Bipolar plates for mobile fuel cell applications

Fuel cells have the potential to play a decisive role in shaping the mobility of the future. However, in order to fully exploit this potential, manufacturers must overcome a key challenge: the development of corrosion-resistant and highly conductive bipolar plates with a low material thickness and long service life. Although the currently established metallic bipolar plates offer high conductivity, they are prone to corrosion and are expensive to manufacture. To circumvent these problems, corrosion-resistant composite bipolar plates from established processes such as injection molding, hot pressing, extrusion or compression molding are used. However, they also reach their limits because these processes are often associated with high production costs and restrictions in terms of design flexibility. In addition, they often result in higher material thicknesses, which has a negative impact on the specific power density of the fuel cells. Limited production speed and high energy consumption are further obstacles that make efficient and scalable production more difficult.

The ultra-thin, thermally and electrically conductive composite bipolar plates from Fraunhofer UMSICHT offer a cost-efficient and long-lasting alternative that is specially optimized for mobile applications:

• Efficient production: Our bipolar plates are produced cost-efficiently in a continuous powder-to-roll process that enables resource-saving production in low material thicknesses (0.1 – 1.0 mm).
• Flexible material customization: A wide range of input materials, such as thermoplastic binder polymers and conductive fillers, allows for application-specific optimization of the materials. The physical and electrical properties, as well as the material thickness, can be adjusted to qualify the material for various applications.
• Versatile design options: Our bipolar plates can be formed, laminated and welded, offering you the option of designing a customized and flexible fuel cell stack. This allows you to implement your specific design requirements.
• Holistic materials analysis: Our expertise covers the entire process, from material selection and recipe development to foil production and post-treatment (forming, joining, decoating, functionalization) and comprehensive material characterization. This provides you with a well-founded assessment of the suitability of the materials or components for the respective application.
• Support with real-world trials: To ensure that research results can be transferred into practice, we provide you with sample quantities on an industrial scale. With our in-house materials testing technology, we offer you everything from a single source – from the laboratory phase to large-scale real-world trials.
• Support with specific development issues: We offer customized solutions for your specific challenges, e.g. in the weldability of thermoplastic composite foils or the development and integration of multilayer composite components.

Your benefits:

• Material development and manufacturing technology: Benefit from our extensive expertise in material development and manufacturing technology, which offers you innovative, customized solutions for your specific applications. Our interdisciplinary team works closely with you to optimally align both the material properties and the production processes with your requirements.
• Continuous support: You have a central point of contact who will accompany you from the laboratory to large-scale technical applications.
• In-house materials testing technology: All relevant tests and characterizations are carried out directly by us, which shortens development time and increases reliability.

There are various ways of working with us:

• Direct order 
  You can commission us directly to develop solutions for your bipolar plate issue. Together, we will clarify the framework conditions and how we can successfully advance your company with our expertise and infrastructure. This is followed by the preparation of an offer and iterative material development including characterization in close cooperation with you.
• Collaborative project
  We can also work together with several partners on a solution to your challenge – usually within the framework of public funding. To this end, we have access to a large network from industry, research, society and the Fraunhofer Institutes. We are experienced in the selection of funding programs as well as in project applications, bring innovative impulses into the process and then shape the transfer to the market together with you and other partners.
• Licensing
  The granting of licenses to our property rights can take place in various ways and is always individual. We will discuss the appropriate steps for you in person and agree the framework conditions for your business model and product on a company-specific basis.