• 한국세라믹학회지
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• 제45권8호
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• pp.472-476
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• 2008

The surface region of commercial stainless steel 304 and 316 plates has been modified through deposition of the multi-layered coatings composed of titanium film ($0.1{\mu}m$) and gold film ($1-2{\mu}m$) by an electron beam evaporation method. XRD patterns of the stainless steel plates deposited with conductive metal films showed the peaks of the external gold film and the stainless steel substrate. Surface microstructural morphologies of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified with multi-layered coatings were observed by AFM and FE-SEM images. The stainless steel plates modified with $0.1{\mu}m$ titanium film and $1{\mu}m$ gold film showed microstructure of grains of under 100 nm diameter. The external surface of the stainless steel plates deposited with $0.1{\mu}m$ titanium film and $2{\mu}m$ gold film represented somewhat grain growth of Au grains in FE-SEM image. The electrical resistance and water contact angle of the stainless steel bipolar plates modified with multi-layered coatings were examined with the thickness of the gold film.

• Carbon letters
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• 제8권4호
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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.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.435-450
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• 2021

The interest in eco-friendly energy is increasing, and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is attracting attention as alternative power sources. Research on metallic bipolar plates, a fuel cell component, is being actively conducted. However, since the operating conditions of PEMFC, in which sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) and hydrofluoric acid (HF) are mixed, are strong acidity, the durability of the metallic bipolar plate is very important. In this research, the electrochemical characteristics and corrosion damage behavior of 316L stainless steel, a material for metallic bipolar plates, were analyzed through potentiostatic corrosion tests with test times and chloride concentrations. As the test times and chloride concentrations increased, the current density and corrosion damage increased. As a result of observation with scanning electron microscope(SEM) and 3D microscope, both the depth and width of pitting corrosion increased with increases in test times and chloride concentrations. In particular, the pitting corrosion damage depth at test conditions of 6 hours and 1000 ppm chloride increased the most. The growth of the pitting corrosion damage was not directly proportional to time and increased significantly after a certain period.

• 전기화학회지
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.68-74
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• 2009

본 연구에서는 탄소성형 분리판의 물리화학적, 전기화학적 특성을 분석하여 수소 및 개미산연료 전지의 성능에 미치는 영향을 알아보았다. 기존 기계가공 탄소분리판과 탄소복합소재 탄소성형 분리판의 접촉저항, 부식특성, 소수성을 비교 평가하였다. 특히, 현재 연구개발 중인 탄소복합소재 성형분리판의 경우 계면접촉저항이 기계가공 분리판보다 1.5배 높게 나타났으며, 내식성 실험에서는 산에 취약하여 분리판 표면이 거칠어지고 결정성이 감소하였다. 연료전지의 성능은 분리판의 계면접촉저항에 크게 영향을 받았으며, 계면저항이 적은 기계가공 분리판이 수소 및 개미산 연료 전지에서 높은 성능을 나타냈다.

• 한국자동차공학회논문집
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.545-552
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• 2015

The heat generation in PEMFC is proportional to the electrical power output. Therefore, when the fuel cell produced the maximum output, the maximum heat was generated. In order to maintain the performance of the fuel cell, thermal management is as important as pressure and humidity conditions of the reactive gas. In this study, considering the thermal management for the maximum output operation, the optimal cooling channel design specifications of bipolar plate are found for the highest cooling performance. In the current bipolar plate research, many studies focused on analyzing various factors individually but there is no more study on the interaction between design factors. In this study, the heat transfer was simulated by COMSOL Multiphysics with the main design factors which are designated shape, width and rib length. One of the experimental design methods, general full factorial design method, was used to analyze the main factor and interaction on average temperature and maximum temperature for the design specification of fuel cell bipolar plate. When analysis result shows that all of these three factors are highly important, it can confirm that the interaction occurs between the factors.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.245-255
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• 2021

Various studies about metallic bipolar plates have been conducted to improve fuel cell performance through flow field design optimization. These research works have been mainly focused on fuel cells for vehicle, but not fuel cells for building. In order to reduce the price and volume of fuel cell stacks for building, it is necessary to apply a metallic flow field, In this study, for a metallic flow field applied to a fuel cell for building, the effect of a change in the flow field shape on the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell was confirmed using a model and experiments with a down-sizing single cell. As a result, the flow field using a metal foam outperforms the channel type flow field because it has higher internal differential pressure and higher reactants velocity in gas diffusion layer, resulting in higher water removal and higher oxygen concentration in the catalyst layer than the channel type flow field. This study is expected to contribute to providing basic data for selecting the optimal flow field for the full stack of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells for buildings.

• 한국정밀공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정밀공학회 2012년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.801-802
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• 2012

• Carbon letters
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• 제14권1호
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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.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.300-313
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• 2022

Interest in polymer electrolyte fuel cell is growing to replace fossil fuels. In particular, in order to reduce the cost and volume of the fuel cell, research on a metallic bipolar plate is being actively conducted. In this research, investigated the effects of temperature and chloride concentration on the electrochemical characteristics and damage behavior of 316L stainless steel in an accelerated solution simulating the cathodic operating condition of PEMFC(Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell). As a result of the experiments, the corrosion current density, damage size, and surface roughness increased as the temperature and chloride concentration increased. In particular, the temperature had a significant effect on the stability of the oxide film of 316L stainless steel. In addition, it was described that the growth of the pit was affected by the chloride concentration rather than the temperature. As a result of calculating the corrosion tendency to compare the pitting corrosion rate and the uniform corrosion rate, the uniform corrosion tendency became larger as the temperature increased. And the effects of chloride concentration on corrosion tendency was different according to temperature.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국신재생에너지학회 2006년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.320-323
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• 2006

A numerical study is made of a manifold and bipolar plate in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, the aim of the present study is to describe the characteristics of flow pattern In manifold and bipolar plate. The present work shows that the flow pattern in the bipolar plate is affected by the penetration flow through GDL characterized by clamping pressure and GDL intrusion in to a channel area. Manifold geometry also affects the flow distribution. The recirculation flow by bent duct destroy even distribution In manifold, the present work shows that corner rounding can improve the manifold performance.