Protective coatings on stainless steel bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers

JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES

卷:307

Article

Gago, A. S.¹  Ansar, S. A.¹  Saruhan, B.²  Schulz, U.²  Lettenmeier, P.¹  Canas, N. A.¹  Gazdzicki, P.¹  Morawietz, T.³  Hiesgen, R.³  Arnold, J.¹  Friedrich, K. A.^1,4 

[1] German Aerosp Ctr DLR, Inst Engn Thermodynam, Pfaffenwaldring 38-40, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany

[2] German Aerosp Ctr DLR, Inst Mat Res, D-51147 Cologne, Germany

[3] Univ Appl Sci Esslingen, Dept Basic Sci, Kanalstr 33, D-73728 Esslingen, Germany

[4] Univ Stuttgart, Inst Energy Storage, Keplerstr 7, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany

关键词: PEM electrolysis;    Cost reduction;    Stack;    Bipolar plates;    Stainless steel;    Coating;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jpowsour.2015.12.071

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis is a promising technology for large H-2 production from surplus electricity from renewable sources. However, the electrolyser stack is costly due to the manufacture of bipolar plates (BPP). Stainless steel can be used as an alternative, but it must be coated. Herein, dense titanium coatings are produced on stainless steel substrates by vacuum plasma spraying (VPS). Further surface modification of the Ti coating with Pt (8 wt% Pt/Ti) deposited by physical vapour deposition (PVD) magnetron sputtering reduces the interfacial contact resistance (ICR). The Ti and Pt/Ti coatings are characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS). Subsequently, the coatings are evaluated in simulated and real PEM electrolyser environments, and they managed to fully protect the stainless steel substrate. In contrast, the absence of the thermally sprayed Ti layer between Pt and stainless steel leads to pitting corrosion. The Pt/Ti coating is tested in a PEM electrolyser cell for almost 200 h, exhibiting an average degradation rate of 26.5 mu V h(-1). The results reported here demonstrate the possibility of using stainless steel as a base material for the stack of a PEM electrolyser. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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