Solution Based Nanostructured Carbon Coatings for Reusable, Corrosion Resistant, Stamped Metallic Bipolar Plates

Green Hydrogen is an emerging industry and a large scale global economic opportunity. When renewables are used to generate green Hydrogen, it can be an effective clean energy vector for meeting the daunting decarbonization goals. While Electrolyzers convert renewable energy and water into Hydrogen gas for storage and transport, the fuel cells convert it back to electric power at the point of use, including in automobiles. High cost of the fuel cells on $/KW basis is still a major impediment for mass market adoption and innovations across multiple areas for the cost-effective manufacturing of Hydrogen fuel cell stacks are required. The bipolar plate is a critical component that constitutes about 20% of the hydrogen fuel cell stack cost. Stamped metallic bipolar plates offer a cost-effective manufacturing pathway and meet most of the requirements but face a technical challenge due to corrosion. The proposed innovation as part of a DOE-SBIR phase I effort aims to address the corrosion challenges, employing an ink based, corrosion resistant coating of nanostructured carbon materials. The recyclable plates offer a cost-effective and durable alternative to competing technologies using expensive gold or brittle nitride coatings, requiring complex vacuum deposition tools for meeting corrosion resistance needs.