Herbert Gabriel, PVT Plasma und Vakuum Technik GmbH, Behsheim, Germany
Green hydrogen could be the fuel of the future. Generated by electroysers powered by photovoltaics and used in fuel cells could be part of the solution to the humankind’s problems with the climate change.
The harsh environments in electrolysers and fuel cells require components to be coated for corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity and other related properties. Most of the components are made of stainless steel or titanium, but still need for their performance and long lifetimes up to 100.000 hours coatings with high performance properties.
Depending on the application, whether PEMWE, PEMFC, AEM, SOFCs, SOECs or others, thin coatings made of materials such as C, Ti, Cr, Nb, Au, Pt, Ir, MCO, Al2O3……. are deposited in the nanometer to a couple of micron range.
Preferred coating processes are magnetron sputtering, respectively HiPIMS, high power impulse magnetron sputtering to deposit highly adherent and dense coatings.
Most components of fuel cells and electrolysers to be coated are thin 2-dimensional structures in high quantity. For this reason high productive so-called in-line systems with vertical orientation are the preferred coating systems for double-sided deposition.
Apart from a number of other QC – tests, adhesion, corrosion and ICR (interface contact resistance) prior and after corrosion testing are essential properties to continually be tested and monitored.