Lowering resistance of elastic separator used in polymer electrolyte fuel cell and evaluation of contact resistance between the separator and an electrode sheet

摘要

It has been required to make the separator for the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) elastic from the point of view of cost and size. Resistivity of the composites made of ethylene-propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) rubber and two kinds of carbon black have been studied as a candidate of the separator. Resistivity of them is about 20 times larger than that of a promising non-elastic separator. However, it has been concluded that the composites have a potential for a separator if the resistivity is reduces by several fractions of the obtained lowest resistivity.