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

风冷燃料电池特别适用于低功率汽车应用，如轻型车辆的主驱动和增程器驱动。它们的快速加油能力，结合显著降低的工厂平衡复杂性，从而最大限度地减少重量（和成本），提供了与纯电池供电解决方案的明显区别。HiPerEPC利用了先前基于轻质合金衬底的质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFC）电极高性能涂层的可行性研究。在所有类型的燃料电池中，pemfc显示出最高的功率密度，这使得它们在需要最小尺寸和重量的运输和便携式应用中特别有吸引力。传统的pemfc使用石墨或不锈钢制成的极板（体积大，加工成本高）。对于汽车应用，在一个多千瓦的电池组中需要数百个电池，因此每个板相对较小的重量减轻对整个系统来说将是重要的。铝基燃料电池系统的功率密度是不锈钢基燃料电池系统的两倍。然而，在开发合适的高导电性涂层以保护铝极板免受腐蚀方面仍然存在挑战。HiPerEPC将改进CAEPAC中确定的新型涂层，促进铝电极在燃料电池堆中的使用。

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.