Design and Fabrication of Fuel Cell Bipolar Plates with Enhanced Performance and Durability

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Technological developments and the increased focus on alternative sources of energy have led to a renewedinterest in electric vehicles (EVs). In 2017, almost 1.3 million EVs were sold around the world, representing a57 % increase compared to the previous year's sales. As this upward trend shows no signs of changing, dealingwith certain inefficiencies of EVs is becoming a priority. While this is a clear signal for the readiness of theautomotive market, durability, efficiency, power density and cost of the fuel cell stack need furtheradvancements and, in some cases, substantial improvement in years to come.In a push to develop alternative energy forms, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) based onhydrogen fuel have gained widespread interest for EVs. A key component of PEMFCs contributingsignificantly to their cost and weight as well as to the stack volume is the bipolar plate. Hydrogenics Inc, Canada is a global leader in manufacturing Fuel Cell; this project building on their expertise as they thrive to capture global fuel cell market by indegenously building facility to manufacturing most of the fuel cell components. Bipolar plates (BPPs) are a key component of PEMFC systems, constituting approximately 80 % of their volume. Making them robust, thinner and more lightweight would significantly cut down PEMFC costs and help capture larger portions of the mass market.Our project aims to develop best-of-its-class bipolar plates for automotive stacks with superior corrosionresistance and durability while meeting commercial target cost. The project has a multidisciplinary characterwhich implies joint efforts of specialists from various areas: chemistry, physics, material science, fuel cellengineering. The scientific objectives of this project are elaboration and design of low-cost, highly conductive,light-weight, extremely durable and recyclable functional BPP with highly resistant to corrosion. The projectwill contribute in defining new industrial standards by i) material selection, ii) integration of novel materials inBPP, iii) performance evaluation in stack configuration in real operating conditions, iv) techno-economics.