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Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of polyaniline-coated PEMFC metal bipolar plates with improved corrosion resistance

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Abstract

This article reported the electrochemical deposition of polyaniline (PANI) on 316-L stainless steel (316LSS) to improve the anti-corrosion performance as PEMFC metal bipolar plates. The results indicate that PANI can increase the corrosion potential of 316LSS by more than 410.57 mV and effectively decrease the corrosion current density by four orders of magnitude in comparison with the uncoated 316LSS. The experimental results showed that the PANI increased the open-circuit potential of the steel by about 140 mV. The polarization current value of PANI-coated 316LSS reduced to 2.3 × 10−7 A/cm2 under the PEMFC cathode working condition. During exposure for 12 h, Nyquist plots of PANI-coated 316LSS did not change substantially. This indicates that the PANI coating was an effective barrier against the inward penetration of corrosive species.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Beijing’s Key Research Program (no. Z171100000917010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Peipeng Li, Xianan Ding, Zhaoyi Yang, Ming Chen, Meng Wang & Xindong Wang

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  1. Peipeng Li
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  2. Xianan Ding
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  3. Zhaoyi Yang
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  4. Ming Chen
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  5. Meng Wang
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  6. Xindong Wang
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Correspondence to Xindong Wang.

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Li, P., Ding, X., Yang, Z. et al. Electrochemical synthesis and characterization of polyaniline-coated PEMFC metal bipolar plates with improved corrosion resistance. Ionics 24, 1129–1137 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2274-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2274-8

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