Fuel Cell Stack Design Using Carbon Fiber Composites

The bipolar plate plays an important role in fuel cells. It has a flow channel that enables hydrogen and oxygen to flow through the reaction area to produce a chemical reaction. The bipolar plate also transmits current. It should have high conductivity, corrosion resistance, and mechanical strength. We used carbon fiber composite materials to make bipolar plates and connected them in series to form a fuel cell stack. The carbon fiber composites were made by coating carbon fiber cloth with a thermosetting resin mixed with carbon powder. Resin is a poor conductor and will affect bipolar plate conductivity. Therefore, carbon powder was added to provide a conductive route via the composite plate material to achieve current transmission. In addition, we performed carbonization to increase the conductivity of the carbon fiber bipolar plate. The finished bipolar plate was placed in a single fuel cell for performance testing. Good test results were obtained with stacked bipolar plates with a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and a gasket.