| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2014) | |
| Energy Harvesting & Storage | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session EH-WeP |
| Session: | Energy Harvesting & Storage Poster Session |
| Presenter: | Changhee Choe, Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of Korea |
| Authors: | C. Choe, Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of Korea J.J. Lee, Seoul National University, Korea, Republic of Korea |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
In a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), one of the most important factors affecting the performance is ohmic loss arising from the contact resistance at the interface of the gas diffusion layer (GDL) and bipolar plate (BP). As a method to reduce the contact resistance between the bipolar plates and gas diffusion layer, the contact area of the bipolar plates were increased by inducing roughness on the surface. The environment of the highly porous GDL being pressed by an external compaction pressure was simulated, and the contact area between the GDL and bipolar plates was calculated. The calculated contact resistance using the contact area was compared with the experimental contact resistance results of the bipolar plates polished with various grades of abrasive paper. As the average surface roughness increased, the contact resistance values decreased, which is in good agreement with the results of this study. In a single cell test, the efficiency of the cell increases when the rough bipolar plate is used.