Composite flow field plates and process of molding the same

A process of fabricating a bipolar plate, said bipolar plate comprising a flowfield defined between opposite, electrically conductive sides of said bipolar plate, and a non-conductive fluid header portion coupled to said electrically conductive sides of said bipolar plate said process comprising:

• providing a flowfield skeleton, wherein said flowfield skeleton comprises a sacrificial core and a non-conductive fluid header;
• molding an electrically conductive polymeric composite material about said sacrificial core and a portion of said non-conductive fluid header of said flowfield skeleton to couple said non-conductive fluid header to said composite material and define said opposite sides of said bipolar plate;
• curing said molded polymeric composite material such that said sacrificial core melts away from said composite material to define a flowfield cavity between said opposite sides of said bipolar plate;
• and
• removing said melted sacrificial core from said flowfield cavity.

A device comprising a bi-polar plate, said bipolar plate comprising a polymeric composite flowfield portion and a non-conductive fluid header portion coupled to said flowfield portion, wherein:

• said flowfield portion is of unitary construction and defines opposite, electrically conductive sides and a flowfield between said opposite, electrically conductive sides;
• said opposite, electrically conductive sides of said flowfield portion define an interior face exposed to said flowfield;
• said interior face of said flowfield portion is overplated, at least in part, by a hydrogen permeation barrier layer;
• and
• said flowfield portion bounds at least a portion of said non-conductive fluid header portion such that said header is held by said flowfield portion.