Patent ID: 8518603

Claim:
A three-layer sheet molding compound for use as a fuel cell flow field plate or bipolar plate, said composition being composed of a top sheet, a bottom sheet, and a resin mixture sandwiched between said top sheet and said bottom sheet, wherein (a) at least one of said top sheet and bottom sheet comprises a flexible graphite sheet; (b) said resin mixture comprises a thermoset resin and a conductive filler present in a sufficient quantity to render said composition electrically conductive enough to be a fuel cell current collector material and being not less than 10 S/cm, said conductive filler being selected from the group consisting of carbon fibers, metal fibers, carbon nano-tubes, graphitic nano-fibers, nano-scaled graphene platelets, and combinations thereof, and the resin mixture is bonded to, and in direct contact with, the flexible graphite sheet; and (c) said flexible graphite sheet has a planar outer surface having formed therein a fluid flow channel, and wherein the sheet molding compound has a conductivity that is not less than 100 S/cm.