Preparation and Corrosion Resistance of Ternary Layered Compound Cr2AlC Coating on 304 Stainless Steel for Bipolar Plates of PEMFC

doi:10.11902/1005.4537.2022.008

Journal of Chinese Society for Corrosion and protection

2023, Vol. 43

Issue (1): 62-68 DOI: 10.11902/1005.4537.2022.008

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Preparation and Corrosion Resistance of Ternary Layered Compound Cr₂AlC Coating on 304 Stainless Steel for Bipolar Plates of PEMFC

LIU Yun, REN Yanjie(

), CHEN Jian, ZHOU Libo, QIU Wei, HUANG Weiying, NIU Yan

Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha 410114, China

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Abstract

In this paper, Cr₂AlC phase coatings were deposited on 304 stainless steel bipolar plates by DC magnetron sputtering. The morphology and microstructure of the coating were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and its corrosion behavior in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution was investigated by electrochemical methods. The results showed that the as-deposited Cr₂AlC coating was compact and uniform, mainly composed of Cr₂AlC phase. The corrosion current density of the coating was 2.43×10^-7 A·cm^-2, which was lower than that of 304 stainless steel by two orders of magnitude. After potentiostatic polarization at 600 and -240 mV_SCE, the corresponding current densities were 2.44×10^-8 and 2.3×10^-7 A·cm^-2, respectively. In addition, the impedance modulus of Cr₂AlC coating in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution was higher than 10⁵ Ω·cm², indicating that the coating could provide excellent protection for 304 stainless steel bipolar plate of PEMFC.

Key words: PEMFC Cr₂AlC coatings bipolar plate corrosion resistance stainless steel

Received: 06 January 2022 32134.14.1005.4537.2022.008

ZTFLH:

TG172

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(51771034);Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province(2020JJ4610);Graduate Scientific Research Innovation Project of CSUST(CX2020SS65)

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	Yun LIU
	Yanjie REN
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	Libo ZHOU
	Wei QIU
	Weiying HUANG
	Yan NIU

Cite this article:

LIU Yun, REN Yanjie, CHEN Jian, ZHOU Libo, QIU Wei, HUANG Weiying, NIU Yan. Preparation and Corrosion Resistance of Ternary Layered Compound Cr₂AlC Coating on 304 Stainless Steel for Bipolar Plates of PEMFC. Journal of Chinese Society for Corrosion and protection, 2023, 43(1): 62-68.

URL:

https://www.jcscp.org/EN/10.11902/1005.4537.2022.008 OR https://www.jcscp.org/EN/Y2023/V43/I1/62

Fig.1 Surface (a, b) and cross-sectional (c) morphologies of Cr₂AlC coating deposited on 304 stainless steel

Fig.2 XRD pattern of the Cr₂AlC coating on 304 stainless steel

Fig.3 High-resolution XPS spectra of Cr₂AlC coating deposited on 304 stainless steel: (a) C 1s, (b) O 1s, (c) Al 2p and (d) Cr 2p

Fig.4 Potentiodynamic polarization curves of 304 stainless steel without and with Cr₂AlC coating in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄solution

Fig.5 Potentiostatic polarization curves of 304 stainless steel with Cr₂AlC coating at -240 mV_SCE and 600 mV_SCE

Fig.6 SEM surface images of Cr₂AlC coated 304 stainless steel after potentiostatical polarization at -240 mV_SCE (a) and 600 mV_SCE (b) in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution at room temperature

Fig.7 Open circuit potential-time curves for 304 stainless steel without and with Cr₂AlC coating in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution

Fig.8 Nyquist (a, d) and Bode (b, e) plots of 304 stainless steel (a, b) Cr₂AlC coated 304 stainless steel (c, d) after immersion in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution for different time, equivalent circuits for fitting impedance diagrams of 304 stainless steel without (c) and with (f) Cr₂AlC coating in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution (symbol: experimental data; line: fitted data)

Table 1 Fitting results of EIS of bare 304 stainless steel in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution at room temperature

Table 2 Fitting results of EIS of Cr₂AlC coated 304 stainless steel in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution at room temperature

Fig.9 Surface morphology of Cr₂AlC coated 304 stainless steel after immersion for 432 h in 0.01 mol/L H₂SO₄ solution

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