• 한국재료학회지
• /
• 제20권7호
• /
• pp.356-363
• /
• 2010

For this paper, we investigated the area specific resistance (ASR) of commercially available ferritic stainless steels with different chemical compositions for use as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) interconnect. After 430h of oxidation, the STS446M alloy demonstrated excellent oxidation resistance and low ASR, of approximately 40 $m{\Omega}cm^2$, of the thermally grown oxide scale, compared to those of other stainless steels. The reason for the low ASR is that the contact resistance between the Pt paste and the oxide scale is reduced due to the plate-like shape of the $Cr_2O_3$(s). However, the acceptable ASR level is considered to be below 100 $m{\Omega}cm^2$ after 40,000 h of use. To further improve the electrical conductivity of the thermally grown oxide on stainless steels, the Co layer was deposited on the stainless steel by means of an electroless deposition method; it was then thermally oxidized to obtain the $Co_3O_4$ layer, which is a highly conductive layer. With the increase of the Co coating thickness, the ASR value decreased. For Co deposited STS444 with 2 ${\mu}m$hickness, the measured ASR at $800^{\circ}$ after 300 h oxidation is around 10 $m{\Omega}cm^2$, which is lower than that of the STS446M, which alloy has a lower ASR value than that of the non-coated STS. The reason for this improved high temperature conductivity seems to be that the Mn is efficiently diffused into the coating layer, which diffusion formed the highly conductive (Mn,Co)$_3O_4$ spinel phases and the thickness of the $Cr_2O_3$(S), which is the rate controlling layer of the electrical conductivity in the SOFC environment and is very thin

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국신재생에너지학회 2006년도 추계학술대회
• /
• pp.348-351
• /
• 2006

Bipolar plate, which forms about 50% of the stack cost, is an important core part with polymer electrolyte membrane in PEMFC. Bipolar plates have been commonly fabricated from graphite meterial having high electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance. Lately, many researchers have concentrated their efforts on the development of metallic bipolar plate and stainless steel has been considered as a potential material for metallic bipolar plate because of its high strength, chemical stability, low gas permeability and applicability to mass production. However, it has been reported that its inadequate corrosion behavior under PEMFC environment lead to a deterioration of membrane by dissolved metal ions and an increase in contact resistance by the growth of passive film therefore, its corrosion resistance as well as contact resistance must be improved for bipolar plate application. In this work, several types of coating were applied to 316L and their electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance were evaluated In the simulated PEMFC environment. Application of coating gave rise to low interfacial contact resistances below $19m{\Omega}cm^2$ under the compress force of $150N/cm^2$. It also made the corrosion potential to shift in the posit ive direct ion by 0.3V or above and decreased the corrosion current from ca. $9{\mu}A/cm^2$ to ca. $0.5{\mu}A/cm^2$ in the mixed solution of $0.1N\;N_2SO_4$ and 2ppm HF A coat ing layer under potentiostatic control of 0.6V and $0.75V_{SCE}$ for 500 hours or longer showed some instabilities, however, no significant change in coat Ing layer were observed from Impedance data. In addition, the corrosion current maintained less than $1{\mu}A/cm^2$ for most of time for potentiostatic tests. It indicates that high electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance can be obtained by application of coatings in the present work.