Metallic-based bipolar plates exhibit several advantages over graphite-based plates, including higher strength, lower manufacturing cost and better electrical conductivity. However, poor corrosion resistance and high interfacial contact resistance (ICR) are major challenges for metallic bipolar plates used in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.\ud
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Corrosion of metallic parts in PEM fuel cells not only increases the interfacial contact resistance but it can also decrease the proton conductivity of the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA), due to catalyst poisoning phenomena caused by corrosive products. In this paper, a composite coating of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was deposited on stainless steel alloys (SS304, SS316L) and Titanium (G-T2) via a CoBlast™ process. Corrosion resistance of the coated and uncoated metals in a simulated PEM fuel cell environment of 0.5 M H2SO4 + 2 ppm HF at 70 °C was evaluated using potentiodynamic polarisation. ICR between the selected metals and carbon paper was measured and used as an indicator of surface conductivity. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), 3D microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and contact angle measurements were used to characterise the samples. The results showed that the PTFE coating improved the hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance but increased the ICR of the coated metals due to the unconductive nature of such coating. Thus, it was concluded that it is not fully feasible to use the PTFE alone for coating metals for fuel cell applications and a hybrid coating consisting of PTFE and a conductive material is needed to improve surface conductivity
We investigated the potential of graphite based coatings deposited on titanium V alloy by a low-cost powder based process for bipolar plate application. The coatings which were deposited from a mixture of graphite and alumina powders at ambient temperature, pressure of 90 psi, and speed of 20 mm were characterised and electrochemically polarised in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 + 2 ppm HF bubbled with air and hydrogen gas to depict the cathode and anode PEM fuel cell environment, respectively. Surface conductivity and water contact angles were also evaluated. Corrosion current in the 1 A/cm 2 range in both cathodic and anodic environment at room temperature and showed negligible influence on the electrochemical behaviour of the bare alloy. Similar performance, which was attributed to the discontinuities in the coatings, was also observed when polarised at 0.6 V and −0.1 V with air and hydrogen bubbling at 70 ∘ C respectively. At 140 N/cm 2 , the coated alloy exhibited contact resistance of 45.70 mΩ⋅cm 2 which was lower than that of the bare alloy (66.50 mΩ⋅cm 2 ) but twice that of graphite (21.29 mΩ⋅cm 2 ). Similarly, the wettability test indicated that the coated layer exhibited higher contact angle of 99.63 ∘ than that of the bare alloy (66.32 ∘ ). Over all, these results indicated need for improvement in the coating process to achieve a continuous layer.
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