Enhancement in corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity of hydrophobic‐treated CP by PTFE emulsion containing TiN NPs. (4th September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, Haikun; Wang, Pan; Gao, Pingping; Wu, Xiaobo; Xie, Zhiyong
• Is Part Of: Micro & nano letters. Volume 14:Number 10(2019)
• Page Start: 1087
• Page End: 1091
• Publication Date: 2019-09-04
• Subjects: titanium compounds -- corrosion resistance -- emulsions -- nanoparticles -- electrical conductivity -- nitrogen compounds -- paper; raw CP PTFE‐treated -- corrosion resistance -- electrical conductivity -- polytetrafluoroethylene emulsion -- electrical resistivity -- titanium nitride nanoparticles -- PTFE emulsion -- titanium nitride‐modified hydrophobic‐treated carbon paper -- conductive ceramic nanoparticles -- microstructure characterisation -- conductive networks -- improved PTFE distribution -- TiN; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; Nanostructures -- Periodicals; Microtechnology -- Periodicals; 620.5
• DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2019.0213
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-0443

Abstract

Abstract : Titanium nitride (TiN)‐modified hydrophobic‐treated carbon paper (CP) was prepared by impregnating CP with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) emulsion containing TiN nanoparticles (NPs). Electrochemical measurements showed that CP witnessed an increase in corrosion resistance and electrical resistivity after treated with 5 wt% PTFE emulsion. Since the sacrifice in electrical conductivity is not beneficial to the application in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), conductive ceramic NPs – TiN NPs were introduced into the CP to further improve its electrical conductivity. It was found that after adding TiN NPs, the electrical resistivity of CP (immersed in 5 wt% PTFE emulsion containing 8 wt% TiN NPs) decreased to a level (3.8 mΩ cm) similar to that of untreated CP (3.5 mΩ cm), and meanwhile there is a further improvement in corrosion resistance, where the corrosion current density (at 1.4 V) of TiN‐modified CP stabilises at the lowest value of 5.50 μA/cm 2, as compared with 32.8 and 12.7 μA/cm 2 for raw CP and PTFE‐treated CP. According to microstructure characterisation, these improvements could be attributable to the formation of conductive networks and improved PTFE distribution due to the addition of TiN NPs.