Development of the ni-based metallic glassy bipolar plates for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC)

Alloy optimization in the Ni_80-xCr_xP ₁₆B₄ (x9-30 at%) alloy system was conducted in order to achieve low T_g, T_x and a large ΔT_x. From this study, the Ni₆₅Cr₁₅P₁₆B₄ glassy alloy was found to be the optimal alloy. The static and potentiodynamic corrosion behaviours of this alloy were measured. As a result of polarization measurements, it was found that the current density of the non-polished glassy alloy sample was smaller than that of a SUS316L sample. By contrast, the current density of the surface-polished glassy sample was slightly larger than that of the SUS316L sample in the voltage range of 0.3-0.8 V. A bipolar plate was successfully produced by hot-pressing the glassy alloy sheet in a supercooled liquid state. The I-V characteristics of a single cell with the glassy bipolar plates were measured.