• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.331-334
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• 2009

Currently, the bipolar plates are fabricated mainly from graphite materials. However, metal bipolar plate are getting most attractive due to their good feasibility of mass production and low cost. In this study, metal bipolar plates for fuel cell Vehicles were developed with a concept based on the straight flow patterns to minimize the pressure drop and spring back. And molded gasket apply to the bipolar plate for improve sealing performance. Results show that the metal bipolar plate have a high potential to replace for graphite materials in fuel cell application.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.3 no.1 s.9
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• pp.75-82
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• 2007

Aluminum was used as metallic bipolar plate material to reduce a stack weight. The functional materials such as conductive material, Au and nonconductive material, PTFE [polytetrafluoroethylene] were coated on the bipolar plate to enhance electrical contact and corrosion prevention in PEMFC. The active area of bipolar plate is divided into the top layer part that electric current mainly passes, and the bottom layer part that gas and water pass. The bottom layer part in the flow channel needs not to have electrical conductivity because it doesn't pass electric current directly. In this reason, Au on the top layer and PTFE on the bottom layer were coated to apply high electrical conductivity and/or good corrosion resistance. Although the single cell performance using Au-PTFE/Al bipolar plate was shown 78% in comparison with that of graphite, specific power of Au-PTFE/Al bipolar plate(0.4 W/g) was twice as much as graphite bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.90.1-90.1
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• 2011

연료전지 분리판은 연료, 공기, 수분이 흐를 수 있는 채널들이 포함되어 있으며, 전지들에 의해서 생산되는 전류를 흐르게 할 수 있는 전기전도성을 가져야 할 필요가 있다. 일반적인 금속판들은 연료전지 스택 내의 산성 분위기에 존재해야 하기 때문에 표면 부식이 쉽게 발생한다. 그라핀(graphene)은 우수한 전기전도성을 가지고 있을뿐만 아니라 물리화학적 내식성 및 내구성을 가지고 있어 연료전지 분리판으로서 응용이 가능할 것으로 판단된다. 본 연구에서는 일반적으로 널리 사용하고 있는 스테인리스강(stainless steel)을 모재로 사용하였으며, 그라핀을 전기분무법(electro spray coating)으로 코팅하여 스테인리스강의 내식성 및 전기전도성을 동시에 향상시키고자 하였다. 그라핀은 에탄올을 용매로 사용하여 분산하였으며, 분산제로 소량의 다이페닐다이에톡시실란(diphenyldiethoxysilane)을 첨가하여 코팅용액을 제작하였다. 코팅공정은 15kV 전압을 가하여 1시간동안 코팅을 진해하였으며, 그라핀-스테인리스강 모재의 미세구조를 전자현미경과 광학현미경을 통하여 관찰하였다. 또한 X-선 회절분석법을 이용하여 그라핀의 결정구조를 분석하였다. 한편 스택의 내부와 유사한 산화성 분위를 모사하기 위해 $80^{\circ}C$의 0.1N $H_2SO_4+2ppm\;F^-$ 용액에서 내식성 실험을 수행하였고, 면간접촉저항도 측정하였다. 그라핀이 코팅된 스테인리스강 시편은 고분자전해질 연료전지 분리판의 요구조건을 만족하였으며, 연료전지 분리판으로서의 적용가능성을 확인하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2007.02a
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• pp.47-47
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• 2007

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.13-13
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• 2006

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.406-411
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• 2021

PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells generate only water as a by-product, and thus are in the spotlight as an eco-friendly energy source. Among the various components composing the stack of the fuel cell, research on the bipolar plate that determines the efficiency of the fuel cell is being actively conducted. The composite bipolar plate has high strength, rigidity and corrosion resistance, but has the disadvantage of having a relatively low electrical conductivity. In this study, to overcome these shortcomings, a gas diffusion layer (GDL)-composite bipolar plate assembly was developed and its performance was experimentally verified. The graphite foil coating method developed in the previous study was applied to reduce the contact resistance between the bipolar plate and the GDL. In addition, in order to improve electron path in the stack and minimize the contact resistance between the GDL and the bipolar plate, a GDL-bipolar plate assembly was fabricated using a thin metal foil. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that the developed GDL-bipolar plate assembly had 98% lower electrical resistance compared to the conventional composite bipolar plate.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.352-355
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• 2006

As the stainless steel has good corrosion resistance, mechanical property and ease of manufacture, it has been studied as the candidate material of metallic bipolar plate for automotive PIMFC. But, metal is dissolved under fuel cell operating conditions Dissolved ions contaminate a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and, decrease the fuel cell performance. In addition, metal oxide formation on the surface of stainless steel increases the contact resistance in the fuel cell. These problems have been acted as an obstacle in the application of stainless steel to bipolar plate. Therefore, many kinds of coating technologies have been examined in order to solve these problems. In this study, stainless steel was coated in order to achieve high conductivity and corrosion resistance by several methods. Contact resistance was measured by using a tensile tester and impedance analyzer Corrosion characteristics of coated stainless steel were examined by Tafel-extrapolation method from the polarization curves in a solution simulating the anodic and cathodic environment of PEMFC. Fuel cell performance was also evaluated by single cell test. We tested various coated metal bipolar plate and conventional and graphite were also tested as comparative samples. In the result, coated stainless steel bipolar plate exhibited better cell performance than graphite to bipolar plate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.278-281
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• 2009

The performance of aluminum bipolar plates was evaluated for the lightweight fuel cell system as a power source for a small reconnaissance UAV. Higher performance per weight was obtained from aluminum bipolar plates than the graphite bipolar plates. To check the influence of operating temperature, the performance of a single cell using aluminum bipolar plates was evaluated at 40 / 50 / $60^{\circ}C$. When dry hydrogen and air were used, the finest performance was obtained at $40^{\circ}C$, a lower operating temperature compared with usual operating temperatures.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.83.2-83.2
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• 2010

평판형 고체산화물 연료전지(planar SOFC : Solid oxide Fuelcell)는 높은 전류 효율 및 출력밀도를 가지는 중,대형 발전용 전기소자이다. SOFC 스택을 600~800도에서 작동할 경우, 금속 분리판에서 휘발된 크롬에 의한 열화현상과 금속의 산화에 의한 표면 저항의 증가가 큰 문제점으로 알려져 있으며, 이를 개선하기 위한 많은 연구가 진행되고 있다. 본 연구에서는 금속 분리판의 열화를 억제하기 위한 여러 보호코팅의 특성을 밝히고, 특성차이의 원인을 분석하고자 하였다. 모재는 상용 STS444합금 (Nisshin steel 생산) 2.0mmt 박판을 사용하였으며, 표면 상태를 균일하게 하기 위하여 표면은 동일한 #1200 번 사포로 연마후 코팅하였다. 적용한 코팅은 전기도금 Ni 코팅, (MnCo)3O4 wet powder spray 코팅, (MnCo)3O4 ADM코팅 3종이었으며, 코팅층의 두께는 최적 공정조건에 따라 달리 하였다. 산화후 형성되는 표면 산화물의 전기적 특성을 평가하기 위하여 시험편의 비면적 저항 (ASR : area specific resistance)을 장시간 측정하였다. 측정편의 크기는 가로 4cm ${\times}$ 세로 4cm였으며, 100시간 공기중 산화후 측정하였다. 표면 접촉을 높이기 위하여 Pt paste를 40~50um도포하였으며, 1~0.1A인가된 전류에 대한 저항을 4전극법 (4-probe)으로 측정하였다. 표면 코팅층이 크롬 휘발을 억제하는 정도를 평가하기 위하여 크롬 휘발량을 측정하였다. 시편은 가로 1.5cm ${\times}$ 세로 1cm 였으며, 공급된 공기와 수분의 혼합가스와 응축기 표면에 흡착된 크롬의 양을 ICP-MASS법으로 측정하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.1063-1069
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• 2012

In present paper, we used magnesium alloy having a lower density and higher electrical conductivity for bipolar plate to reduce the weight of PEM fuel cell. The silver was coated to prevent corrosion and form passivation film on the metal surface with sputtering. In acid proof evaluation for setting optimal coating conditions, the homogeneity of coating thickness was improved by coating with the thickness of 3 ${\mu}m$ which not indicated any micro cracks and the temperature $180^{\circ}C$. The performance test and evaluation based on the clamping pressure and channel depth to determine the configuration of bipolar plate for assembling single cell was implemented. And then we assembled single cell with this bipolar plate and implemented the performance test to ensure and compare the current-voltage performance followed as several factors such as coating or non-coating, the change of clamping pressure, the change of channel depth, etc. As these results, the maximum power density of single cell with the coated bipolar plate was 192 $mW/cm^2$ and it was confirmed that the power density per unit mass was better than existing metal bipolar plate.