Evaluation of coated metallic bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

    Authors

    W. Yoon; X. Y. Huang; P. Fazzino; K. L. Reifsnider;M. A. Akkaoui

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Power Sources

    Keywords

    fuel cells; metallic bipolar plates; coating; corrosion; PVD; TYPE-316 STAINLESS-STEEL; SIMULATED ANODE; CORROSION; PEMFC; ENVIRONMENTS; PERFORMANCE; ALLOYS; Electrochemistry; Energy & Fuels

    Abstract

    Metallic bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells typically require coatings for corrosion protection. Other requirements for the corrosion protective coatings include low electrical contact resistance, good mechanical robustness, low material and fabrication cost. The authors have evaluated a number of protective coatings deposited on stainless steel substrates by electroplating and physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods. The coatings are screened with an electrochemical polarization test for corrosion resistance; then the contact resistance test was performed on selected coatings. The coating investigated include Gold with various thicknesses (2 nm, 10 nm, and 1 mu m), Titanium, Zirconium, Zirconium Nitride (ZrN), Zirconium Niobium (ZrNb), and Zirconium Nitride with a Gold top layer (ZrNAu). The substrates include three types of stainless steel: 304, 310, and 316. The results show that Zr-coated samples satisfy the DOE target for corrosion resistance at both anode and cathode sides in typical PEM fuel cell environments in the short-term, but they do not meet the DOE contact resistance goal. Very thin gold coating (2 nm) can significantly decrease the electrical contact resistance, however a relatively thick gold coating ( > 10 nm) with our deposition method is necessary for adequate corrosion resistance, particularly for the cathode side of the bipolar plate. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Power Sources

    Volume

    179

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2008

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    265

    Last Page

    273

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000254767800031

    ISSN

    0378-7753

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