Corrosion resistance of poly p-phenylenediamine conducting polymer coated 316L SS bipolar plates for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

The usage of conducting polymers as coating materials for bipolar plates to prevent corrosion is the recent trend in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technology. Paraphenylenediamine (pPD) monomer was electropolymerized to poly p-phenylenediamine (PpPD) over 316L SS. The characterization of PpPD, the conducting polymer coating, over 316L SS was done using attenuated total reflectance infra-red (ATR-IR) spectroscopy to confirm the formation of PpPD. The surface morphology and topography were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The corrosion protection performance of the coating was evaluated using open circuit potential (OCP) measurement, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization studies in PEMFC environment. EIS studies revealed that the charge transfer resistance for the coated substrates has increased by one order of magnitude than the bare substrate. Potentiodynamic polarization studies have registered lower corrosion current density by one order magnitude for the 0.06 M pPD coated substrate than the bare substrate and the polarization resistance values for the coated substrates have increased by two and a half time than the bare substrate. These results showed that PpPD coated substrates exhibited enhanced corrosion resistance in PEMFC environment. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.