[ fuel cells ]
G-Hydrogen ’ s fully automated production line for carbon fibre paper in northern China
GDL-S-18 , GDL-S-20 and GDL-S-22 products fitted with liquid-cooled and air-cooled fuel cell stacks to key industry players like Ballard Power Systems , Shanghai Hydrogen Propulsion Technology and Weichai Power .
Metallic bipolar plate and coatings
In fuel cell technology , the bipolar plate is the backbone of the PEM stack and plays a central role in the conversion process of oxidized hydrogen into electricity and water . As the carrier plate forming the two poles of a single fuel cell – the anode plate and the cathode plate , the bipolar plate is responsible for conducting electricity , the distribution of H 2 and O 2 used in the reaction , and for dissipating the heat from the reaction .
The transport sector , particularly trucks and buses , may remain China ’ s focus for fuel cell application , but there is also an emerging interest in the application of fuel cells in passenger vehicles . According to data from Chinese market research company Huaon , in 2021 , the national production capacity for bipolar plates was around 20 million units . 53 % of fuel cell stacks manufactured domestically were composed of graphite bipolar plates , with the remaining 47 % incorporating metallic bipolar plates . Compared to 2020 , the number of metallic bipolar plates grew by 203 %.
Driven by the passenger vehicle market , a growing number of Chinese bipolar plate makers have been increasing their production capacities . Compared to graphite bipolar plates , their metallic counterparts are believed to be the better choice for long-term cost targets as well as a more efficient solution for fuel cell stacks used in passenger vehicles . In the full production process of a metallic bipolar plate , which includes moulding , stamping , coating and encapsulation , coating usually accounts for 50 % of the entire plate cost and is key to the longevity of metallic bipolar plates .
In this regard , one of the domestic industry leaders , Shanghai Zhizhen New Energy , has introduced a practical technological solution that not only reduces the cost of coating by half but also extends the product life from thousands of hours to more than 20,000 hours .
Different from the mainstream approach of using precious metal coatings on titanium or stainless steel substrates , Shanghai Zhizhen has introduced nanocrystalline structures with specific crystalline orientation in an amorphous carbon coating . Since it is technically challenging to make a chemical bond between carbon coatings and metals , the company has also implemented interlayer gradient matching technologies and enhanced plasma deposition .
40 Hydrogen Tech World | Issue 7 | December 2022