange equivalent weight of the electrolyte membrane is equal to or higher than an ion exchange equivalent weight of the cathode catalyst layer. An ion exchange equivalent weight of the anode catalyst layer is higher than the ion exchange equivalent weight of the cathode catalyst layer and is equal to or higher than the ion exchange equivalent weight of the electrolyte membrane.

A solar cell module according to an embodiment comprises a substrate; a first solar cell provided on the substrate; a first solar cell including a first upper transparent electrode layer, a first power generation layer, and a first lower transparent electrode layer; a second solar cell provided on the substrate, adjacent to the first solar cell, the second solar cell including a second upper transparent electrode layer, a second power generation layer, and a second lower transparent electrode layer; and a first metal interconnection wiring that electrically connects the first solar cell and the second solar cell. The first upper transparent electrode layer and the second upper transparent electrode layer are provided on the light incident side, and the first solar cell and the second solar cell are arranged in a first direction extending along the width direction of the first solar cell. The first lower transparent electrode layer, the first power generation layer, and the first upper transparent electrode layer are stacked in that order from the substrate side. The second lower transparent electrode layer, the second power generation layer, and the second upper transparent electrode layer are stacked in that order from the substrate side. The first metal interconnection wiring has a portion that extends in the stacking direction. The first lower transparent electrode layer and the second upper transparent electrode layer are electrically connected through the first metal interconnection wiring. The first metal interconnection wiring is physically separated from the first upper transparent electrode layer.

According to the present embodiment, an electrolysis system includes an electrolysis cell stack, a power supply device, a gas supply device, an electrolyte supply device, supply pipes, and discharge pipes. The electrolysis cell stack electrolyzes a gas and an electrolyte. The power supply device applies a voltage between an anode and a cathode of the electrolysis cell stack. The gas supply device supplies the electrolyte to the other electrode. The supply pipes supply an anode fluid and a cathode fluid to the electrolysis cell stack. The discharge pipes discharge the anode fluid and the cathode fluid from the electrolysis cell stack. At least either one of the supply pipes and the discharge pipes include a plurality of insulator pipes inside of which is made of an electrical insulating material and a good conductor pipe made of a good conductor connected between the insulator pipes. The good conductor pipe is electrically connected to an object with a predetermined low potential.

To provide a reactor control system capable of achieving an efficient operation of a reactor. In a reactor control system in an embodiment, an inverse analysis part finds, as medium performance distribution data, a medium performance distribution in which performance of a medium changes in a flow direction in which a reactant introduction fluid and an adsorption substance introduction fluid pass through the medium by executing an inverse analysis regarding reactant introduction fluid measurement data, adsorption substance introduction fluid measurement data, and discharge fluid measurement data. A control part executes output of a control signal based on the medium performance distribution data.

A voltage control method of an embodiment is for applying a voltage to an electrochemical device that has an electrode with a catalyst containing a noble metal and periodically reversing a polarity of the voltage to perform an electrolytic reaction and recover a valuable resource from the electrochemical device. The voltage control method includes continuously increasing an absolute value of the voltage and then holding the value while periodically reversing the polarity of the voltage.

A method of recovering a valuable resource from an electrochemical device including a catalyst of an oxide of a noble metal, includes: reducing the oxide while heating an object that has the catalyst; and applying a voltage to the object that is in contact with a solution containing at least one selected from the group consisting of ion species and chemical species which can form a complex with the noble metal, continuously increasing an absolute value of the voltage and then holding the value while periodically reversing a polarity of the voltage to perform an electrolytic reaction and dissolve the reduced noble metal in the solution as ions.

To provide an electrochemical device that easily achieves a thickness reduction of its insulating sealing member and can have improved performance. In an electrochemical device of an embodiment, a cell stack has an insulating sealing member installed between a first separator and a second separator and configured to seal a gap between the first separator and the second separator and electrically insulate the first separator and the second separator from each other. The insulating sealing member has a metal layer and an insulation layer stacked on the metal layer in a stacking direction. The insulation layer contains a glass paste base material having a lower glass transition temperature than an operating temperature of the cell stack and a filler material having a higher glass transition temperature than the operating temperature of the cell stack, and the filler material is dispersed in the glass base material.

A power supply unit supplies a current of a second current value different from a first current value to an electrolysis unit at a first time point from a state of supplying a current of the first current value to the electrolysis unit, and then returns to the state of supplying the current of the first current value at a second time point. A degradation detection unit finds a difference value between a first measured voltage of the electrolysis unit acquired when the current of the first current value is supplied before the first time point and a second measured voltage of the electrolysis unit acquired when the current of the first current value is switched to the current of the second current value at the first time point, and detects the degradation of the electrolysis unit according to the electrolysis unit voltage difference value.

According to an embodiment, an acid gas absorbent includes a solvent, and at least one or more amine compounds selected from the group consisting of amine compounds represented by chemical formula (1a).Wherein R¹'s are each independently hydrogen or an unsubstituted alkyl group having 3 or less carbon atoms, R²' s are each independently an unsubstituted alkyl group having 3 or less carbon atoms, n is either 2 or 3.