Abstract
A 12-cell PEMFC stack was fabricated using the TiN-coated 316 stainless steel bipolar plates as substitute for the expensive and brittle graphite bipolar plates. Open cirtuit voltage and the maximum power of the stack was 12.08 V and 1.197 kW (199.5 A @ 6 V), respectively. Volumetric and gravimetric power density of the stack was calculated to be 373 W/L and 168 W/kg, respectively. Performance of each cell was quite uniform initially while degraded at a singnificantly different rate. During the 1,000 hr-operation at a constant load of 48 A, stack voltage decreased from 9.0 to 7.98 V at a degradation rate of 11 %/1,000 hr. However, degradation rate of each cell was in the wide rage from 1.2 to 31 %/1,000 hr.