Development of Polymer-Based Materials for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Bipolar Plates: Ways to Increase Through-Plane Electrical Conductivity and to Decrease Gas Permeability

Abstract

This research work aimed at developing, by twinscrew extrusion process, electrically conductive sheets for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) bipolar plates. For this, a series of highly conductive blends were carefully formulated from a co-continuous mixture of polythylene terephthalate (PET)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and high specific surface area carbon black (CB) and graphite (GR) conductive additives. Several major factors, such as CB/GR content, PVDF/PET composition and morphology, and also PET crystallinity were shown to have remarkable effects on these three main properties.