Proton exchange membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) is the most promising technology for sustainable hydrogen production. However, it has been too expensive to compete with current state-of-the-art technologies due to the high cost of titanium bipolar plates (BPPs) and porous transport layers (PTLs). Here, we report a high-performance, durable and low-cost PEMWE cell with coated stainless steel (ss) BPPs and PTLs. When using uncoated ss components in the PEMWE cell, the cell depolarizes rapidly, reaching 2 V at only 0.15 A cm⁻². After the application of non-precious metal coatings of Ti and Nb/Ti on the ss-BPP and ss-PTL, respectively, the current density can be increased by a factor of 13 while maintaining the same performance. Extensive physical and electrochemical characterization supported by pore network modelling shows that the Nb/Ti coating on the ss-PTL leads to efficient water and gas transport at the interface with the anode. The PEMWE cell with coated ss components was evaluated in an accelerated stress test (AST) for more than 1000 h. No sign of Fe contamination in either the membrane or the electrodes is observed at the end of the test. With our results, we demonstrate that PEMWE cells can be manufactured almost entirely in ss, facilitating an unprecedented cost reduction in this technology and advancing the widespread use of green H₂.

中文翻译：

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高性能、耐用、低成本的质子交换膜电解槽，采用不锈钢部件

质子交换膜水电解（PEMWE）是最有前途的可持续制氢技术。然而，由于钛双极板 (BPP) 和多孔传输层 (PTL) 的成本很高，因此无法与当前最先进的技术竞争。在这里，我们报告了一种具有涂层不锈钢 (ss) BPP 和 PTL 的高性能、耐用和低成本 PEMWE 电池。在 PEMWE 电池中使用未涂层的 ss 组件时，电池会迅速去极化，仅在 0.15 A cm ^{-2 时}达到 2 V. 在 ss-BPP 和 ss-PTL 上分别应用 Ti 和 Nb/Ti 非贵金属涂层后，电流密度可以增加 13 倍，同时保持相同的性能。孔隙网络模型支持的广泛的物理和电化学表征表明，ss-PTL 上的 Nb/Ti 涂层可在与阳极的界面处实现有效的水和气体传输。在加速应力测试 (AST) 中对具有涂层 ss 组件的 PEMWE 电池进行了超过 1000 小时的评估。在测试结束时，在膜或电极中均未观察到 Fe 污染的迹象。凭借我们的研究结果，我们证明 PEMWE 电池几乎可以完全在 ss 中制造，从而促进该技术前所未有的成本降低并促进绿色 H 的广泛使用₂ .