A Review of Metallic Bipolar Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells Materials and Fabrication Methods.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Advances in Materials Science and Engineering Volume 2012, Article ID 828070, 22 pages doi:10.1155/2012/828070 Review Article A Review of Metallic Bipolar Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Materials and Fabrication Methods Shahram Karimi,1, 2 Norman Fraser,1 Bronwyn Roberts,1 and Frank R. Foulkes2 1Alternative Energy Engineering Technology Program, Lambton College, 1457 London Road, Sarnia, ON, Canada N7S 6K4 2 Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3E5 Correspondence should be addressed to Shahram Karimi, shahram.karimi@lambtoncollege.ca Received 20 March 2012; Accepted 13 June 2012 Academic Editor: Meilin Liu Copyright © 2012 Shahram Karimi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell offers an exceptional potential for a clean, efficient, and reliable power source. The bipolar plate is a key component in this device, as it connects each cell electrically, supplies reactant gases to both anode and cathode, and removes reaction products from the cell. Bipolar plates have been fabricated primarily from high-density graphite, but in recent years, much attention has been paid to developing cost-effective and feasible alternative materials. Two different classes of materials have attracted attention: metals and composites. This paper offers a comprehensive review of the current research being carried out on metallic bipolar plates, covering materials and fabrication methods. 1. Introduction