Electrical conductivity enhancement of chopped carbon fiber-reinforced epoxy composite bipolar plate for proton exchange membrane fuel cells
Iesti Hajar Hanapi
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Methodology (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Siti Kartom Kamarudin
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Correspondence
Siti Kartom Kamarudin, Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Project administration (lead), Supervision (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorAzran Mohd Zainoodin
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Funding acquisition (supporting), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorMohd Shahbudin Masdar
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Resources (equal), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorSiti Radiah Mohd Kamarudin
Industrial Technology Group, Industrial Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia), Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Methodology (equal), Software (equal), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorNabilah Afiqah Mohd Radzuan
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Formal analysis (supporting), Investigation (supporting), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorMahnoush Beygisangchin
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Visualization (lead), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorZulfirdaus Zakaria
Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (supporting), Resources (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorIesti Hajar Hanapi
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Methodology (lead), Writing - original draft (lead), Writing - review & editing (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Siti Kartom Kamarudin
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Correspondence
Siti Kartom Kamarudin, Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
Email: [email protected]
Contribution: Conceptualization (lead), Funding acquisition (lead), Project administration (lead), Supervision (lead)
Search for more papers by this authorAzran Mohd Zainoodin
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Funding acquisition (supporting), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorMohd Shahbudin Masdar
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Conceptualization (supporting), Resources (equal), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorSiti Radiah Mohd Kamarudin
Industrial Technology Group, Industrial Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency (Nuclear Malaysia), Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Methodology (equal), Software (equal), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorNabilah Afiqah Mohd Radzuan
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Formal analysis (supporting), Investigation (supporting), Supervision (supporting)
Search for more papers by this authorMahnoush Beygisangchin
Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
Contribution: Investigation (equal), Visualization (lead), Writing - review & editing (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorZulfirdaus Zakaria
Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Contribution: Data curation (equal), Formal analysis (supporting), Resources (equal)
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
This study investigated the development of chopped carbon fiber (CCF)-reinforced epoxy (EP)/graphite (G) composite bipolar plates (BPs) using a one-step compression molding process. The primary objective was to fabricate CCF-reinforced EP/G BPs to enhance their electrical conductivity performance by evaluating the electrical conductivity and compactness of the plate among expanded graphite (EG), carbon black (CB) Vulcan, a combination of EG and CB Vulcan, and CB Ensaco. The results indicated that the EG exhibited the highest electrical conductivity of 9.3 S cm−1 and compactness due to the low surface area. Consequently, CCF-reinforced EP/G/EG was selected for further optimization using response surface methodology (RSM) to analyze the parameters of EG composition, CCF composition, and temperature for optimizing electrical conductivity and porosity. The optimum conductivity and porosity of the CCF-reinforced EP/G/EG reached 22.7 S cm−1 and 9.84% with EG composition, CCF composition, and temperature of 7.56 wt.%, 6.63 wt.%, and 186°C, respectively. After optimization, EP/G/EG was connected to a circuit to light up a bulb. It showed a substantial improvement in illumination compared with the samples before optimization. Therefore, the use of CCF-reinforced EP/G/EG with one-step compression molding has proven highly successful for converting energy in renewable energy applications, showcasing exceptional performance.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
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