Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:28:49.452Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optimization of a Carbon Composite Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Theodore M. Besmann
Affiliation:
Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6063, USA
John J. Henry Jr
Affiliation:
Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6063, USA
Edgar Lara-Curzio
Affiliation:
Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6063, USA
James W. Klett
Affiliation:
Metals and Ceramics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge, TN 37831–6063, USA
David Haack
Affiliation:
Porvair Fuel Cell Technology Hendersonville, NC 28792, USA
Ken Butcher
Affiliation:
Porvair Fuel Cell Technology Hendersonville, NC 28792, USA
Get access

Abstract

A carbon composite bipolar plate for PEM fuel cells has been developed that has high electrical conductivity, high strength, light weight, is impermeable, and has the potential for being produced at low cost. The plate is produced by slurry molding short carbon fibers into preform structures, molding features into the green body, and using chemical vapor infiltration to strengthen the material, give it high conductivity, and densify the surface to make it impermeable. Current efforts have focused on optimizing the fabrication process and characterizing prototypical components.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Fuller, T. F., Interface, Fall 1997, 26 (1997).Google Scholar
2. Ralph, T. R., Platinum Metals Rev., 41 (3), 102 (1997).Google Scholar
3 Borup, R. L. and Vanderborgh, N. E. in Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion – Batteries, Capacitors and Fuel Cells, Doughty, D. H., Vyas, B., Takamura, T., and Huff, J. R., Editors, PV 393, p. 151, Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, PA (1995).Google Scholar
4. Wei, G. C. and Robbins, J. M., J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 64 (5), 691 (1985).Google Scholar
5. Besmann, T. M., Sheldon, B. W., Lowden, R. A., and Stinton, D. P., Science, 253, 1104 (1991).Google Scholar
6. Delhaes, P., Chemical Vapor Deposition. Proc. Fourteenth Intl. Conf. and EUROCVD 11, Allendorf, M. D. and Bernard, C., Editors, PV 97–25, p. 486, The Electrochemical Society Proceedings Series, Pennington, NJ (1997), -495.Google Scholar
7. Bammidipati, S., Stewart, G. D., Elliott, J. R. Jr., Gokoglu, S. A., and Purdy, M. J., AIChE Journal, 42 (11), 3, 123 (1996).Google Scholar
8. Besmann, T. M., Klett, J. W., Henry, J. J. Jr., and Lara-Curzio, E., J. Electrochem. Soc., 147 4083 (2000).Google Scholar
9. Fuller, E. R., in Fracture of Mechanics Applied to Brittle Materials, ASTM STP 678, Freiman, S. W., Editor, (American Society for Testing and Materials, 1979) pp. 318.Google Scholar