Nanoscale niobium coatings including superior conducting and corrosion resistance on titanium foil materials for PEMFC bipolar plates

In this work, the nanoscale Nb coating for titanium is fabricated by high power impulse magnetron sputtering technology to enhance its conductivity and corrosion resistance, which is utilized as bipolar plates material. The surface morphology, composition, corrosion resistance and conductivity of specimens with various deposition times were characterized. The results demonstrate that the thickness and roughness of nanoscale coatings increase with deposition time and all the Nb-coated titanium specimens exhibit superior corrosion resistance in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution with 5 ppm HF at 80 °C. The corrosion current density increases and then decreases with deposition time, reaching its smallest value at 600 s (3.07 μA cm−2), which is reduced by 3 orders of magnitude compared to the substrate (387.98 μA cm−2). After potentiostatic polarization experiment (PP) for 12 h, the polarization current density (ipp) of coatings reduces as deposition time increases, with values of 1.54, 0.58, 0.45 and 0.27 μA cm−2, respectively. Furthermore, a low ICR is obtained for fresh Nb-coated titanium specimens, with values of 8.45, 8.95, 3.62 and 3.04 mΩ cm2, respectively. After PP for 12 h, the ICR slightly increase to values of 9.83, 9.63, 6.76 and 6.15 mΩ cm2, which still satisfy the demand of 2025 DOE requirements (≤10 mΩ cm2). •Nanoscale Nb coatings on titanium substrate is prepared by high power impulse magnetron sputtering.•ipp of coated samples after 12 h PP were reduced from 1.54 μA cm-2 for deposition time of 30 s to 0.27 μA cm-2 for 600 s.•The ICR of Nb coatings before and after PP are lower than 10 mΩ cm2 at 1.4 MPa, which meet 2025 DOE requirements.