Synthesis and Ex-Situ characterizations of diamond-like carbon coatings for metallic bipolar plates in PEM fuel cells
By Alaefour, Ibrahim; Shahgaldi, Samaneh; Zhao, Jian; Li, Xianguo
Published in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
2020
Abstract
Metallic bipolar plates can significantly increase the power density of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells; however, they require corrosion-protection coatings with desirable physical and chemical properties. In this study, diamond-like carbon (DLC) film coatings are investigated as such coatings potentially for metallic-based bipolar plates, with the focus on the relation between the processes and properties of the coatings under different coating deposition conditions of Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Depsoition (PECVD) method. Various characterization techniques are applied to study the adhesion, structure, morphology, wettability, corrosion, and electrical resistivity of the film coatings. XPS, EDAX, and SEM analyses are used to identify the ratio of sp3 (diamond-like) and sp2 (graphite-like) bonds in the coatings, surface elements, and surface morphology, respectively. Potentiodynamic polarization test is utilized to investigate the corrosion behaviors of substrates with and without DLC coatings. Further, the electrical resistivity of the DLC films is measured by the four-point probe method. The results indicate that higher deposition power along with the absence of argon gas results in more sp3 than sp2 bonds in the coating, and the electrical resistivity is increased accordingly. The coating films deposited from methane (CH4) exhibit superior adhesion to the stainless steel (SS316) substrates over those generated from acetylene (C2H2) gas. Coating films deposited on the metallic substrates change the surface wettability appreciably. Further, polarization tests show that coatings generated with a low power of 250 W and higher argon gas percentage of 30% provide better anti-corrosion protection for metallic-based bipolar plates.