Jong-yeol Seo, Gounee Yang

Global Economic News

SOUTH KOREA will be able to domestically mass-produce carbon composite bipolar plates, a key material for fuel cells that are mostly dependent on imports.

The Korea Institute of Energy Technology (KENTECH) has transferred bipolar plate production technology, developed by a research team led by Dr. Jung Doo-hwan at High-temperature Energy Conversion Lab, to CNT Solution, and has established a mass-production system for carbon composite bipolar plates after follow-up joint researches and supports.

The bipolar plate is a core component that separates the cathode (hydrogen) and anode (oxygen) of fuel cells and delivers current produced from electrochemical reactions to a load.

It forms fuel cell stack by connecting multiple unit cells. As it accounts for 30% of the stack price and 80% of the weight, it is important to reduce costs and prevent decrease in energy density.

The KENTECH’s research team successfully developed a high-strength and high-durability carbon composite bipolar plate using carbon nanotubes. Compared with a traditional graphite bipolar plate, it is lightweight and has higher conductivity and durability. In addition, it is convenient for mass-production without post-processing and improved price competitiveness.

This technology uses graphite with carbon nanotubes as a filler to produce intermediate materials through dry and wet mixing processes, and produce the final carbon nanotube composite bipolar plate products by putting the intermediate materials in a thermal press mold and pressing and heating them.