• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.81-88
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• 2010

Small size polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks were prepared using carbon composite and graphite bipolar plates and their performances were evaluated on reactant gas and operating time. In comparison to single cell and stack, it was identified that home-made bipolar plate was well-designed to maximize stack performance as high as that of single cell. During long-term operation, the performances of stacks using two different kinds of bipolar plates were compared. The decrease of performance in both stacks was accelerated with increasing load current. It was observed from stack test that the stack performance using carbon composite bipolar plate was very similar to that using graphite bipolar plate.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2005

In this study, carbon composites were prepared using carbon graphite, thermoset resin, and carbon black. Oxygen permeability was measured using the continuous flow gas permeation analyzer as a function of composition and processing conditions. The experimental results showed that the oxygen permeability increased as the carbon black content increased, whereas the oxygen permeability decreased as the pressing time increased. The oxygen permeability was not affected by the processing pressure.

• Advanced Composite Materials
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.259-275
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• 2008

This study aims to optimize the mechanical and electrical properties of electrically conductive polymer composites (CPCs) for use as a material of bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells. The thin CPCs consisting of conductive fillers and polymer resin were fabricated by a preform molding technique. Expanded graphite (EG), flake-type graphite (FG) and carbon fiber (CF) were used as conductive fillers. This study tested two types of CPCs, EG/FG filled CPCs and EG/CF filled CPCs, to optimize the material properties. First, the characteristics of EG/FG filled CPCs were investigated according to the FG ratio for 7 and $100{\mu}m$ sized FG. CPCs using $100{\mu}m$ FG showed optimal material properties at 60 wt% FG ratio, which were an electrical conductivity of 390 S/cm and flexural strength of 51 MPa. The particle size was an important parameter to change the mechanical and electrical behaviors. The flexural strength was sensitive to the particle size due to the different levels of densification. The electrical conductivity also showed size-dependent behavior because of the different contributions to the conductive network. Meanwhile, the material properties of EG/CF filled CPCs was also optimized according to the CF ratio, and the optimized electrical conductivity and flexural strength were 290 S/cm and 58 MPa, respectively. The electrical conductivity of this case decreased similarly to the EG/FG filled case. On the other hand, the behavior of the flexural strength was more complicated than the EG/FG filled case, and the reason was attributed to the interaction between the strengthening effect of CF and the deterioration of voids.

• Carbon letters
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.181-187
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• 2005

Bipolar plates require some specific properties such as electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, chemical stability, and low permeability for the fuel cell application. This study investigated the effects of carbon nanotube (CNT) contents and process conditions of hot press molding on the electrical and physical properties using CNT 3~7 wt% added graphite nano-composites in the curing temperatures range of 140~$200^{\circ}C$ and pressure of 200~300 kg/$cm^2$. Bulk density, hardness and flexural strength increased with increasing CNT contents, curing pressure and temperature. With the 7 wt% CNT added noncomposite, the electrical resistance improved by 30% and the flexural strength increased by 25% as compared to that without CNT at the temperature of $160^{\circ}C$ and pressure of 300 kg/$cm^2$. These properties were close to the DOE reference criteria as bulk resistance of 13 $m{\Omega}cm$ and tensile strength of 515 kg/$cm^2$.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2011

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have many attractive features for widespread applications in generation systems. Recently, stainless steels have attractive materials for metallic bipolar plate because metallic bipolar plates have many benefits compared to others such as graphite and composite bipolar plates. SOFC operates on high temperature of about $800{\sim}1000^{\circ}C$ than other fuel cell systems. Thus, many studies have attempted to reduced the operation temperature of SOFC to about $600{\sim}800^{\circ}C$, which is the intermediate temperature (IT) of SOFC. Low cost and high-temperature corrosion resistance are very important for the practical applications of SOFC in various industries. In this study, two specimens, 304 and 430 stainless steels with and without different pre-surface treatments on the surface were investigated. And, specimens were exposed at high temperature in the box furnace under oxidation atmosphere of $800^{\circ}C$. Oxidation behavior have been investigated with the materials exposed at different times (100 hrs and 400 hrs) by SEM, EDS and XRD. By increasing exposure time, the amount of metal oxide increased in the order like; STS304 < STS430 and As-received < As-polished < Sand-blast specimens.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.243-249
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• 2012

A lightweight 200W direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack is designed and fabricated to power a small scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The DMFC stack consists of 33-cells in which membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs) having an active area of 88 $cm^2$ are sandwiched with lightweight composite bipolar plates. The total stack weight is around 3.485 kg and stack performance is tested under various methanol feed concentrations. The DMFC stack delivers a maximum power of 248 W at 13.2 V and $71.3^{\circ}C$ under methanol feed concentration of 1.2 M. In addition, the voltage of individual cell in the 33-cell stack is measured at various current levels to ensure the stability of DMFC stack operations. The cell voltage distribution data exhibit the maximum cell voltage deviation of 28 mV at 15 A and hence the uniformity of cell voltages is acceptable. These results clearly demonstrate that DMFC technology becomes a potential candidate for small-scale UAV applications.