Intergranular passivation of the TiC coating for enhancing corrosion resistance and surface conductivity in stainless-steel bipolar plates

Stainless-steel bipolar plates (BPPs) are of great significance in low-cost, easily processable, lightweight proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) despite the challenge presented by corrosion in protective coatings. Localized corrosion along the grain boundaries in a crystal film is common, but few preventive measures have been developed so far. Thus, we propose a novel strategy using a tantalum (Ta) and carbon (C) co-modification to...