Cooperative Agreement DEEE0009615

THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO REDUCE BIPOLAR PLATE ASSEMBLY (BPA) GRAPHITE COSTS FOR NEXTGENERATION HEAVY DUTY FUEL CELL APPLICATIONS BY APPROXIMATELY 90% THROUGH THE DEVELOPMENT OFTHIN AND DURABLE FLEXIBLE GRAPHITE. THE SUCCESS OF THIS PROJECT DEPENDS ON OUR ABILITY TO PRODUCE LOW BASIS WEIGHT, THIN FLEXIBLE GRAPHITE WITH VERY LOW CONTENT OF LEAK-INDUCING IMPURITIES. WE HAVE FOUR RESEARCH OBJECTIVES TO ACHIEVE THIS GOAL: 1. REDUCE BPA THICKNESS FROM APPROXIMATELY 1.7 MM TO LESS THAN 1.4 MM BY DECREASING THE GRAPHITE BASIS WEIGHT FROM THE CURRENT STATE OF 600 G/M2 TO APPROXIMATELY 300 G/M2. 2. ELIMINATE ASH IN THE GRAPHITE BPAS TO MAINTAIN A LEAKAGE FAILURE RATE OF LESS THAN 5% AS THICKNESS IS REDUCED. 3. DEMONSTRATE STABLE PERFORMANCE IN DURABLE BPAS THROUGH SHORT STACK TESTING AT HEAVY DUTY CONDITIONS AND ACCELERATED MATERIALS TESTING. 4. PROVIDE DETAILED AND TRANSPARENT COST ESTIMATES OF THE PROPOSED BPA CONCEPT, AS WELL AS A COMPARISON TO THE INCUMBENT BASELINE DESIGN, THROUGH A MANUFACTURING COST ANALYSIS. THE PROJECT IS DIVIDED INTO TWO BUDGET PERIODS. BUDGET PERIOD 1 INVOLVES DEVELOPMENTAL WORK TOWARDS ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES 1 AND 2, AS WELL THE PRELIMINARY PHASE OF OBJECTIVE 4. IN BUDGET PERIOD 2, THE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED IN THE FIRST PERIOD WILL BE IMPLEMENTED AT FULL MANUFACTURING SCALE; OBJECTIVE 3 WILL BE ADDRESSED AS WELL AS THE FINAL PHASE OF OBJECTIVE 4. THE EXPECTED OUTCOME OF THIS WORK IS A BPA FEATURING THIN FLEXIBLE GRAPHITE THAT ADVANCES THE STATE-OF-THE-ART TOWARDS MEETING THE PERFORMANCE, DURABILITY, AND COST TARGETS SET BY THE DOE.