Fuel Cell and Electrolyzer Coating -DOT

  • Protects stainless steel bipolar plates from leaching metals
  • Provides excellent adhesion and conductivity
  • Offers corrosion resistance and low electrical resistance
  • Reduces noble metal usage for cost-effectiveness
  • Maintains high technical performance levels

Compare
Bookmark Add to list

The Fuel Cell and Electrolyzer DOT™ is a low-cost, superior coating designed for metallic bipolar plates in fuel cells and electrolyzers. It employs a duplex treatment process, combining a titanium layer deposited via sputter PVD technology with a noble metal (such as gold or platinum) applied through thermal spraying. This dual-layer approach ensures corrosion resistance, conductivity, and durability, making it ideal for high-performance applications in the hydrogen economy. The technology reduces noble metal usage while maintaining high technical performance, offering an affordable solution for long-term reliable operation. The coatings design allows for reduced surface area coverage (2-6%) with gold DOTs, achieving comparable results to full coverage, thus enhancing cost-effectiveness without compromising performance.

Use Cases

  • Fuel cell stacks
  • Electrolyzer stacks
  • Applications where PEM stacks are moving from graphite to titanium and stainless steel bipolar plates

Capabilities

  • Protecting stainless steel bipolar plates from leaching metals
  • Providing excellent adhesion and conductivity
  • Offering low, steady electrical resistance
IHI Ionbond AG IHI Ionbond AG, with over 50 years of experience in coating technology and part of the IHI Group alongside sister company IHI Hauzer Techno Coating, provides thin-film coating services through a global network of coating centers, with coatings used to improve durability, quality, functionality, efficiency, and aesthetics of tools and components across a portfolio including PVD, PACVD, CVD, CVA, and CVI technologies. For the hydrogen industry, Ionbond's main focus is coating bipolar plates and porous transport layers (PTLs) for PEM fuel cells and electrolyzers, working through close collaboration with customers to ensure coatings meet all technical requirements for corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity in the demanding electrochemical cell environment. Ionbond has joined forces with IHI Hauzer Techno Coating to combine technological expertise for coating development, coating service, and equipment specifically supporting PEMFC (PEM Fuel Cell) and PEMWE (PEM Water Electrolysis) applications, working together to further improve and optimize coating production processes with the goal of extending component lifespan and reducing costs for metal bipolar plates and PTLs. The collaboration between Ionbond and Hauzer reflects IHI's ongoing commitment to contributing to sustainable technologies and achieving carbon neutrality throughout its entire value chain by 2050, positioning the two coating specialists to jointly develop lifetime improvement and cost reduction solutions for the growing hydrogen fuel cell and electrolyzer manufacturing industry.

Latest products