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

技术的发展和对替代能源的日益关注，重新引起了人们对电动汽车(EVS)的兴趣。2017年，全球电动汽车销量接近130万辆，同比增长57%。由于这种上升趋势没有任何改变的迹象，解决电动汽车某些低效问题正成为当务之急。虽然这是汽车市场准备就绪的一个明确信号，但燃料电池组的耐用性、效率、功率密度和成本需要进一步提高，在某些情况下，在未来几年还需要大幅改进。在推动发展替代能源形式的过程中，基于氢燃料的质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)获得了电动汽车的广泛兴趣。质子交换膜燃料电池的一个关键部件是双极板，这对其成本和重量以及电堆体积都有很大影响。加拿大氢化物公司是制造燃料电池的全球领先者；该项目以他们的专业知识为基础，通过建立制造大部分燃料电池组件的设施，蓬勃发展，占领全球燃料电池市场。双极板(BPP)是质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)系统的关键部件，约占其体积的80%。使其更坚固、更薄、更轻，将显著降低PEMFC成本，并有助于占领更大的大众市场份额。我们的项目旨在为汽车电堆开发同类最好的双极板，在满足商业目标成本的同时，具有优异的耐腐蚀性和耐用性。该项目具有多学科的特点，这意味着来自不同领域的专家的共同努力：化学、物理、材料科学、燃料电池工程。本项目的科学目标是精心设计低成本、高导电性、轻质、极其耐用和可回收的高度耐腐蚀的功能性BPP。该项目将通过i)材料选择，ii)在BPP中集成新材料，iii)在实际操作条件下对烟囱结构进行性能评估，iv)技术经济，为定义新的行业标准做出贡献。

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.