Cold Gas Sprayed Titanium Coating for Corrosion Protection of Bipolar Plates in Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis

Climate‐neutral green hydrogen is produced by water electrolysis powered through renewable energy. In next generation electrolyzer, like the proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE), steel‐based bipolar plates (BPP) are supposed to replace titanium BPPs in order to minimize manufacturing costs. Yet, corrosion of steel is a possible threat to this next‐generation design. Consequently, corrosion protection coatings for the steel‐based BPPs are currently developed. In a novel approach, cold gas spraying (CGS) is used to apply a corrosion protection titanium coating on a BPP made of X2CrNiMo17‐12‐2 with a thickness of d = 0.5 mm. The coating is characterized through structural analysis methods and also in short‐term corrosion tests. The short‐term corrosion test shows high corrosion protection. The results demonstrate a new promising coating concept for corrosion protection for steel‐based BPPs in PEMWE. In this study, corrosion properties of cold gassprayed titanium coatings are evaluated for the first time regarding PEMWE requirements.