Aluminum was considered a good candidate material for bipolar plates of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells due to its low cost, light weight, high strength and good manufacturability. But there were problems of both chemical and electrochemical corrosions in the PEM fuel cell operating environment. The major goals of this research are to find proper physical vapor deposition (PVD) coating materials which would enhance surface properties by making significant improvements on corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity at a reasonable cost. Several coating materials had been studied to analyze their corrosion resistance improvement. The corrosion rates of all materials were tested in a simulated fuel cell environment. The linear polarization curve of electrochemical method measured by potentiostat instrument was employed to determine the corrosion current. Results of the corrosion tests indicated that all of the coating materials had good corrosion resistance and were stable in the simulated fuel cell environment. The conductivities of the coated layers were better and the resistances changed very little after the corrosion test. At last, single fuel cells were made by each PVD coating material. Fuel cell tests were conducted to determine their performance w.r.t. that was made of graphite. The results of fuel cell tests indicated that metallic bipolar plates with PVD coating could be used in PEM fuel cells.
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e-mail: mesjl@saturn.yzu.edu.tw
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November 2005
This article was originally published in
Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology
Design Innovations
PVD Coated Bipolar Plates for PEM Fuel Cells
Shuo-Jen Lee,
Shuo-Jen Lee
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
e-mail: mesjl@saturn.yzu.edu.tw
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwan
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Ching-Han Huang,
Ching-Han Huang
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwan
Search for other works by this author on:
Yu-Pang Chen,
Yu-Pang Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwan
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Chen-Te Hsu
Chen-Te Hsu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwan
Search for other works by this author on:
Shuo-Jen Lee
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwane-mail: mesjl@saturn.yzu.edu.tw
Ching-Han Huang
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwan
Yu-Pang Chen
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, Taiwan
Chen-Te Hsu
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Yuan Ze University
, 135 FarEast Road, NeiLi, TaoYuan, TaiwanJ. Fuel Cell Sci. Technol. Nov 2005, 2(4): 290-294 (5 pages)
Published Online: March 9, 2005
Article history
Received:
March 21, 2004
Revised:
March 9, 2005
Citation
Lee, S., Huang, C., Chen, Y., and Hsu, C. (March 9, 2005). "PVD Coated Bipolar Plates for PEM Fuel Cells." ASME. J. Fuel Cell Sci. Technol. November 2005; 2(4): 290–294. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2041671
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