Bac2
Conductive Composites, a UK start-up company, has exploited the unique
conducting properties of a novel polymer system to develop ElectroPhen,
a low cost, mouldable, composite bipolar plate material for use in the
emerging fuel cell industry.
To develop ElectroPhen for the fuel
cell market Bac2 will be leading a consortium comprising 5 companies and
an academic partner covering the supply chain from polymer supplier to
separator plate and fuel cell manufacturers.
The £480,000 development programme
will be carried out over 18 months and will be 50% funded by the DTI under
the "Emerging Energy Technologies" Collaborative R&D Programme.
The objective of the project is to
utilise ElectroPhen to formulate a mouldable polymer composite plate to
meet the performance criteria required for fuel cell stack operation and
the processing characteristics for rapid mass production.
As the base resin, ElectroPhen is
itself electrically conductive; Bac2 expects to demonstrate clear advantages
over existing composite bipolar plates that rely on electrically isolating
binders such as vinyl ester and phenolic resins.

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