A Promising Alternative to PEMFC Graphite Bipolar Plates: Surface Modified Type 304 Stainless Steel with TiN Nanoparticles and Elastic Styrene Butadiene Rubber Particles

作者：Myung S T^*; Sakurada S; Kumagai M; Yashiro H

来源：Fuel Cells, 2010, 10(4): 545-555.

DOI：10.1002/fuce.200900086

• Bipolar Plate
• Fuel Cell
• Hydrophobic
• SBR
• Stainless Steel
• TiN
• Type 304

In order to utilise inexpensive bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), a surface modification with TiN nanoparticles and elastic styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) particles has been applied to the most widely commercialised stainless steel of type 304 which did not satisfy the required properties in the bare form. The electro-conducting agglomerates were electrophoretically deposited on the stainless steel bipolar plates. The surface modification greatly improved the corrosion resistance of the stainless steel as well as the interfacial contact resistance (ICR). As a result, the cell performance was significantly enhanced and become comparable to that with graphite bipolar plate during operation for 1,000 h. Ac-impedance results indicated that the TiN-SBR coating was effective not only in reducing the ICR but also in retaining the resistance low throughout the operation. The hydrophobic character of the TiN-SBR coating on the stainless steel bipolar plates, which facilitated the removal of the formed water in the cathode side during the single cell operation, is also responsible for the enhanced cell performance. Therefore, the type 304 stainless steel bipolar plate modified with the electro-conducting nanosized TiN - elastic SBR particles is suggested to be a promising substituent for the PEMFC graphite bipolar plate.

• 出版日期2010-8