Manufacturing process of conductive polymer composite bipolar plate for fuel cell having high gas permeability-resistance and heat-resistance

• Main Authors: LIAO SHU-HANG, KUAN HSUIANG, YEN CHUAN-YU, SU HSUN-YU, CHENG YING-YING, MA CHENI MARTIN, LIN YU-FENG, WU HAN-LANG
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 22.03.2011
• Subjects: AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING; BASIC ELECTRIC ELEMENTS; ELECTRICITY; INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS B29C, RELATING TO PARTICULARARTICLES; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PROCESSES OR MEANS, e.g. BATTERIES, FOR THE DIRECT CONVERSIONOF CHEMICAL INTO ELECTRICAL ENERGY; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDEDFOR; SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; TRANSPORTING; WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE, IN GENERAL

A composite bipolar plate for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is prepared as follows: a) compounding vinyl ester and graphite powder to form bulk molding compound (BMC) material, the graphite powder content ranging from 60 wt % to 95 wt % based on the total weight of the graphite powder and vinyl ester, wherein carbon fiber 1-20 wt %, modified organo clay or noble metal plated modified organo clay 0.5-10 wt %, and one or more conductive fillers selected form: carbon nanotube (CNT) 0.1-5 wt %, nickel plated carbon fiber 0.5-10 wt %, nickel plated graphite 2.5-40 wt %, and carbon black 2-30 wt %, based on the weight of the vinyl ester resin, are added during the compounding; b) molding the BMC material from step a) to form a bipolar plate having a desired shaped at 80-200° C. and 500-4000 psi.