Two/three-dimensional reduced graphene oxide coating for porous flow distributor in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

There are drawbacks to use stainless-steel plates as a flow distributor plate in fuel cell, due to some of their properties being inferior to graphite flow distributor plates in terms of electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance. To overcome these problems, many researches have been conducted to improve the properties of stainless-steel flow distributor plates through coating of carbon materials. Herein, two-dimensional Web-like graphene (WG) and self-assembled three-dimensional graphene (STG) are coated through superheat vaporization of micro-droplet method. WG is coated in porous Ni-Cr foam and STG is constructed on the flat flow distributor plate, and they exhibit the feasibility to be applied in flow distributors. Compared to uncoated Ni-Cr foam, the performance of the PEMFC system with the graphene coated foam is enhanced remarkably. Furthermore, the flow distributor plate with the STG exhibits potential to be used directly to flow distributor. (C) 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.