Production of Ni-P Amorphous Alloy-Coated Bipolar Plate for PEM Fuel Cell by Electro-Less Plating

Abstract

In this work, electro-less plating was adopted to produce a new metallic bipolar plate coated with amorphous alloy. The Ni-P amorphous alloy thin film was deposited on Al plate with a bipolar plate flow field and its corrosion resistance and contact electrical resistance were measured. As results, it was found that the electro-less plated Ni-P amorphous thin film showed much lower corrosion resistance than the Ni-Cr-P-B metallic glass because of its lack of Cr content and also found that the Ni-P film showed lower contact electrical resistance than the stainless steel SUS316L plate.The electricity generation tests with the single cell having the Ni-P amorphous alloy-coated bipolar plates produced in this study revealed that the single cell with the Ni-P amorphous alloy-coated bipolar plates showed excellent I-V performance as well as the cell with the carbon bipolar plates after 39th repetition. However, the I-V performance degraded gradually and was found to be much lower than that with the carbon bipolar plates after 50th repetition. Then the long time durability tests for 24 h were also conducted at the constant current density of 200 mAÁcm À2 . It was found that the cell voltage of the single cell with the Ni-P amorphous alloy-coated bipolar plates decreased gradually with time.

Properties of SS304 Modified by Nickel–Cobalt Alloy Coating with Cauliflower-Shaped Micro/Nano Structures in Simulated PEMFC Cathode Environment

“…However, the performance of nickel plating with single-component has its limitations, and it is an important way to improve the comprehensive properties of the plating by introducing other alloy elements into the plating and co-depositing. At present, Ni-P, Ni-Mo-P, Ni-Co-P, and Ni-Au-P have already been used to modify the surface of aluminum alloy bipolar plates, and the application of nickel-based alloy coatings can effectively improve the corrosion resistance and reduce the ICR of aluminum alloy bipolar plates [33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Corrosion and conductivity properties of Ni–P/Ti4O7 coating on carbon steel as bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

“…In previous reports, various coating systems that have excellent performance were prepared on metal bipolar plates using different technical means. For example, magnetron sputtering (Yi et al , 2018), electroplating (Liang et al , 2012) and electroless plating (Kim et al , 2011) have been used to modify the surface of a metal. The thickness of the electroless plating layer is very uniform, adhesion with the matrix is good, without obvious edge effects, and it is particularly suitable for plating complex shapes on the surface of the bipolar plate.…”

Corrosion Resistant Al‐Cr‐Mo Alloy Coating on Type 316L Stainless Steel Bipolar Plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Applications

“…Noble metals, such as Ag [21], have been considered as an obvious choice. Electroless deposition involves chemical reduction of metal ions in the aqueous solution and subsequent deposition on the target surface without use of electrical energy [24]. However, their commercial uses, even as very thin films have been restricted due to their very high cost.…”

“…Electroplating technique uses an electric current to reduce dissolved metal cations so that they form a thin coherent coating on the substrate [23]. Electroless deposition involves chemical reduction of metal ions in the aqueous solution and subsequent deposition on the target surface without use of electrical energy [24]. High velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) spraying is a thermal spray technique utilizing the combustion of gases such as hydrogen or a liquid fuel, such as kerosene, creating high velocity particles to bombard on the substrate material [25].…”