Progress and perspective on thermoplastic composites for hydrogen fuel cells

• Reviews the material challenges in PEMFC bipolar plates, focusing on corrosion in metals and mechanical limitations in graphite. • Explores advancements in polymer matrix composites (PMCs) as solutions for durable, corrosion-resistant bipolar plates. • Integrates insights on binding materials and functional additives to enhance performance in PMC-based designs. • Provides recommendations and research directions for future innovations in thermoplastic composite bipolar plate development. Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) have emerged as a promising and efficient technology for clean energy conversion. However, the progression of this technology has stagnated due to various material issues, specifically concerning the bipolar plate components. Due to the corrosion issues related to metallic bipolar plates, and the poor mechanical properties associated with graphite bipolar plates, more attention has been dedicated to the application of Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC) within this field. This paper first explores the key aspects driven by the desire to overcome the complexities and challenges associated with graphite and metallic bipolar plates and further demonstrates the advancements made within thermoplastics composite bipolar plate design. Since the bipolar plate’s properties are partly dictated by the binding material and the content of functional additives, this review provides an integration of different types of binding materials used so far. In addition, the employed manufacturing approach, and the functional additive behavior (i.e., dispersion, orientation, interfacial adhesion) of the manufacturing approach have also been discussed in detail. Lastly, this review presents the prospects and suggests areas for future research in the field. It highlights potential avenues for further studies and provides recommendations for future work that can contribute to advancements in the design and development of bipolar plates using thermoplastic composite materials