Preparation and properties of thin epoxy/compressed expanded graphite composite bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Although the composite bipolar plates prepared by the method of the vacuum resin impregnation in compressed expanded graphite (CEG) sheets have been applied in the KW-class stacks, there have been few investigations of the preparation and properties of them so far. In this research, the influences of the microstructure on the physical properties of the thin epoxy/CEG composites (the thickness is 1 mm) are investigated for the first time and the optimum preparation conditions are obtained. Results demonstrated that the mechanical property and the impermeability of the composites increases evidently with the resin content changing from 4% to 30%, while the electrical properties keep nearly constant. It can be attributed to the continuous expanded graphite (EG) conductive network of the raw CEG sheet. The epoxy (30 wt.%)/CEG composite is shown to be the optimum composite, displaying in-plane conductivity of 119.8 S cm−1, through-plane resistance of 17.13 mΩ cm2, density of 1.95 g cm−3, gas permeability of 1.94 × 10−6 cm3 cm−2 s−1 and flexural strength of 45.8 MPa. The alcohol scrubbing is the optimum method of surface post-processing. The performance of a single cell with the optimum composite bipolar plates is tested and demonstrated to be outstanding. Above all, the composite prepared by resin vacuum impregnation in the CEG sheet is a promising candidate for bipolar plate materials in PEMFCs.