Fuel cell bipolar plate alloys

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11955669-B2
Application number	US-202218072235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2022
Priority date	Nov 25, 2019
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

Fuel cell alloy bipolar plates. The alloys may be used as a coating or bulk material. The alloys and metallic glasses may be particularly suitable for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells because of they may exhibit reduced weights and/or better corrosion resistance. The alloys may include any of the following Al x Cu y Ti z , Al x Fe y Ni z , Al x Mn y Ni z , Al x Ni y Ti z , Cu x Fe y Ti z , Cu x Ni y Ti z , Al x Fe y Si z , Al x Mn y Si z , Al x Ni y Si z , Ni x Si y Ti z , and C x Fe y Si z . The alloys or metallic glass may be doped with various dopants to improve glass forming ability, mechanical strength, ductility, electrical or thermal conductivities, hydrophobicity, and/or corrosion resistance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A bipolar plate of a fuel cell, the bipolar plate comprising:
a substrate having first and second surfaces; and
a surface layer coating on at least one of the first and/or second surfaces, the surface layer coating including an alloy having at least a partially amorphous structure and a formula: Al x Fe y Si z , Al x Mn y Si z , or Al x Ni y Si z ; where x is present up to 0.885; y is present up to 0.85; z is 0.05 to 0.8; and the sum of x, y, and z is 1.

2. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the alloy has a corrosion current that is less than the corrosion current of the substrate.

3. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the alloy has a corrosion current that is less than 10 μA/cm 2 .

4. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the alloy has the formula:
Al x Fe y Si z ; where x is 0.05 to 0.63; y is 0.12 to 0.85; and z is 0.1 to 0.25.

5. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the alloy has the formula:
Al x Mn y Si z ; where x is 0.45 to 0.66; y is 0.1 to 0.2; and z is 0.2 to 0.35.

6. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the alloy has the formula:
Al x Ni y Si z ; where x is 0.52 to 0.79; y is 0.04 to 0.23; and z is 0.11 to 0.25.

7. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the alloy is doped with less than or equal to 1 at. % of an element selected from the group consisting of La, P, B, C, Co, Zr, Cr, Nb, Mo, W, Sn, and a combination thereof.

8. The bipolar plate of claim 1 , wherein the surface coating layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 500 μm.

9. A bipolar plate of a fuel cell, the bipolar plate comprising:
an alloy having at least a partially amorphous structure and a formula: Al x Mn y Si z , or Al x Ni y Si z ; where x is present up 0.885; y is present up 0.85; z is 0.05 to 0.8 and the sum of x, y, and z is 1.

10. The bipolar plate of claim 9 , wherein the formula is Al x Mn y Si z where x is 0.45 to 0.66, y is 0.1 to 0.2, z is 0.2 to 0.35; or Al x Ni y Si z where x is 0.52 to 0.79, y is 0.1 to 0.23, and z is 0.11 to 0.25.

11. A fuel cell comprising:
a proton exchange membrane;
a plurality of catalyst electrode layers; and
bipolar plates including an alloy having at least a partially amorphous structure and a formula: Al x Mn y Si z , or Al x Ni y Si z where x is present up to 0.885; y is present up to 0.85; z is 0.05 to 0.8 and the sum of x, y, and z is 1.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Kim Soo
• Mailoa Jonathan
• Cheng Lei
• Craig Nathan

Classifications

• C22C30/02

  containing copper · CPC title

• H01M8/0208 Primary

  Alloys · CPC title

• C22C9/00

  Alloys based on copper · CPC title

• C22C14/00 Primary

  Alloys based on titanium · CPC title

• C22C19/03

  based on nickel · CPC title