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导致了对电动汽车（EV）的重新关注。2017年，全球共售出近130万辆电动汽车，比上一年的销量增长了57%。由于这种上升趋势没有改变的迹象，处理电动汽车的某些低效率正在成为优先事项。虽然这是汽车市场准备就绪的明确信号，但燃料电池堆的耐用性、效率、功率密度和成本需要进一步提高，在某些情况下，需要在未来几年内大幅改善。在开发替代能源形式的推动下，基于氢燃料的质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）在电动汽车上获得了广泛的兴趣。PEMFC的一个关键部件是双极板，它对PEMFC的成本、重量以及电池堆体积有显着影响。Hydrogenics Inc，Canada是制造燃料电池的全球领导者;该项目建立在他们的专业知识基础上，因为他们通过自主建造工厂来制造大多数燃料电池组件，从而蓬勃发展，以占领全球燃料电池市场。双极板（BPP）是PEMFC系统的关键部件，约占其体积的80%。使它们更坚固、更薄和更轻将显著降低PEMFC的成本，并有助于占领更大的大众市场份额。我们的项目旨在开发用于汽车电池组的一流双极板，具有上级耐腐蚀性和耐用性，同时满足商业目标成本。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。该项目的科学目标是开发和设计低成本，高导电，重量轻，非常耐用和可回收的功能性BPP，具有高度耐腐蚀性。该项目通过i）材料选择，ii）新型材料在BPP中的集成，iii）在真实的操作条件下的电池堆配置中的性能评估，iv）技术经济性来定义新的工业标准。

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.