Corrosion Resistance Measurements of Amorphous Ni40Ti40Nb20 Bipolar Plate Material for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

Metallic bipolar plates have the advantages of better manufacturability, higher strength over graphite bipolar plates. The higher strength and toughness of the metallic materials permits the reduction of the width of the bipolar plate so, the volume and mass of the fuel cell can also be reduced. In this paper we are investigating the use of Ni-based amorphous material as a bipolar plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The major requirements of the metallic bipolar plate material are low weight, high corrosion and low contact resistance. The corrosion property of the present alloy has been investigated under conditions that simulate the fuel cell environment. Hydrogen gas and air were bubbled into a 1 N H 2 SO 4 solution at 70 °C, throughout the experiment to simulate the respective anodic and cathodic PEMFC environment. The Ni-base amorphous alloys displayed higher corrosion resistance than stainless steel.