Durability of a niobium thin film for bipolar plates in PEMFC
By Kim, Jun-Ho; Jung, Dong-Won; Kim, SunKwang; Hong, SungTae; You, YongZoo & Kim, Daeil
Published in Vacuum
2012
Abstract
The durability of a niobium (Nb) thin film deposited on AISI 316L by magnetron sputtering was investigated in simulated polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) environments. The result of a potentiostatic test in a simulated corrosion environment showed that the current densities of the cathode and anode were 1.56 X  10-7 and -7.2 X  10-7 A/cm2, respectively. Before and after the potentiostatic test, the value of the interfacial contact resistance (ICR) increased 40.1 mΩ cm2 at 1.5 MPa. The cell performance observed with the Nb-bipolar plate (BP) was slightly decreased compared to the commercial graphite-BP over this test period. After a 300 h durability test, cell performance of the Nb–BP unit cell was slightly decreased by 5.4% at a current density of 400 mA/cm2.