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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik
O 97: Nanostructured Surfaces and Thin Films
O 97.5: Talk
Friday, March 11, 2016, 11:30–11:45, S053
Remote plasma treatment as a method to improve the surface conductivity of bipolar plates for fuel cells — •Tatiana Fedosenko-Becker1,2, Nicolas Wöhrl1, Volker Buck1, and Mario Gillmann3 — 1University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany — 2University of Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany — 3ZBT GmbH - The fuel cell research center, Duisburg, Germany
Fuel cells are promising alternative energy sources, therefore they have recently earned scientific interest. However they are not without deficiencies, since during fabrication of carbon/polypropylene (PP) composite bipolar plates (BP) the PP is enriched at the surface reducing the electrical conductivity and the efficiency of the fuel cells. The surface conductivity can be improved by selectively etching the PP from the surface by plasma treatment, using the plasma source CYRANNUS by iplas in remote mode. A detailed investigation of the properties of BP, of plasma processes during the treatment and the influence of the process parameters was done.
It was shown that plasma treatment of BP is a suitable method to decrease the surface resistance without causing mechanical damage to the surface. The most suitable experimental parameters for this task were found. Using FTIR and Raman spectroscopy it was shown that PP and nanocrystalline graphite is removed from the surface. The experimental parameters, such as plasma chemistry, pressure, treatment time, distance from plasma, which provide the best conductivity of the BP, were found.