Non-noble metal inexpensive conductive coatings for fuel cell bipolar plates

摘要

One embodiment of the invention includes a process including providing an electrically conductive fuel cell component having a first face, and depositing a graphitic/conductive carbon film on the first face of the electrically conductive fuel cell component comprising sputtering a graphite target using a closed field unbalanced magnetron field.

主权项

1. A process comprising:
providing an electrically conductive fuel cell bipolar plate having a first face; depositing a graphitic/conductive carbon film on the first face of the electrically conductive fuel cell bipolar plate comprising sputtering a graphite target using a closed field unbalanced magnetron field; and exposing the graphitic/conductive carbon film to at least one of reactive oxygen plasma, reactive nitrogen gases, or reactive sulfur gases to make the graphitic/conductive carbon film more hydrophilic by introducing polar functional groups onto the graphitic/conductive carbon film and enhancing the porosity of the graphitic/conductive carbon film.