Graphene as corrosion protection for metal foam flow distributor in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

•Graphene is coated on metal foam as used in PEM fuel cell.•Its corrosion current is found to be lower than TiN coated foam.•Fuel cell with graphene coated foam shows better performance.•Graphene coated sample also shows better long term stability.

In this study, graphene was grown on nickel foam by chemical vapor deposition method. The morphology and crystallization of graphene films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Graphene-coated nickel foams have been used as flow distributor in a single PEM fuel cell, and the current density of the cell reached 1000 mA/cm2 at 0.6 V. Tafel analysis indicates that graphene-coated samples showed greatly lower corrosion current density (nine times) than the uncoated ones. The contact angle was 35% larger than uncoated sample. These results clearly show that graphene-coated metal foams significantly enhances electrical conductivity and hydrophobicity.