• Carbon letters
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.40-44
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• 2013

The bipolar plate is the most important and most costly component of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The development of a suitable low density bipolar plate is scientifically and technically challenging due to the need to maintain high electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. Here, bipolar plates were developed from different particle sizes of natural and expanded graphite with phenolic resin as a polymeric matrix. It was observed that the particle size of the reinforcement significantly influences the mechanical and electrical properties of a composite bipolar plate. The composite bipolar plate based on expanded graphite gives the desired mechanical and electrical properties as per the US Department of Energy target, with a bulk density of 1.55 $g.cm^{-3}$ as compared to that of ~1.87 $g.cm^{-3}$ for a composite plate based on natural graphite (NG). Although the bulk density of the expanded-graphite-based composite plate is ~20% less than that of the NG-based plate, the I-V performance of the expanded graphite plate is superior to that of the NG plate as a consequence of the higher conductivity. The expanded graphite plate can thus be used as an electromagnetic interference shielding material.

• Carbon letters
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.326-334
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• 2007

In this study, graphite composites were fabricated by warm press molding method to realize commercialization of PEM fuel cells. Graphite composites have been considered as alternative economic materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells. Graphite powder that enables to provide electrical conductivity was selected as the main substance. The graphite powder was mixed with phenolic resin and the mixture was pressed using a warm press method. First of all, the graphite powder was pulverized with a ball mill for the dense packing of composite. As the ball milling time increases, the average size of particles decreases and the size distribution becomes narrow. This allows for improvement of the uniformity of graphite composite. However, the surface electrical resistivity of graphite composite increases as the ball milling time increases. It is due to that graphite particles with amorphous phase are generated on the surface due to the friction and collision of particles during pulverizing. We found that the contact electrical resistivity of graphite particles increases as the particle size decreases. The contact electrical resistivity of graphite powders was reduced due to high molding pressure by warm press molding. This leads to improvement of the mechanical properties of graphite composite. Hydrogen gas impermeability was measured with the graphite composite, showing a possibility of the application for bipolar plate in fuel cell. And, I-V curves of the graphite composite bipolar plate exhibit a similar performance to the graphite bipolar plate.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.827-834
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• 2011

Epoxy/graphite/expanded graphite composites have been prepared in various weight ratios and thermal degradation and electrical properties were estimated in order to use for the bipolar plate materials in PEMFC. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the epoxy/graphite system cured by a curing agent GX-533 was most proper because its weight loss until $80^{\circ}C$ at which PEMFC would be operated was 0.3 wt%, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed its cure temperature would be sufficient at $80^{\circ}C$. The activation energy for the cure reaction was 132.0 kJ/mol and the pre-exponential factor was $1.76{\times}10^{17}min^{-1}$. Electrical conductivity on the surface of the bipolar plate prepared under a pressure of 200 $kgf/cm^2$ was increased from 4 to 25 $S/cm^2$ by increasing expanded graphite (EG) content from 50 phr to 90 phr. The percolation threshold was initiated around 75 phr and the corrosion rate at 80 phr was 1.903 $uA/cm^2$.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.401-404
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• 2000

Matrix/Surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (M/SALDI) mass spectrometry of polypropylene glycol and polystyrene, directly deposited on graphite plate, is demonstrated. Graphite plate is effective both as an en-ergy transfer medium and robu st sampling support for LDI of polymers. Mass spectra ofpolymers can be easily obtained due to homogeneous distribution on graphite surface and their ion signals are long-lived by large ef-fective desorption volume enough to investigate M/SALDI process.

• 연구논문집
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• s.33
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• pp.147-155
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• 2003

In order to fabricate porous materials having an anisotropic thermal conductivity by aligning plate-shaped pores structure, alumina powder (AM-21, mean particle size $4\mum$) and flake crystalline graphite was used. The aligned pore structure was realized using multi-pressing process. Degree of pore orientation increased with the number of pressing and thermal conductivity, parallel to the pressing direction, decreased with the number of pressing. Thermal conductivity decreased significantly to the addition of 30vol% crystalline graphite, however, in the case of 60vol%, thermal conductivity did not decrease significantly due to the breakage of crystalline graphite. An anisotropy of the thermal conductivity increased with the content of crystalline graphite up to 30vol%. Graded pore structure was fabricated by controlling the content and size of crystalline graphite, which provides, possibly, the enhancement in mechanical strength and thermal insulation properties of the insulating bricks.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.4673-4678
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• 2011

In this paper, studies on a mixing characteristic and viscosity measurement of polymer/graphite composites for a bipolar plate of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell were presented. Since the materials for the bipolar plate should be electrically conductive, contents of solid graphite in the composite are very high. As a consequence, a viscosity of the polymer/graphite composite used for the bipolar plate is very high and the measurement of the viscosity is difficult. Viscosity measurements of the polymer/graphite composites were not possible because pressure drops were continuously fluctuated during the viscosity measurements when a conventional capillary die was used. After the die design was optimized, the steady state pressure drop could be achieved, but the viscosity thus measured was not reproducible. After many trials with different experimental techniques, it was found that melt blending of the grinded powder mixtures of both PET and graphite provides reproducible viscosity measurements and electric conductivities of the polymer/graphite composites.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.554-557
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• 2005

The bipolar plate is a major component of the PEM fuel cell stack, which takes a large portion of stack cost. In this study, as alternative materials for bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells, graphite composites were fabricated by compression molding. Graphite particles mixed with epoxy resin were used as the main substance to provide electric conductivity. To achieve desired electric properties, specimens made with different mixing ratio, processing pressure and temperature were tested. To increase mechanical strength, one or two layer of woven carbon fabric were added to the original graphite and resin composite. Thus, the composite material is consisted of the three phases: graphite particles, epoxy resin, and carbon fabric. By increasing mixing ratio, fabricated pressure and process temperature, electric conductivity was improved. The results of tensile test showed that the tensile strength of two-phase graphite composite was about 5MPa, and that of three-phase composite was increased to 54MPa.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.89-90
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• 2006

The bipolar plate is a major component of the PEM fuel cell stack, which takes a large portion of stack cost. In this study, as alternative materials fur bipolar plate of PEM fuel cells, graphite composites were fabricated by compression molding. Graphite particles mixed with epoxy resin were used as the main substance to provide electric conductivity. Flow channels were fabricated by compression molding, and design of experiments (DOE) was applied to the tests to evaluate moldability. Results showed that land width and channel depth were two significant factors for moldability, and channel width had little influence on the moldability.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.315-319
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• 2002

Visible surface-assisted desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (SALDI-MS) has been investigated for several small macromolecules deposited on the graphite plate using laser radiation at 532 nm where most of the macromolecules are transparent. The graphite surface functioned well as a photon absorbing material and an energy transfer mediator for visible light. The results show that visible SALDI is a much softer ionization technique than UV-MALDI and FAB-MS in our results with synthetic macromolecules, PPG, PPGMBE and cavitand molecules. For the SALDI of biomolecules, glycerol as a proton source was essential with the graphite plate. As in visible SALDI, the role division of the photon absorbing material and the cationization agent can provide a generality in mass spectrometric analysis of macromolecules compared with MALDI using the dual functional matrix.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.144.2-144.2
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• 2010

Bipolar plate는 고분자 전해질 연료전지(PEMFC)에서 핵심 부품 중의 하나이고, 전해질 막이나 촉매 등에 비해서는 상대적으로 쉽게 접근할 수 있기 때문에 많은 연구가 수행되고 있다. Bipolar plate를 제조하는 기술은 크게 금속을 프레스 가공하는 방법, graphite 판을 직접 밀링하는 방법 및 고분자/카본계의 press molding 법 등 3가지로 분류되며, 본 연구에서는 3번째 방법에 의해서 bipolar plate를 대량 생산하는 방법에 대해 연구하였다. 고분자 매트릭스는 에폭시계 수지를 사용하였고, 카본계 재료는 graphite 분말과 carbon nanotube를 사용하였다. 이들 재료들을 일정한 비율로 혼합한 후 differential scanning calorimetry(DSC)를 사용하여 열분석 하였고, 그 결과를 Kissinger equation에 대입하여 경화반응 속도론을 연구하였다. 또한, 경화된 에폭시/탄소 복합재료의 전기전도도, 유리전이온도, 표면에너지 특성 등을 분석하였다.