Abstract
In this study, Grafoil$^{TM}$ which has comparable electric resistance and chemical stability but is flexible, fragile, and cheap material was adopted as bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) having only one straight line flow channel. Because of its flexibility, pressurizations of cell with various pressures showed different operating characteristics compared to ordinary graphite-used PEMFC. While performances of both cells decreased as these were pressurized, investigation of ohmic and faradaic resistance by electrochemical impedance measurement indicated different tendency of change. Ohmic resistance of graphite-used cell increased with increasing pressure, which is reversed in Grafoil$^{TM}$-used cell. It is speculated that effective chemical reaction area is decreased with increasing pressure in case of graphite-used one, but because of flexible property of Grafoil$^{TM}$, gas diffusion layer in Grafoil$^{TM}$-used cell was well-activated. Different rate of change of faradaic resistances in both cells support this supposition. However, although optimum point of pressurization is found, it is required to investigate other operating conditions because of low performance compared to graphite-used cell.
