High-Performance Electrode Plate Coatings for Lightweight Fuel Cell Stacks (HiPerEPC)

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Air-cooled fuel cells are particularly suitable for lower power automotive applications such as primary and range extender drives for lightweight vehicles. Their rapid refuelling capabilities, combined with significantly reduced balance-of-plant complexity, hence minimising weight (and cost), provide a clear differentiator from pure battery-powered solutions. HiPerEPC exploits previous feasibility research on high-performance coatings for Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electrodes based on lightweight alloy substrates. PEMFCs display the highest power densities of any of the fuel cell types, which makes them particularly attractive for transportation & portable applications where minimum size and weight are required. Conventional PEMFCs utilise electrode plates which are made from graphite (bulky and expensive to machine) or stainless steel. For automotive applications, hundreds of cells are needed within a multi-kW stack, hence a relatively small weight saving per plate will be significant for the whole system. Specific power densities delivered by aluminium-based fuel cell systems can be double that of stainless steel-based systems. However, challenges remain in developing suitable high-conductivity coatings which protect aluminium electrode plates against corrosion. HiPerEPC will refine the novel coatings identified in CAEPAC, facilitating the use of aluminium electrodes in fuel cell stacks.