A novel ex-situ accelerated evaluation method for metallic bipolar plates in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are considered as one of the most promising energy devices for transportations due to their high efficiency and cleanliness. However, metallic bipolar plates (BPPs), one of key components of PEMFCs, encounter an essential problem of insufficient durability. At present, the development of metallic BPPs is limited by the lack of scientific, efficient, and low-cost durability evaluation methods. We report a novel ex-situ accelerated durability evaluation method based on the quantitative analysis of PEMFCs voltage loss caused by the interfacial contact resistance (ICR) of metallic BPPs and the metal ions released from metallic BPPs. According to the in-situ evaluation (12000 h) results, the acceleration factor of proposed method is about 100. The availability and the accuracy of proposed method were verified by comparing the microstructure of metallic BPPs after in-situ and ex-situ test. It is of great significance for developing metallic BPPs with higher durability to establish such an ex-situ accelerated evaluation method.

Automated summary

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are considered promising energy devices for transportation due to their efficiency and cleanliness. However, metallic bipolar plates (BPPs) face a durability problem. Currently, the lack of scientific, efficient, and low-cost evaluation methods limits the development of metallic BPPs. We propose a novel ex-situ accelerated durability evaluation method based on quantitative analysis of voltage loss and metal ions released from metallic BPPs. The method's availability and accuracy were verified through comparison of microstructures after in-situ and ex-situ testing. This method is of great significance for developing metallic BPPs with higher durability.