Bipolar plate development with additive manufacturing and protective coating for durable and high-efficiency hydrogen production

Gaoqiang Yang; Shule Yu; Jingke Mo; Zhenye Kang; Yeshi Dohrmann; Frederick A. List; Johney B. Green; Sudarsanam S. Babu; Feng Yuan Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.06.078

Bipolar plate development with additive manufacturing and protective coating for durable and high-efficiency hydrogen production

Gaoqiang Yang, Shule Yu, Jingke Mo, Zhenye Kang, Yeshi Dohrmann, Frederick A. List, Johney B. Green, Sudarsanam S. Babu, Feng Yuan Zhang

Deposition Science and Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

93 Scopus citations

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) of the complex devices for energy application remains an almost unexplored area, and the harsh acidic environment also limits the application of AM parts in water splitting for hydrogen production. Here, bipolar plates (BPs), which are used to transport reactants/products and conduct electrons in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), are printed from stainless steel (SS) with selective laser melting (SLM). Then surface treatments are employed on those BPs by thin film electroplating with Au, and the protective thin layer enables the utilization of AM SS parts to both cathode and anode sides of water electrolyzer cells and exhibits superior corrosion resistances and electronic conductivities. The Au-coated AM SS BPs deliver a low interfacial contact resistance (6.4 mΩ cm² under 1.45 MPa) and an excellent performance in PEMECs (1.71 V at 2 A/cm²), and maintain a remarkable durability in the simulated anode environment compared with the uncoated AM SS BPs and conventional graphite BPs. This approach demonstrates the possibility of 3-dimensional printing fully integrated water electrolyzer cells at both anode and cathode sides.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	590-598
Number of pages	9
Journal	Journal of Power Sources
Volume	396
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.06.078
State	Published - Aug 31 2018

Funding

The authors greatly appreciate the support from U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory under Award DE-FE0011585 , Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Advanced Manufacturing Office , under Contract DE-AC05-000R22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC, and the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences , which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. The authors also wish to express their appreciation to Dr. Scott T. Retterer, Dr. David A. Cullen, Douglas Warnberg, Alexander Terekhov, Dale K. Hensley, and Kathleen Lansford for their help.

Funders	Funder number
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences
DOE Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy
Advanced Manufacturing Office	DE-AC05-000R22725
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
National Energy Technology Laboratory	DE-FE0011585

Keywords

Additive manufacturing
Bipolar plate
Electroplating
Interfacial contact resistance
Proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.jpowsour.2018.06.078

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title = "Bipolar plate development with additive manufacturing and protective coating for durable and high-efficiency hydrogen production",

abstract = "Additive manufacturing (AM) of the complex devices for energy application remains an almost unexplored area, and the harsh acidic environment also limits the application of AM parts in water splitting for hydrogen production. Here, bipolar plates (BPs), which are used to transport reactants/products and conduct electrons in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), are printed from stainless steel (SS) with selective laser melting (SLM). Then surface treatments are employed on those BPs by thin film electroplating with Au, and the protective thin layer enables the utilization of AM SS parts to both cathode and anode sides of water electrolyzer cells and exhibits superior corrosion resistances and electronic conductivities. The Au-coated AM SS BPs deliver a low interfacial contact resistance (6.4 mΩ cm2 under 1.45 MPa) and an excellent performance in PEMECs (1.71 V at 2 A/cm2), and maintain a remarkable durability in the simulated anode environment compared with the uncoated AM SS BPs and conventional graphite BPs. This approach demonstrates the possibility of 3-dimensional printing fully integrated water electrolyzer cells at both anode and cathode sides.",

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author = "Gaoqiang Yang and Shule Yu and Jingke Mo and Zhenye Kang and Yeshi Dohrmann and List, {Frederick A.} and Green, {Johney B.} and Babu, {Sudarsanam S.} and Zhang, {Feng Yuan}",

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AU - List, Frederick A.

AU - Green, Johney B.

AU - Babu, Sudarsanam S.

AU - Zhang, Feng Yuan

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AB - Additive manufacturing (AM) of the complex devices for energy application remains an almost unexplored area, and the harsh acidic environment also limits the application of AM parts in water splitting for hydrogen production. Here, bipolar plates (BPs), which are used to transport reactants/products and conduct electrons in proton exchange membrane electrolyzer cells (PEMECs), are printed from stainless steel (SS) with selective laser melting (SLM). Then surface treatments are employed on those BPs by thin film electroplating with Au, and the protective thin layer enables the utilization of AM SS parts to both cathode and anode sides of water electrolyzer cells and exhibits superior corrosion resistances and electronic conductivities. The Au-coated AM SS BPs deliver a low interfacial contact resistance (6.4 mΩ cm2 under 1.45 MPa) and an excellent performance in PEMECs (1.71 V at 2 A/cm2), and maintain a remarkable durability in the simulated anode environment compared with the uncoated AM SS BPs and conventional graphite BPs. This approach demonstrates the possibility of 3-dimensional printing fully integrated water electrolyzer cells at both anode and cathode sides.

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Bipolar plate development with additive manufacturing and protective coating for durable and high-efficiency hydrogen production

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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