Ex-situ Accelerated Corrosion experiment and Various Electrochemical Characteristics of Carbon Coating by Doctor Blade Technology of Titanium Bipolar Plates for PEMFC

Ex-situ Accelerated Corrosion experiment and Various Electrochemical Characteristics of Carbon Coating by Doctor Blade Technology of Titanium Bipolar Plates for PEMFC | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Ex-situ Accelerated Corrosion experiment and Various Electrochemical Characteristics of Carbon Coating by Doctor Blade Technology of Titanium Bipolar Plates for PEMFC Hyun-Kyu Hwang, Seong-Jong Kim This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6451364/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in npj Materials Degradation → Version 1 posted 11 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This investigation was devoted to exploring the electrochemical characteristics of titanium bipolar plates for PEMFCs. Grade 1 titanium specimens were coated with TiO 2 , after which an additional layer of carbon was deposited onto the specimens using the roll-to-roll doctor blade method. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the presence of an anatase-structured TiO 2 layer on the titanium after TiO 2 + carbon coating, and an energy dispersive spectroscopic analysis of the cross-sections of the specimens confirmed the presence of a carbon coating layer. Ex-situ accelerated corrosion experiments performed in a simulated PEMFC environment demonstrated that the current density of the TiO 2 + carbon-coated Ti was higher than that of the uncoated Ti during load fluctuation intervals. This high current density is attributed not to degradation due to oxidation reactions but to the electron charging and discharging associated with the formation of an electrical double layer. Electrochemical characteristic analysis revealed that even as an active peak was observed, the uncoated Ti exhibited a corrosion current density below 1 µA/cm 2 , thus failing to satisfy the standards of the US Department of Energy (DOE). Conversely, the TiO 2 + carbon-coated Ti met all relevant standards. Interface contact resistance measurements indicated that the pure titanium failed to meet DOE standards before and after all the electrochemical experiments. In contrast, the TiO 2 + carbon-coated Ti complied with these standards before the electrochemical experiments as well as after the potentiostatic corrosion experiment and ex-situ accelerated corrosion experiment. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Materials science PEMFC Bipolar plate Carbon Titanium dioxide Ex-situ Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 13 Aug, 2025 Read the published version in npj Materials Degradation → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 19 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 18 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 05 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 05 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 15 Apr, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 15 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 15 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 15 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6451364","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":443801617,"identity":"f6b020fe-5ee2-438f-b35d-0c40c30e788e","order_by":0,"name":"Hyun-Kyu Hwang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Mokpo national maritime university","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hyun-Kyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Hwang","suffix":""},{"id":443801618,"identity":"b7e684dc-5a36-491c-a620-c59af15809af","order_by":1,"name":"Seong-Jong Kim","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAp0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACCQaGxAdQNjPRWpINSNbCJkGaFsn+A8+qbuYcZuBvP8BsXEGMFmmJhLTbudsOM0icSWBOPEOMFjkJBogWhhsMzAcbiNLCfyCtGKRFnmgt0gwJacwgLQZALYlEaZGckZAsnbstncfwTGKzIVFaJM6fSfycu81aTu744cOSRGlhYOBJAJMMDIxEamBgYD9ArMpRMApGwSgYqQAAk8cuWuNckHoAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Mokpo national maritime university","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Seong-Jong","middleName":"","lastName":"Kim","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-04-15 06:08:37","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6451364/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6451364/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41529-025-00651-1","type":"published","date":"2025-08-13T15:56:52+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":89310521,"identity":"fcc2cd66-d125-4f8c-ab1e-a7daef519bbd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-08-18 16:06:19","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2016097,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6451364/v1_covered_8c130a5f-c4da-42c3-9bea-5b7a1cd7d8d1.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Ex-situ Accelerated Corrosion experiment and Various Electrochemical Characteristics of Carbon Coating by Doctor Blade Technology of Titanium Bipolar Plates for PEMFC","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"npj-materials-degradation","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"npjmatdeg","sideBox":"Learn more about [npj Materials Degradation](http://www.nature.com/npjmatdeg/)","snPcode":"41529","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41529/3","title":"npj Materials Degradation","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"NPJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"PEMFC, Bipolar plate, Carbon, Titanium dioxide, Ex-situ","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6451364/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6451364/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThis investigation was devoted to exploring the electrochemical characteristics of titanium bipolar plates for PEMFCs. 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