Performance of electrocatalytic gold coating on bipolar plates for SO2 depolarized electrolyser

• Au coated 904L Stainless steel has high corrosion resistance in SDE conditions.
• Au coating is electrochemically active for SO2 oxidation and H2 evolution.
• These bipolar plates are suitable and durable to be used in an operational SDE.

One of the largest obstacles for SO2 depolarized electrolyser (SDE) commercialization is the material stability in rough operating conditions. In this work stainless steel bipolar plates have been coated with thin Au layer having bifunctional role: providing electrocatalytic surface for both electrode reactions and simultaneously improves the stainless steel support corrosion tolerance at the potential window of SDE. The stability and performance of the coated bipolar plates were tested in a bench-scale electrolyser set-up and the results indicate that these plates can be utilized as economic catalyst for SDE, moreover, they show corrosion resistance in SDE operation.

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