New lightweight bipolar plate system for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

The use of metal based bipolar plates in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, with an active coating on titanium to reduce voltage losses due to the formation of passive layers has been demonstrated. Lifetime data in excess of 8000 h has been achieved and power densities in excess of 1.8 kW dm−3 and 1 kW kg−1 are predicted.