Corrosion behavior of SS316L in simulated and accelerated PEMFC environments

Influence of pH value on the structure and electronic property of the passive film on 316L SS in the simulated cathodic environment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

“…Accordingly, the passive film formed on 316L SS at 0.6 V for 24 h in the simulated cathodic environment of PEMFC, is estimated to be of 5.26 nm in the case of pH1, and it increases to 6 nm and 7.98 nm in the cases of pH3 and pH5, respectively. Obviously, the film thickness increases with the increment of pH value, it is accordance with the previous paper [10]. For sake of exploring the pH value effect on the chemical composition of the passive film on 316L SS, Fig.…”

“…But the Fe/Cr ration is still over 1.0, which implying the major component of the passive film is Fe-oxides throughout the inner and outer films. The film thickness is estimated to the distance from film surface to the position where the major oxide content is around 20% [10]. Accordingly, the passive film formed on 316L SS at 0.6 V for 24 h in the simulated cathodic environment of PEMFC, is estimated to be of 5.26 nm in the case of pH1, and it increases to 6 nm and 7.98 nm in the cases of pH3 and pH5, respectively.…”

“…Generally, the cathodic environments of PEMFC are weekly acidic with a large region of pH value, the 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 solution @70 C, 1 M H 2 SO 4 solution þ2 ppm F À @70 C, 12.5 ppm H 2 SO 4 solution þ1.8 ppm HF @25 C and 70 C and the 5 Â 10 À4 M H 2 SO 4 þ 10 g$L À1 Na 2 SO 4 solution can may be the cathodic environment in different references [4,7e9]. In spite of large interests focusing on the corrosion behaviors of stainless steel in the cathodic environments of PEMFC, as far as we know only one paper [10] has been published on the influence of pH on the electronic property and structure of the passive films on 316L SS. Even so, the insight influence of pH value on the structure and the electronic property of the passive films on 316L SS are not systemically obtained.…”

The effect of pH and halides on the corrosion process of stainless steel bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

“…These are given in Table 1 Previous studies on the corrosion resistance of stainless steel bipolar plates have been conducted, both in-situ and exsitu [4,11e14], and various electrolytes have been used for the polarization of these plates. Feng et al [11] carried out potentiodynamic, potentiostatic and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements of AISI 316L under both simulated fuel cell conditions (pH from 3 to 6) and accelerated conditions (0.5 M and 1 M H 2 SO 4 ). 1$10 À4 M F À , 2$10 À6 M SO 4 2À and 2$10 À6 M Cl À was also added to some of the electrolytes.…”

Recent Progress on the Key Materials and Components for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells in Vehicle Applications

“…Typically, SS consists of austenite SSs and ferrite SSs. The elements in SSs such as Cr, Ni, and Mo can create the passivation layer on the substrate surface in the acidic PEMFCs environment [178]. The criterion to select SSs for BPPs applications sharply depends on the chemical composition of material as the nature and content of the alloying elements strongly influencing the composition of the passive film formed on the metal surface, which in turn affects its overall corrosion resistance [179].…”