Durable corrosion-resistant coating based in graphene oxide for cost-effective fuel cells components

The current imperative transition to environmentally friendly technologies for po-wer generation requires the reduction of their production costs. In the case of proton exchange membrane fuel cells, current collectors, which are usually inte-grated as flow field plates in the cells, constitute a critical component due to its weight and cost. In this paper, a cost-effective alternative is proposed, which is based in copper as conductive substrate. The protection of this metal in the aggressive media resulting from the operation conditions is the principal chal-lenge. A continuous reduced graphene oxide coating has been developed to avoid corrosion under operation. The results of the protection behavior of this coating under accelerated stress tests performed in a real fuel cell reveal that the cost-effective procedure for copper coating is able to compete with gold-plated nickel collectors and constitute a real alternative to reduce the production costs and the weight of these systems.