Investigation of the Performance of Hastelloy X as Potential Bipolar Plate Materials in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Jiacheng Zhong; Zimeng Liu; Meng Zhang; Feng Liu; Wenjin Li; Beirui Hou; Wenmin Zhang; Chunwang Zhao; Mingxing Gong

doi:10.3390/molecules29061299

Investigation of the Performance of Hastelloy X as Potential Bipolar Plate Materials in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Molecules. 2024 Mar 14;29(6):1299. doi: 10.3390/molecules29061299.

Authors

Jiacheng Zhong¹, Zimeng Liu¹, Meng Zhang¹, Feng Liu², Wenjin Li², Beirui Hou¹, Wenmin Zhang¹, Chunwang Zhao^{1

3}, Mingxing Gong⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Hydrogen Energy, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China.
² Foshan CleanEst Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China.
³ Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Foshan 528000, China.
⁴ Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430078, China.

Abstract

The phase, mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, hydrophobicity, and interfacial contact resistance of Hastelloy X were investigated to evaluate its performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). For comparison, the corresponding performance of 304 stainless steel (304SS) was also tested. Hastelloy X exhibited a single-phase face-centered cubic structure with a yield strength of 445.5 MPa and a hardness of 262.7 HV. Both Hastelloy X and 304SS exhibited poor hydrophobicity because the water contact angles were all below 80°. In a simulated PEMFC working environment (0.5 M H₂SO₄ + 2 ppm HF, 80 °C, H₂), Hastelloy X exhibited better corrosion resistance than 304SS. At 140 N·cm^-2, the interfacial contact resistance of Hastelloy X can reach as low as 7.4 mΩ·cm². Considering its overall performance, Hastelloy X has better potential application than 304SS as bipolar plate material in PEMFCs.

Keywords: corrosion resistance; hardness; hydrophobicity; interfacial contact resistance; tensile strength.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Innovation Team Project for Colleges and Universities of Guangdong Province (Nos. 2023KCXTD030, 2020KCXTD011), the Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (No. 2018B030322005), the Engineering Research Center of Universities of Guangdong Province (No. 2019GCZX002), and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. LGC22B010002).