Development of Ti Bipolar Plates with Micro-Structured Surface Film for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

We developed surface treatment method of titanium for proton exchange membrane fuel cell bipolar plate. The surface-treated titanium achieved good corrosion resistance in H₂SO₄ solution (pH = 3) containing 10 ppm F⁻ at 80°C in a simulated proton exchange membrane fuel cell environment. The average corrosion current density was under 0.1 µA cm⁻² during potentiostatic polarization testing for 24 h. Further, the contact resistance value was 8.9 mΩ cm² at a pressure of 1 MPa after corrosion testing, which was very low compared to typical etching samples.

Fig. 10 Contact resistance of the sample B and sample C before and after corrosion testing.