Stable conductive and hydrophilic fuel cell contact element

摘要

A flow field plate or bipolar plate for a fuel cell that includes a metal oxide coating that makes the bipolar plate conductive, hydrophilic and stable in the fuel cell environment. Non-limiting examples of suitable doped coatings Ta doped TiO₂, Nb doped TiO₂ and F doped SnO₂. In an alternate embodiment, the metal oxide is a non-stoichiometric metal oxide that includes oxygen vacancies in the lattice structure that provides the conductivity. Non-limiting examples of suitable non-stoichiometric metal oxides include TiO_2-x and TiO_2+y.