Material selection windows for hybrid carbons/poly(phenylene sulfide) composite for bipolar plates of fuel cell

This study aims to investigate the effects of hybrid carbon fillers on the physical properties of polymer composites for bipolar plates of fuel cells. Hybrid carbon-filled poly(phenylene sulfide) (PPS) composites have been prepared via compression molding with graphite as main filler and different shaped supplementary filler such as carbon black, carbon fiber and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Different types of conducting fillers, such as fibrous and particulate fillers, or different sizes of fillers show synergistic effects on the flexural strengths and electrical conductivities of the PPS based composites. Materials selection windows of hybrid fillers for desired flexural strength and electrical conductivity obtained by simple linear interpolation of the measured values provide useful tools for the development of PPS based composites for bipolar plate application. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.