本研究探討TiN鍍層304不鏽鋼雙極板用於呼吸式質子交換膜燃料電池性能之研究，量測膜厚1.0 μm之TiN鍍膜對304不鏽鋼雙極板的影響，並與常見的石墨雙極板比較。材料特性量測包含穿透阻抗與接觸阻抗量測、水接觸角分析與腐蝕電壓電流量測。為了了解鍍層對燃料電池之壽命影響，本論文亦進行長時間測試，每24小時透過極化曲線與電化學阻抗頻譜圖分析三種不同材料之雙極板性能與衰退率。另外，利用恆溫恆濕箱與酸性溶液模擬燃料電池運作環境，減少長時間量測所需費花的時間與成本，透過SEM與EDS分析TiN鍍層與酸性環境中隨時間之變化。
在材料特性量測方面，穿透阻抗與接觸阻抗大小依序為鍍TiN之304不鏽鋼 <石墨 < 未鍍層之304不鏽鋼，表示鍍TiN可以有效降低304不鏽鋼之阻抗。水接觸角量測大小依序為石墨 > 鍍TiN之304不鏽鋼 > 未鍍層之304不鏽鋼，代表鍍TiN可以提升304不鏽鋼的疏水性。透過腐蝕電壓電流量測結果，不僅鍍TiN之304不鏽鋼的腐蝕電位大於未鍍層之304不鏽鋼，其腐蝕電流小於未鍍層之304不鏽鋼，代表TiN鍍層能提升304不鏽鋼之抗腐蝕性。
本研究在固定電池溫度為45℃、氫氣相對濕度RHH2為100%下進行數百小時之長期測試，鍍上TiN提升304不鏽鋼雙極板燃料電池初始性能約147%，隨著時間增加性能下降，透過電化學阻抗量測結果得知，鍍上TiN可以降低歐姆阻抗之增加率，使電池性能衰退率下降。另外透過模擬長期測試中得知，阻抗在900小時開始有所變化。由SEM表面型態與EDS表面元素分析得知，長時間測試後，板件表面因腐蝕反應使鈦元素與氮元素比例下降，同時鐵元素與氧元素比例增加，另一方面，板件基材不僅因鍍層脫落而露出，也因此造成板件表面平整度變差。整體而言，鍍上TiN不僅可以使304不鏽鋼雙極板燃料電池性能上升之外，衰退率也可以大幅下降，也因此吾人得知TiN可作為改善此型燃料電池性能與壽命的鍍層材料。

This paper studies the performance of the air-breathing proton exchange membrane fuel cells with TiN-coated 304 stainless steel bipolar plates. In addition, the effect of 1.0 μm TiN coating on the properties of 304 stainless steel bipolar plates, and the comparison between the 304 stainless steel and graphite bipolar plates are revealed in this work. The measured material properties include the through-plane and interfacial contact resistances, water contact angle and the corrosion voltage and current. In order to understand the impact of the coating on the life of the fuel cell, this study also carries out a long-term test, and analyzes the initial performance and performance degradation rate with the three different bipolar plates by measuring the polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopies every 24 hours. Moreover, an environmental chamber and acid solution are used to simulate the operating environment for the bipolar plates inside the fuel cell, to reduce the time and cost of the long-term test. In the simulation long-term test, the change of the TiN coating on the 304 stainless steel plates are analyzed via SEM and EDS.
In summary, the TiN coating can not only increase the cell performance with 304 stainless steel bipolar plates, but also greatly reduce the performance degradation rate. As a result, TiN can be used as a coating material for improving the performance and life of this type of fuel cell.

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