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Assessment of surface resistance reduction on polypyrrole-coated composite bipolar plates

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Abstract

New applications of electronic devices come with integrated functionalization, size diminishment, and ultralight weight. An alternative electricity source is also demanded for effective commercialization of devices. Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs) have the potential to play a major role as energy generators for portable applications, thus they can be a choice for new generation electronic devices. Fabricating bipolar plates (BPs) to meet the application requirements is received great attention due to their lightweight and possibility for mass production. This research focused on using polypropylene/carbon filler composites as BP materials, offering a major advantage of mass production by a conventional low-cost injection moulding technique. The purpose of this research is to inspect the feasibility of polypyrrole (PPy) coating on the composite BPs via a chemical polymerization of PPy. To accomplish effective coating, composite BPs were surface-pretreated by UV photografting prior to the PPy coating process. Effects of surface treatment and polymerization conditions, such as time of treatment or polymerization and doping agent, were investigated via physicochemical characterizations using several techniques; Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle measurement, and scanning electron microscopy. Indispensable determination is an electrical conductivity measurement of the composite BP surfaces. Experimental results confirm successful PPy coating, however; the adhesion test indicates that the surface interaction between the PPy layer and the BP surface needs further improvements before applying the promising BP to commercialization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express our appreciation for the financial support received from the National Science and Technology Development Agency. We also thank Asst. Prof. Dr. Chaiwat Prapainainar from Faculty of Engineering, KMUTNB for his kind assistance during this research work. Finally, our team would like to thank Centre for Materials & Surface Science, La Trobe University, Australia for allowing us to use X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS) for the chemical characterization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Science, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, 10800, Thailand

    Rungsima Yeetsorn, Walaiporn Prissanaroon-Ouajai & Kannika Onyu

  2. Thai-French Innovation Institute, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand

    Rungsima Yeetsorn

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  1. Rungsima Yeetsorn
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  2. Walaiporn Prissanaroon-Ouajai
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Correspondence to Rungsima Yeetsorn.

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Yeetsorn, R., Prissanaroon-Ouajai, W. & Onyu, K. Assessment of surface resistance reduction on polypyrrole-coated composite bipolar plates. J Polym Res 27, 229 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10965-020-02207-0

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