Surface stability and conductivity of a high Cr and Ni austenitic stainless steel plates for PEMFC

In order to use stainless steel as bipolar plate for PEMFC, electrochemical behavior of a high Cr and Ni austenitic stainless steel was studied in the solutions containing different concentration of H2SO4 and 2 mg·L−1 F−, and interfacial contact resistance was measured after corrosion tests. The experimental results show that the passive current density lowers with decreasing the concentratio of H2SO4. The interfacial contact resistance between carbon paper and passive film formed in the simulated PEMFC environment is higher than the goal of bipolar plate for PEMFC. Surface conductivity should be further reduced by surface modification.