Gas Diffusion Layer Fabrication with Coating of Carbon Fiber Dispersion

Gas diffusion layer is a very important component in fuel cell, and carbon fiber paper is widely used as substrate of gas diffusion layer. This paper has developed one way to produce carbon fiber paper from carbon fiber felt with or without pretreatment. The properties and microstructure of carbon fiber paper were also stdied. The results show that the pretreatment of carbon fiber felt is helpful to prepare carbon fiber paper with good properties. The content of carbon derived from resin during pretreatment has effects on density, thickness, porosity, gas permeability, porosity and tensile streagth of carbon fiber paper. Carbon fiber paper made from carbon fiber felt with pretreatment has better interface adhension than that of carbon fiber paper made from carbon fiber felt without pretreatment. Carbon fiber paper was produced with thickness of 0.28mm, density of 0.43g/cm3, porosity of 77%, gas permeability of 2500 mL•mm/(cm2•hr•mmAq), specific resistance of 0.017Ω•cm and tensile strength of 18MPa, which is a promising materials for fuel cell electrode.

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Analysis of Coconut Carbon Fibers for Gas Diffusion Layer Material

Key Engineering Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/kem.462-463.937 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 462-463 ◽

pp. 937-942 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Nanik Indayaningsih ◽

Dedi Priadi ◽

Anne Zulfia ◽

Suprapedi

Keyword(s):

Carbon Fiber ◽

Carbon Fibers ◽

Diffusion Layer ◽

Gas Diffusion Layer ◽

Gas Diffusion ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Raw Material ◽

Inert Gas ◽

Basic Material ◽

Powder Density

The main compound of natural fibers is a hydrocarbon. The heating of hydrocarbon in inert gas produces charcoal or carbon. Carbon materials are widely used for several purposes depending on the physical and electric properties, for example for hydrogen storage, conductive or reinforced plastics, catalyst supports, batteries and fuel cells. The main raw material of Gas diffusion Layer (GDL) of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is a carbon. The properties of GDL are porous and electron-conductive material, because of the function of GDL is to distribute the gas as fuel and electricity conductors. This study aims to analyze the carbon fibers made from coconut fibers for the application of GDL materials. The carbon fiber was made using pyrolysis process in the inert gas (nitrogen) at a certain temperature according to the analysis of Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) 3000C, 4000C, 5000C, 6000C, and 9000C. The crystalstructure, carbon content, powder density and morphology of carbon fibers were observed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), fixed carbon according to ASTM D 1762-64, Archimedes method (BS 19202 Part 1A), and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), respectively. The results showed that the structure of carbon was amorphous, and content of 51% ̶ 71%, powder density of 0.42g/cm3 ̶ 0.71g/cm3. The morphology having many parallel hollows like a tube that are close to each other with diameters of 2m ̶ 10m, and in the wall of tube there are some porous with sizes around 1m. According to this analysis, the coconut carbon fiber enables to be applied as candidate for a basic material of GDL.

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A Study on the Evaluation of Effective Properties of Randomly Distributed Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL) Tissues with Different Compression Ratios

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app10217407 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (21) ◽

pp. 7407

Author(s):

Haksung Lee ◽

Chan-Woong Choi ◽

Ki-Weon Kang ◽

Ji-Won Jin

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Carbon Fiber ◽

Diffusion Layer ◽

Effective Properties ◽

Compressive Load ◽

Gas Diffusion Layer ◽

Gas Diffusion ◽

Fiber Content ◽

Equivalent Material ◽

Carbon Cloth

The gas diffusion layer (GDL) typically consists of a thin layer of carbon fiber paper, carbon cloth or nonwoven and has numerous pores. The GDL plays an important role that determines the performance of the fuel cell. It is a medium through which hydrogen and oxygen are transferred and serves as a passage through which water, generated by the electrochemical reaction, is discharged. The GDL tissue undergoes a compressive loading during the stacking process. This leads to changes in fiber content, porosity and resin content due to compressive load, which affects the mechanical, chemical and electrical properties of the GDL and ultimately determines fuel cell performance. In this study, the geometry of a GDL was modeled according to the compression ratios (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%), which simulated the compression during the stacking process and predicted the equivalent properties according to the change of GDL carbon fiber content, matrix content and pore porosity, etc. The proposed method to predict the equivalent material properties can not only consider the stacking direction of the material during stack assembling process, but can also provide a manufacturing standard for fastening compressive load for GDL.

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