Production of Ni-based glassy alloy-coated bipolar plate with hydrophilic surface for PEMFC and its evaluation by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy

Abstract

In this study, Ni65Cr15P16B4 glassy alloy-coated bipolar plates with a hydrophilic surface were produced and the power generation properties of a single fuel cell with such plates were investigated, SUS316L and graphite bipolar plates also being produced for comparison. The fuel cell with the glassy alloy-coated bipolar plates showed good I-V performance after repeated I-V scans for membrane activation as did the cell with the graphite bipolar plates. After 30 I-V scans for activation, a long-time power generation test for 100 h was conducted at a current density of 0.2 A·cm-2. As a result, it was found that the fuel cell with the glassy alloy-coated bipolar plates showed stable power generation behaviour, maintaining the cell voltage at around 0.6V. Impedance measurements were also conducted for the cells and it was found that it was possible to understand the difference of I-V behaviour between the cells with three different bipolar plate materials by calculating the impedance parameters. © 2013 The Japan Institute of Metals and Materials.