Corrosion behavior and interfacial conductivity of amorphous hydrogenated carbon and titanium carbide composite (a-C: H/TiC) films prepared on titanium bipolar plates in PEMFCs

In this work, amorphous hydrogenated carbon and titanium carbide composite (a-C: H/TiC) films are deposited on titanium bipolar plates which are used in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). It was fabricated by high power pulsed magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) with TiN and TiCN transition layers. The microstructure results indicated that the titanium element was introduced in the films with a form of titanium carbide, and the increasing ID/IG values imply the graphitization of films. Amorphous carbon with a large content of sp2 hybrid bonds leads to an excellent conductivity of 1.6 m omega.cm2 at 1.4 MPa and improves the corrosion resistance by inhibiting the growth of columnar crystal. In addition, a number of sp2-riched clusters on the surface enhance the hydrophobicity of the film. The a-C: H/TiC films prepared in this work significantly improved the hydrophobicity, corrosion resistance and interfacial conductivity of titanium bipolar plates, showing a great potential for applications in PEMFCs.

Automated summary

In this study, a-C: H/TiC films were deposited on titanium bipolar plates used in PEMFCs using HiPIMS technology, improving the performance of the films through graphitization and increased conductivity, while enhancing the hydrophobicity and corrosion resistance of the films.