An investigation of the electrochemical properties of PVD TiN-coated SS410 in simulated PEM fuel cell environments

作者：Wang, Yan; Northwood, Derek O.^*

来源：International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2007, 32(7): 895-902.

DOI：10.1016/j.ijhydene.2007.02.006

• bipolar plates
• PVD
• corrosion
• EIS

Bipolar plates are a key component of PEM fuel cells, and they constitute a large portion of the weight and total cost of a fuel cell stack. In order to reduce both the cost and weight of the bipolar plates, considerable attention is being paid to developing metallic bipolar plates to replace non-porous graphite. In this study, TiN was coated on a martensitic stainless steel (SS410) using a PVD technology (plasma enhanced reactive evaporation) to increase the corrosion resistance of the base metal. XRD, SEM, EIS and potentiodynamic tests were used to characterize the TiN-coated SS410. In order to investigate the suitability of these coated materials as the anodes and cathodes in a PEMFC, potentiostatic tests were conducted under both simulated cathode and anode conditions. The simulated anode environment was -0.1 V vs SCE purged with H-2 and the simulated cathode environment was 0.6 V vs SCE purged with O-2. The dense TiN coatings formed on SS410 much improved the corrosion resistance of SS410 and, thus, these coated materials could potentially be used in PEMFCs as a bipolar plate material provided they also satisfy the other physical and mechanical property requirements such as interfacial contact resistance, light weight, high mechanical strength and manufacturability.

• 出版日期2007-5