Low cost electrochemical coatings for corrosive environments

随着加氢站和电转气系统的推出，对电解的需求将迅速增加。然而，为了保证这项技术的广泛应用，系统的成本需要降低。我们现在处于电解槽堆中最昂贵的工艺是铂涂层，这是应对高腐蚀性氧化环境所必需的。由于电解槽内部的组件是高度多孔的，并且大表面需要大量的铂，因此涂层价格昂贵。该项目旨在仅在需要的区域涂覆铂金。在这些区域，ITM的目标是涂上大量的铂“斑点”作为非连续涂层（每平方厘米2-3000个斑点）。它的目标是通过一种新颖的镀槽安排（一个低抛射功率）和控制铂在钛表面的成核和生长来实现这一目标。预计这将有利于燃料电池双极板和任何其他在腐蚀性环境中运行的电化学设备的低成本涂层。

The demand for electrolysis is set to rapidly increase with the roll out of Hydrogen Refuelling Stations and Power-to-Gas systems. However, to guarantee widespread uptake of the technology the cost of the systems needs to come down. We are now at a point where the most expensive process in an electrolyser stack is the platinum coating which is needed to cope with the highly corrosive oxidising environment. The coating is expensive as the components inside the electrolyser are highly porous and the large surface requires a large quantity of platinum. This project aims to coat platinum in only the areas that are needed. In these areas ITM aims to coats a large quantity of platium “spots” as a non-continious coating (2-3000 spots per cm2). It aims to do this using a novel plating bath arangement (one with a low throwing power) and control of the nucleation and growth of platinum on the surface of titanium. It is expected that this will have benefits for low cost coating on fuel cell bipolar plates and any other electrochemical devices operating in corrosive environments.