A novel concept of carbon-filled polymer blends for applications in PEM fuel cell bipolar plates

A novel concept of a triple-continuous structure to provide carbon-filled polymer blends with high electrical conductivity and tensile strength simultaneously has been proposed. Low-cost fabrication of such a triple-continuous structure through injection molding has been demonstrated using the carbon nanotube (CNT) filled polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) blend. The CNT-filled PET/PVDF blend exhibits 2500% improvement in electrical conductivity, 36% increase in tensile strength, and 320% improvement in elongation over the CNT-filled PET at the same carbon loading. The concept proposed has the potential to produce low-cost conductive polymers with superior conductivity and strength for bipolar plate applications of PEM fuel cells. (C) 2004 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.