A novel design and micro-fabrication for copper (Cu) electroforming bipolar plates

A novel design and micro-fabrication were developed for micro-proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack bipolar plates with cross section of 5 cm2 and thickness of about 650 μm. Copper metals were used to make bipolar plates (BPs) by using a LIGA-like micro-fabrication process of deep UV lithography in order to obtain SU-8 resist patterns/and SU-8 mould. Through two-sided exposure and development, copper metal bipolar plates with serpentine (meandering) flow field configurations for a micro PEM fuel cell stack, were fabricated and performance tests through polarization characteristics were conducted; this made it possible for the first time to consider copper sheets as suitable for BPs in micro PEM fuel cell stacks.