Coating developments towards enabling aluminum as a bipolar plate material for PEM fuel cells

Srivastava, Abhinav; Ross, Kenneth A.; Smith, Christopher B.

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2023.233513

Coating developments towards enabling aluminum as a bipolar plate material for PEM fuel cells

Journal Article · Tue Aug 22 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Journal of Power Sources

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2023.233513· OSTI ID:2204885

Srivastava, Abhinav ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[1]

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Bipolar plates represent a significant portion of the cost and weight of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack. As a result, there has been significant interest in using low weight and cost materials, such as aluminum. Aluminum has good mechanical and physical properties; however, it performs poorly in the corrosive environment within the fuel cell stack. To overcome the corrosion performance issue, there have been efforts towards developing coating processes to enable aluminum to attain corrosion targets. In an effort to enable aluminum as a viable bipolar plate material, a solid phase processing (diffusion bonding) approach for bonding a titanium foil to aluminum is investigated in this study. The microstructure, corrosion performance, mechanical properties and electrical resistance are investigated. To avoid the known reduction in contact resistance performance of titanium after exposure to bipolar plate media, the effect of addition of highly conductive gold particles after diffusion bonding, on contact resistance and corrosion behavior, is also studied and compared with diffusion bonded Ti to Al. In conclusion, the results indicate that diffusion bonded Ti to Al provides a viable alternative material combination for bipolar plate that avoids the micro pores and crevasses that are associated with vapor deposition or electroplating.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 2204885

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA--184023

Journal Information:: Journal of Power Sources, Journal Name: Journal of Power Sources Vol. 582; ISSN 0378-7753

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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