Return to search

Investigation of carbon-based coatings on austenitic stainless steel for bipolar plates in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, produced by cathodic arc deposition

Stainless steel bipolar plates are a possible replacement for graphite and composite bipolar plates in fuel cells. However, due to a native oxide layer they exhibit a high interfacial contact resistance (ICR) which lowers the performance. Conductive coatings like gold are a possible solution because they can reduce the contact resistance of metallic bipolar plates. We investigate the pulsed cathodic arc technique for deposition of carbon-based thin films on austenitic stainless steel 316L as cost-efficient alternative. Different types of coatings were prepared by varying the layer structure and processing parameters. Potentiodynamic polarization tests and ICR measurements were conducted to evaluate the performance of the films as conductive and corrosion resistant coatings. It was found that the corrosion resistance of coated austenitic steel samples is improved by both coatings and that measured ICR-values are well below the DOE 2020 target of 10 mΩ/cm2.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:36197
Date25 November 2019
CreatorsSteinhorst, Maximilian, Giorgio, Maurizio, Topalski, Slavcho, Roch, Teja
ContributorsTechnische Universität Chemnitz
Source SetsHochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion, doc-type:conferenceObject, info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject, doc-type:Text
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Relationurn:nbn:de:bsz:ch1-qucosa2-357204, qucosa:35720

Page generated in 0.0023 seconds