2011 Volume 60 Issue 10 Pages 432-434
A bipolar plate for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) composed of two stainless steel pieces, i. e. channel former and diaphragm (bottom plate), has been designed to investigate the corrosion behavior of each piece during single cell operation. No apparent corrosion was recognized for type 310S stainless steel as a channel former irrespectively of the paired materials as a diaphragm. Type 430 stainless steel suffered from corrosion when used as a channel former with a faster cell voltage decay and significant contamination of MEA by the released iron ions. When type 430 stainless steel was adopted as a diaphragm, on the other hand, no inferior results were obtained in terms of cell performance and MEA contamination, although some traces of corrosion were recognized on the surfaces.
