A Study on Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Using Metal Foam

>> Single cell of PEMFC (polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell) is composed of bipolar plates, gasket,GDL and the MEA. Bipolar plate's function is the collecting electricity, helping oxygen/hydrogen gas diffuse evenlyand draining the water and heat. In this work, we have conducted experiments to low contact resistance and improvethe performance of a 25 cm 2 single cell by using metal forms. We have following experimental cases: 1) Conventionalgraphite serpentine channel bipolar plate; 2) Channel-less bipolar plate with nickel(Ni) based metal foam which coated by various materials. We focused the difference in contact resistance and performance of the single cellwith metal foam depending on various coating materials. The experimental results show the similar performance of single cells between with serpentine channel bipolar plates and with channel-less bipolar plate using metal foams.In addition, single cell with metal foam shows potential to higher performance than conventional channel.Key words : PEM fuel cell( ), Metal foam( ), Contact resistance( ), Water management( )